But when states want “to do things above and beyond the EPA requirements,” he said in September, “from a fiscal standpoint, we have no authority to do anything other than what we’re regulated to do.” Potentially dangerous levels of the chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, shut down in private and public drinking wells in Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster Townships in 2014 near the former Willow Grove and Warminster naval air bases.
Alarm over the compounds, which have been linked to cancers and other health problems, spiked in May 2016 when the EPA created its more stringent guideline, an advisory level based on years of research about the contaminants, which recommend people do not drink water with more than 70 parts per trillion (ppt) of the chemicals.
The new efforts evoke classic states’ rights issues: Whether the federal government — which has sovereign immunity, meaning it can’t be sued without its consent — ever has to follow state law is a longstanding debate.
In Pennsylvania, water bills have increased for residents in Horsham and Warminster and are set to increase this fall in Warrington as the communities switch entirely to water sources with no trace of the contaminants.
Horsham officials estimate a $1.2 million per year total increase.
She acknowledged that the legislation would not necessarily force the military to pay for the additional cleanup efforts.
In Michigan, where public drinking water was contaminated around the Wurtsmith Air Force Base in northern Michigan, the state legislature passed a law requiring the state or federal government to provide alternative drinking water to affected residents if the government was the source of the pollution and the state health department has issued a health advisory.
Other states have set their own advisory levels lower than the EPA’s, but it is not yet clear whether the military will follow them.
But at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the Air Force is using the EPA’s guideline as it tests private wells near the base for contamination, a spokesman said Friday.
The military contaminated the water, she said, so the military should pay for all the remediation.