{"id":585,"date":"2020-11-10T18:15:42","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T18:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/?p=585"},"modified":"2021-02-13T00:21:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T00:21:01","slug":"u-s-military-leaves-new-mexico-in-the-dark-on-pfas-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/11\/10\/u-s-military-leaves-new-mexico-in-the-dark-on-pfas-again\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS\u2014Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/white_nmpbs_logo_NO_TM-1-1024x576-copy-1.png\" alt=\"NMPBS Logo\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"59\" width=\"231\" title=\"NMPBS Logo\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/frontline\/topic\/local-journalism\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/frontline3.png\" alt=\"Frontline Logo\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"51\" width=\"160\" title=\"Frontline Logo\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/stories\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/StoriesCircle.jpg\" alt=\"Stories Circle\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"400\" width=\"400\" title=\"Stories Circle\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/stories\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Stories<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/timeline\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ClockCircle.jpg\" alt=\"Timeline Circle\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"400\" width=\"400\" title=\"Timeline Circle\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/timeline\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Timeline<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/map\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/MapCircle.jpg\" alt=\"PFAS Map Circle\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"400\" width=\"400\" title=\"PFAS Map Circle\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/map\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">PFAS Map<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/pfas-faq\/\" target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/QuestionCircle.jpg\" alt=\"PFAS FAQ Circle\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"400\" width=\"400\" title=\"PFAS FAQ Circle\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"  \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/pfas-faq\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">PFAS FAQ<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\n<h1>\n\t\tU.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS-Again \n\t<\/h1>\n\t<p>Laura Paskus<\/p>\n\n\t<p>FORT WINGATE-Between the red rock cliffs of the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Mountains to the south, the remains of Fort Wingate lope up rolling hills along Interstate 40 in western New Mexico. Even from the highway, it&#8217;s easy to spy the underground magazines-which the U.S. military built to hold munitions in the 1940s and called &#8220;igloos&#8221;-their roofs carpeted with sand, gravel and grasses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For decades, there were secrets locked away within\u00a0those magazines. Now, there might\u00a0be more\u00a0secrets\u00a0lurking\u00a0in\u00a0the waters\u00a0below\u00a0Fort Wingate-where the military might have\u00a0left behind PFAS,\u00a0or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Those are\u00a0toxic, human-made chemicals found in firefighting foams used by the military from the 1970s until just a few years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t<center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"850\" height=\"478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/64yFvP92uZo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center>\n\t<p>Established in the\u00a019th century, the 15,000-acre depot was used throughout the 1900s to store, ship, inspect,\u00a0and dispose of conventional munitions-things like bombs, rockets, and missiles. Its mission ended in 1993, though the Missile Defense Agency still uses about 6,000 acres for launching target rockets to White Sands Missile Range.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Activities at Fort Wingate\u00a0caused\u00a0&#8220;significant damage&#8221; to groundwater and wildlife habitat, says Maggie Hart Stebbins, New Mexico&#8217;s Natural Resources Trustee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since the 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been cleaning up tracts of land\u00a0and\u00a0plans to return much of the closed depot to the U.S. Department of the Interior, which would then transfer the lands to the Pueblo of Zuni and the Navajo Nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0pending consent decree with the U.S. Department of Defense would\u00a0also\u00a0compensate the two tribal governments for natural resource &#8220;injuries,&#8221;\u00a0says\u00a0Hart Stebbins,\u00a0who\u00a0is optimistic that\u00a0the state, the military, and the two tribes will reach a\u00a0settlement by the end of 2020.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the environmental cleanup documents for Fort Wingate, explosives, perchlorates and nitrates\u00a0contaminated groundwater in the northern section of the property.\u00a0In other\u00a0areas,\u00a0soils and buildings are contaminated with\u00a0dangerous and cancer-causing\u00a0chemicals like\u00a0PCB&#8217;s, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, white phosphorus, and metals like lead.\u00a0There\u00a0is also pollution\u00a0from\u00a0munitions\u00a0and explosives and\u00a0contaminants\u00a0like\u00a0semi-volatile organic compounds,\u00a0volatile organic compounds,\u00a0and\u00a0pesticides.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One\u00a0pollutant\u00a0not listed is PFAS.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20403284-spreadsheet_of_installations_whjune-2020-ere_dod_performing_assessment_of_pfas_use_or_potential_release-1\">But a\u00a0document dated June 30, 2020<\/a>\u00a0shows that the Pentagon\u00a0added Fort Wingate to the\u00a0growing\u00a0list of military sites possibly contaminated with\u00a0PFAS.\u00a0That family of chemicals has a litany of health impacts. They also don&#8217;t biodegrade, instead persisting in the environment and in the bodies of people and animals, building up to a lifetime exposure limit that some scientists say is artificially high.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Months\u00a0later, that was news\u00a0to New Mexico\u00a0officials. And possible PFAS contamination is not a part of the current settlement negotiations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The consent decree that is under consideration now and in the process of being finalized really deals with the other injuries that have already been identified and investigated,&#8221; says Hart Stebbins. But, she says,\u00a0if there is indeed PFAS at the site,\u00a0parties could pursue additional damages.