Can Government Contractors Be Held Liable for Cleanup of PFAS Contamination at Military Installations?

An August 2017 letter from seven US Senators to the House Appropriations Committee urged the Committee to support programs that addressed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are being detected in drinking water sources across the nation. The letter went on to indicate the DoD was conducting preliminary site inspections and that “DoD officials had suggested that clean up costs could reach as high as $2 billion.” In a March 2018 DoD report, one DoD official noted that there are more than 400 military sites with known or suspected PFAS contamination. And in the most recent Defense Appropriations bill, Congress authorized up to $20 million for the Air Force to make payments to reimburse local communities for the cleanup of PFAS contamination due to Air Force- and National Guard-related activities.

With the sheer dollar amounts in play, it seems likely the U.S. government will look for ways to recover those costs from government contractors. In this webinar, we will discuss the current state of PFAS monitoring, enforcement, and/or litigation in connection with military and NASA sites. We will draw parallels to prior attempts by the government to hold liable contractors for cleanup of federal sites. Finally, we will offer some tips and suggestions for what government contractors can be doing now to anticipate and prepare for possible government actions and, potentially, to recover its PFAS cleanup and litigation costs from the government.