Following Silence FROM DOD on 25-YEAR Delay to PFAS Clean-up in Orange County, Congressman PAT RYAN and Hudson Valley Community Rally Against “massive Betrayal”
September 8, 2026 Press Release Following Silence from DoD on 25-Year Delay to PFAS Clean-Up in Orange County, Congressman Pat Ryan and Hudson Valley Community Rally Against “Massive Betrayal” Last month, when DoD announced delays to critical PFAS cleanup efforts at Stewart Air National Guard Base, Ryan immediately raised the alarm and called on Secretary Hegseth to restore the initial timeline Friday, after receiving no response from DoD and instead facing even further delays, Ryan rallied with community members and advocates against the “massive betrayal” to the Hudson Valley Toxic chemical contamination at Stewart has poisoned the drinking water for Newburgh, one of the largest cities in NY-18; this phase of DoD’s remediation effort was meant to be completed this month, but is being delayed by 25 years to 2051 NEWBURGH, NY – Last week, Congressman Pat Ryan – a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Iraq War combat veteran, and the first West Point graduate to represent the Academy in Congress – rallied with local community members and advocates in Newburgh against the decades-long delay of PFAS remediation efforts in Orange County, following news this week that the timeline has been pushed back for a third time. DoD’s remedial investigation and feasibility study, a key step toward determining a permanent cleanup plan, was expected to be completed in September 2026, but has now been delayed 25 years, to 2051. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are toxic “forever chemicals” impacting the health and safety of servicemembers at and around more than 500 U.S. military installations. The PFAS contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base has tainted the drinking water in Newburgh, one of the Hudson Valley’s largest cities. When delays were reported last month, Ryan immediately raised the alarm and wrote to Secretary Hegseth demanding that DoD restore all existing PFAS remediation efforts and timelines, provide a detailed written briefing within 30 days, and commit publicly and in writing that no further delays will be imposed without written justification citing specific, documented technical or legal necessity. After receiving no response from DoD and instead facing even further delays , Ryan’s rally brought together community members, local advocates, and leaders to call for accountability, demand answers from DoD, and push for PFAS remediation. “Every American – especially our kids – deserves to have clean drinking water. For years, we’ve been fighting hard to ensure clean, safe drinking water is available in every Hudson Valley community, including those around Stewart Air National Guard Base. This critical step was supposed to be completed today. Instead, inexplicably, Hegseth’s DoD has chosen to deprioritize the project and pushed back the timeline 25 years. It’s a massive betrayal, and we’re fighting back, ” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “We’re still facing a public health crisis in the Hudson Valley, and the federal government should be speeding up the clean-up, not slowing it down by decades. Our community is coming together with one voice and a clear message for Hegseth’s DoD: we deserve better, and we won’t stop fighting until every one of our neighbors has access to clean water. We are not giving up this fight.” “It is unacceptable that the Department of Defense is delaying this cleanup for an unprecedented 20-plus years while the people of Newburgh and New Windsor have live with the consequences,” said Riverkeeper Senior Director of Advocacy, Policy, and Planning Dan Shapley. “Riverkeeper has spent the last decade fighting to protect this community while the full remediation process inches forward. What we can't afford now is to lose the momentum we've finally built. This year's interim projects are proof that meaningful progress is possible right now, not just on some far-off cleanup horizon. Our message to every decisionmaker up the chain is simple: Don’t stand in the way of progress.” “Newburgh has been waiting years for the Stewart Air National Guard Base PFAS cleanup to conclude the Remedial Investigation phase,” said David H Toman, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. “We cannot allow this cleanup process to be delayed unnecessarily, and we stand with Congressman Ryan and the Newburgh community in calling on the Department of Defense to complete the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study without further delay and keep the cleanup moving forward. Clean drinking water and the health of our community should not, and can not, wait decades for action; the time for action is now.” “The Department of Defense’s decision to further delay the PFAS cleanup at Stewart Air National Guard Base by more than 2 decades is a direct betrayal of public health and destroys any trust this community had in the military's remediation process. Forcing families to wait decades while toxic "forever chemicals" run off the base is an unforgiveable environmental injustice and we deserve better. This delay condemns yet another generation to a poisoned environment and passes a heavy, exhausting burden for clean water down to my daughters—and quite possibly their future children—leaving them an inheritance of toxic exposure. Our community demands a timely restoration of our land and watershed,” said Jennifer Rawlison,