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\t<center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"850\" height=\"478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vk218gKYR9c\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center>\n\t<p>PFAS have contaminated the water below military bases worldwide-including more than 700 in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And Fort Wingate isn&#8217;t the only New Mexico military installation on that list.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here in New Mexico, the state has\u00a0already spent two years trying to get the Air Force to map and clean up\u00a0PFAS\u00a0contamination\u00a0in the groundwater\u00a0below Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Fort Wingate,\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0the Pentagon added\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/03\/23\/pentagon-ids-four-more-nm-sites-at-risk-of-pfas-contamination\/\">four other New Mexico sites<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/6816961-SPREADSHEET-of-INSTALLATIONS-WHERE-DOD\">updated\u00a0list of\u00a0installations<\/a>\u00a0where PFAS from firefighting foams may have polluted nearby waters.\u00a0These include the Army National Guard armories in Rio Rancho and Roswell, the Army Aviation Support Facility in Santa Fe, and White Sands Missile Range.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When NMPBS inquired about the status of investigations at those sites, a Pentagon official referred us to local contacts, who\u00a0did not\u00a0answer our questions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\t<p>From the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), we\u00a0learned\u00a0that at\u00a0White Sands Missile Range, the Army has completed a preliminary assessment and started a site investigation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to NMED, &#8220;the Army is waiting for a schedule from the contractor on completion date,&#8221; and\u00a0it\u00a0will provide the state with the report once it&#8217;s finalized.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As for the three Army National Guard sites,\u00a0the\u00a0state says the\u00a0Army is\u00a0beginning site investigations\u00a0after confirming\u00a0PFAS-containing firefighting foams were stored onsite at each of the three sites.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/timeline\/\">Decades&#8217; worth of studies<\/a>\u00a0tie PFAS to reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney disease, and immune system problems. Exposure is also linked to high cholesterol, low infant birth weights, thyroid hormone disruption, and cancer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to NMED, the contract for those three studies was scheduled to be awarded in August 2020-and the military expects the studies will be done in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n\t<center><\/center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"850\" height=\"478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/prXwWBPzWCs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\t<p>The department is &#8220;very concerned&#8221; about how slowly the U.S. Department of Defense is moving on studies\u00a0at the other four sites,\u00a0according to\u00a0department spokeswoman\u00a0Maddy Hayden.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;NMED acknowledges that groundwater contamination assessments and clean-ups are complex processes that can require the drilling of numerous monitoring wells and other technical activities that take significant amounts of time to complete in a quality manner,&#8221;\u00a0according to an email from\u00a0Hayden.\u00a0&#8220;But the Department of Defense must move more expeditiously to address PFAS contamination in New Mexico because of the imminent danger this contamination presents to public health and safety.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why, she adds, the state\u00a0sued\u00a0the Department of Defense\u00a0to get a judge to compel the military to clean up PFAS\u00a0contamination\u00a0from\u00a0Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/09\/21\/new-mexicans-await-military-response-two-years-after-cannon-revealed-pfas-contamination\/\">That lawsuit is still pending.<\/a>\u00a0So is the lawsuit the military filed against New Mexico, challenging the state&#8217;s authority.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of federal action,\u00a0the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/07\/13\/nm-funds-pfas-studies-while-cleanup-languishes-and-regulations-remain-years-out\/\">New Mexico Legislature allocated $1 million<\/a>\u00a0to study where PFAS has spread from the two bases and another $100,000 to create and implement a\u00a0well testing program in Curry and Roosevelt counties\u00a0near Cannon Air Force Base.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/11\/03\/new-mexico-to-delineate-pfas-contamination-from-two-air-force-bases\/\">Last month, NMED released a request for proposals<\/a>\u00a0to investigate PFAS contamination from the two\u00a0Air Force\u00a0bases.\u00a0Hayden\u00a0says the state plans to have\u00a0that\u00a0contract in place by the end of the year, so work can begin in early 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\t<center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"850\" height=\"478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gYTdTlp7oUs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--label-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\">History of Fort Wingate<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" id=\"fl-accordion--icon-0\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"fl-accordion--panel-0\"><i>Expand<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t<p>The history of\u00a0Fort Wingate\u00a0is a long one. And a complicated one.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0United States\u00a0government acquired the lands-upon which the Navajo and Zuni people were living-through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. established an initial military post, Fort Lyon, at the site in 1861, abandoning it to build Fort Wingate near San Rafael in 1862. Six years later, that location was\u00a0abandoned,\u00a0and the &#8220;new&#8221; Fort Wingate established back at the original location.