A team of Air Force contractors said they support additional PFAS cleanup actions on the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda. These measures validate the demands of Oscoda residents to stop toxic "forever chemicals" from continuing to bleed into their community.
In a public meeting Thursday evening, the Criticial Process Analysis (CPA) team presented potential cleanup strategies for four contaminated hotspots on the base: DRMO, Landfills 30&31 (LF30/31), Three Pipes and the old wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
The Pentagon mandated interim remedial actions (IRAs) for DRMO and LF30/31, which would limit PFAS from further leaching into Van Etten Lake.
But the additional two sites — which have compromised the Au Sable River and Clark's Marsh in Oscoda — are new on the Air Force's to-do list.
Steve Willis, a program manager with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, said funding has already been allocated for the northern hotspots. A plan to address DRMO and LF30/31 is slated to drop this year, with construction beginning in 2025.
"I don't have money this year for those others (Three Pipes and WWTP), I've got money programmed in the out years," Willis said. "We're looking at all that and developing a plan and contract strategy to potentially get additional systems in place sooner than later."
Willis said next steps involve finalizing the CPA report on the sites and addressing data gaps, with permanent monitoring wells and comprehensive sampling.
No timeline for any cleanup actions at Three Pipes and the WWTP has been released, but the CPA recommendations to implement IRAs at the sites align with the state environmental department and Oscoda group, Need Our Water (NOW).
Tony Spaniola is an Oscoda homeowner and co-chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network. He said it's taken years of advocacy and congressional support to move the needle, but the announcement is a promising step.
"This is something we feel very optimistic about, but we're going to be watching carefully," Spaniola said. "You heard them commit to work collaboratively with the community on these, so that in itself is a big step."
Members of Michigan's congressional delegation — Representative Elissa Slotkin and Senator Gary Peters — have lauded the announcement, after previously writing in support of the measures.