Community Co-Chair of the SANG Restoration Advisory Board and Newburgh Clean
Water Project Steering Committee Member. “The science is clear: there is no known safe level of exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals,” said Rob Hayes, Senior Director of Clean Water with Environmental Advocates NY. “Newburgh residents have already waited far too long for the Department of Defense to remediate PFAS contamination in and around Stewart Air National Guard Base and Washington Lake. Delaying the start of cleanup efforts for more than 20 years is unconscionable when contamination of the surrounding environment is still ongoing, putting clean water and the health of the community at risk. We stand with our local partners and officials to demand that the Department of Defense abandon any attempts to delay PFAS cleanup and instead remediate this pollution as swiftly as possible.” “This Administration promised to “make America healthy again”, but delaying cleanup of PFAS forever chemicals will only do the opposite,” said Mike Schade of Toxic-Free Future, a national environmental health research and advocacy organization, and a member of the Stewart Air National Guard Restoration Advisory Board (RAB). “We need faster, not slower cleanup of these toxic chemicals, to put Americans’ health first. Pushing this process out for decades is a slap in the face to the residents of Newburgh and New Windsor, who were exposed to PFAS chemicals for far too long. We need urgent action to protect the Hudson Valley from these toxic forever chemicals.” “Newburgh doesn't drink its own water anymore. Firefighting foam from the air base contaminated our reservoir, so we now buy our water from New York City,” said Council Member Ronald Zorrilla. “New York State has been paying that bill for pollution we didn't create. If that ever stops, our residents face an 80- to 90-percent rate increase. But buying us water is not a cleanup. The Defense Department doesn't get to rent its way out of this until 2051.” ### Issues : Clean Air, Soil, and Water for All Freedom for All
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September 8, 2026 Press Release Following Silence from DoD on 25-Year Delay to PFAS Clean-Up in Orange County, Congressman Pat Ryan and Hudson Valley Community Rally Against “Massive Betrayal” Last month, when DoD announced delays to critical PFAS cleanup efforts at Stewart Air National Guard Base, Ryan immediately raised the alarm and called on Secretary Hegseth to restore the initial timeline Friday, after receiving no response from DoD and instead facing even further delays, Ryan rallied with community members and advocates against the “massive betrayal” to the Hudson Valley Toxic chemical contamination at Stewart has poisoned the drinking water for Newburgh, one of the largest cities in NY-18; this phase of DoD’s remediation effort was meant to be completed this month, but is being delayed by 25 years to 2051 NEWBURGH, NY – Last week, Congressman Pat Ryan – a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Iraq War combat veteran, and the first West Point graduate to represent the Academy in Congress – rallied with local community members and advocates in Newburgh against the decades-long delay of PFAS remediation efforts in Orange County, following news this week that the timeline has been pushed back for a third time. DoD’s remedial investigation and feasibility study, a key step toward determining a permanent cleanup plan, was expected to be completed in September 2026, but has now been delayed 25 years, to 2051. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are toxic “forever chemicals” impacting the health and safety of servicemembers at and around more than 500 U.S. military installations. The PFAS contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base has tainted the drinking water in Newburgh, one of the Hudson Valley’s largest cities. When delays were reported last month, Ryan immediately raised the alarm and wrote to Secretary Hegseth demanding that DoD restore all existing PFAS remediation efforts and timelines, provide a detailed written briefing within 30 days, and commit publicly and in writing that no further delays will be imposed without written justification citing specific, documented technical or legal necessity. After receiving no response from DoD and instead facing even further delays , Ryan’s rally brought