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of World War I, what was then called the War Department\u00a0was\u00a0storing munitions there. Throughout the 20th century, the fort was used to store and ship\u00a0weapons,\u00a0ammunitions,\u00a0and explosives-including to the Manhattan Project and the Trinity Site-as well as to disassemble obsolete munitions. In the 1960s, the Army started using sections of the installation to test and launch ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n<p>Across the property, there are more than 750 archaeological and sacred sites-including burial sites, creation story locations, and mourning sites-as well as traditional Native American trails and an &#8220;exceedingly significant&#8221; Pueblo III\u00a0Chacoan\u00a0settlement.&#8221; That&#8217;s\u00a0how archaeologists\u00a0describe the period from roughly AD 1150-1350 and association with\u00a0the\u00a0communities and architecture\u00a0of\u00a0Chaco Canyon.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s even\u00a0more to the site&#8217;s history, tucked within government reports, including those related to the cleanup and closure:\u00a0U.S. Army\u00a0Col.\u00a0Kit Carson and his four companies of volunteers &#8220;controlled&#8221; the Navajo from the fort. And when the U.S. government &#8220;returned&#8221; thousands of Navajo men, women, and children from their imprisonment at Fort Sumner on Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico, they were temporarily settled at the fort. Troops at Fort Wingate also participated in\u00a0The Apache Wars and &#8220;reined in&#8221; Hopis. There was also an Indian school-the remains of which still loom at the edge of the town of Fort Wingate.<\/p>\n<p>Established in 1925, the school was named for Charles Burke, commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1921 to 1929, who historian John Gram describes as &#8220;an assimilationist of the old pattern,&#8221; who &#8220;launched an all-out assault on Native religion.&#8221; Four years before the school was established, according to Gram&#8217;s book,\u00a0<i>Education at the Edge of Empire: Negotiating Pueblo Identity in New Mexico&#8217;s Indian Boarding Schools<\/i>, Burke &#8220;issued instructions to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to strongly discourage ceremonial dancing; two years later he released further instructions that virtually banned the practice.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t<p>The\u00a0lack of transparency\u00a0and reluctance or refusal to clean up pollution\u00a0on the part of the military\u00a0isn&#8217;t limited to\u00a0PFAS. The military has a long legacy in New Mexico-and that legacy includes\u00a0persistent public health and environmental impacts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we freely recognize the economic benefits of having these military installations in the state of New Mexico, but we also have to make sure that we also recognize the\u00a0long-term\u00a0harm that that they sometimes create,&#8221; says Hart Stebbins, who during her time as Bernalillo County commissioner\u00a0called\u00a0for transparency from the Air Force regarding the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/our-land-kirtland-air-force-base-fuel-spill-update\/\">decades old jet fuel spill at Kirtland Air Force Base<\/a>\u00a0which polluted waters\u00a0below Albuquerque.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Kirtland\u00a0cleanup began in 2015, but recently, the\u00a0Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority\u00a0sent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20401468-wpab_kafb_bff_letter_final_usaf-1\">letters to the Air Force<\/a>\u00a0and NMED, asking the two agencies to address four key areas of concern:\u00a0to include stakeholders on key correspondence related to the cleanup, to resume regular meetings of the Technical Working Group (which has not convened in at least two years), to eliminate data gaps regarding the contaminated plume and its spread, and to make sure that information is accessible to the public.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hart Stebbins\u00a0says\u00a0she\u00a0would like to see\u00a0increased\u00a0transparency and community engagement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where the community, whether it&#8217;s the Water Utility Authority or independent entities,\u00a0can review the data from the jet fuel spill and\u00a0come to a conclusion\u00a0about whether it&#8217;s going well, or whether there&#8217;s more work that needs to be done,&#8221; she says. &#8220;That free flow of information is really vital to that process.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an issue across New Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We cannot trade a short-term benefit for a long-term risk, a long-term harm,&#8221; she says, pointing out that\u00a0federal\u00a0facilities\u00a0like Los Alamos National Laboratory\u00a0have caused significant\u00a0contamination-contamination that dates back\u00a0eight decades and will decades more to clean.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Military installations can offer\u00a0job creation, innovation, and community stability, she says. But they also need to be responsible to\u00a0communities, especially since\u00a0taxpayers\u00a0foot the bill for all their activities, including pollution cleanup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s important for the military installations in New Mexico to be good neighbors,&#8221;\u00a0Hart Stebbins\u00a0says. &#8220;And when some kind of error that is made, they need to own up to it and be responsible to the community where they&#8217;ve made their home.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/stories\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMore Stories\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stories Timeline PFAS Map PFAS FAQ U.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS-Again Laura Paskus FORT WINGATE-Between the red rock cliffs of the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Mountains to the south, the remains of Fort Wingate lope up rolling hills along Interstate 40 in western New Mexico. Even from the highway,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"tpl-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"478,508,526,569,560,80","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>U.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS\u2014Again - Groundwater War<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/groundwater-war\/2020\/11\/10\/u-s-military-leaves-new-mexico-in-the-dark-on-pfas-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS\u2014Again - Groundwater War\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stories Timeline PFAS Map PFAS FAQ U.S. Military Leaves New Mexico in the Dark on PFAS-Again Laura Paskus FORT WINGATE-Between the red rock cliffs of the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Mountains to the south, the remains of Fort Wingate lope up rolling hills along Interstate 40 in western New Mexico. 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