together community members, local advocates, and leaders to call for accountability, demand answers from DoD, and push for PFAS remediation. “Every American – especially our kids – deserves to have clean drinking water. For years, we’ve been fighting hard to ensure clean, safe drinking water is available in every Hudson Valley community, including those around Stewart Air National Guard Base. This critical step was supposed to be completed today. Instead, inexplicably, Hegseth’s DoD has chosen to deprioritize the project and pushed back the timeline 25 years. It’s a massive betrayal, and we’re fighting back, ” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “We’re still facing a public health crisis in the Hudson Valley, and the federal government should be speeding up the clean-up, not slowing it down by decades. Our community is coming together with one voice and a clear message for Hegseth’s DoD: we deserve better, and we won’t stop fighting until every one of our neighbors has access to clean water. We are not giving up this fight.” “It is unacceptable that the Department of Defense is delaying this cleanup for an unprecedented 20-plus years while the people of Newburgh and New Windsor have live with the consequences,” said Riverkeeper Senior Director of Advocacy, Policy, and Planning Dan Shapley. “Riverkeeper has spent the last decade fighting to protect this community while the full remediation process inches forward. What we can't afford now is to lose the momentum we've finally built. This year's interim projects are proof that meaningful progress is possible right now, not just on some far-off cleanup horizon. Our message to every decisionmaker up the chain is simple: Don’t stand in the way of progress.” “Newburgh has been waiting years for the Stewart Air National Guard Base PFAS cleanup to conclude the Remedial Investigation phase,” said David H Toman, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. “We cannot allow this cleanup process to be delayed unnecessarily, and we stand with Congressman Ryan and the Newburgh community in calling on the Department of Defense to complete the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study without further delay and keep the cleanup moving forward. Clean drinking water and the health of our community should not, and can not, wait decades for action; the time for action is now.” “The Department of Defense’s decision to further delay the PFAS cleanup at Stewart Air National Guard Base by more than 2 decades is a direct betrayal of public health and destroys any trust this community had in the military's remediation process. Forcing families to wait decades while toxic "forever chemicals" continue to run off the base is an unforgivable environmental injustice and we deserve better. Our community demands a timely restoration of our land and watershed,” said Jennifer Rawlison, Community Co-Chair of the SANG Restoration Advisory Board and Newburgh Clean Water Project Steering Committee Member. “The science is clear: there is no known safe level of exposure to toxic PFAS chemicals,” said Rob Hayes, Senior Director of Clean Water with Environmental Advocates NY. “Newburgh residents have already waited far too long for the Department of Defense to remediate PFAS contamination in and around Stewart Air National Guard Base and Washington Lake. Delaying the start of cleanup efforts for more than 20 years is unconscionable when contamination of the surrounding environment is still ongoing, putting clean water and the health of the community at risk. We stand with our local partners and officials to demand that the Department of Defense abandon any attempts to delay PFAS cleanup and instead remediate this pollution as swiftly as possible.” “This Administration promised to “make America healthy again”, but delaying cleanup of PFAS forever chemicals will only do the opposite,” said Mike Schade of Toxic-Free Future, a national environmental health research and advocacy organization, and a member of the Stewart Air National Guard Restoration Advisory Board (RAB). “We need faster, not slower cleanup of these toxic chemicals, to put Americans’ health first. Pushing this process out for decades is a slap in the face to the residents of Newburgh and New Windsor, who were exposed to PFAS chemicals for far too long. We need urgent action to protect the Hudson Valley from these toxic forever chemicals.” “Newburgh doesn't drink its own water anymore. Firefighting foam from the air base contaminated our reservoir, so we now buy our water from New York City,” said Council Member Ronald Zorrilla. “New York State has been paying that bill for pollution we didn't create. If that ever stops, our residents face an 80- to 90-percent rate increase. But buying us water is not a cleanup. The Defense Department doesn't get to rent its way out of this until 2051.” ### Issues : Clean Air, Soil, and Water for All Freedom for All
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