Air Force secretive about PFAS contamination at Martin Air National Guard base in Maryland
The public must rely on Lockheed Martin Corporation for PFAS data.
Air Force decision to end the flying mission of the base is met with bipartisan opposition from Maryland lawmakers.
It’s about jobs at the expense of the environment.
.By Pat Elder
February 14, 2024
16 A-10C Thunderbolt II (Warthog) aircraft assigned to the 175th Wing, Maryland Air National Guard, conducted an “elephant walk” at Martin State Airport, Middle River, Md., November 3, 2021. (U.S. Air National Guard photo)
The Air Force has been secretive about the environmental damage it has caused as a result of its reckless use of PFAS in firefighting foams and other applications at Martin State Air National Guard Base near Baltimore, Maryland. Although the DOD says the Preliminary Assessment and Site Inspection are completed for Martin Air National Guard base, the records have not been been made public. The records are important because they inform the public on the levels and extent of PFAS contamination in the environment.
Congress requires the DOD to conduct investigations and take action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, at National Guard facilities where there are known or suspected DoD PFAS releases.
The last we’ve seen from the Air Force is a four-page May 4, 2021 technical memorandum that documented eleven sites on base with sufficient evidence of PFAS contamination of the environment that warranted additional investigation. Since then, the Air Force has failed to release further documentation of the contamination.
History of contamination
Located on 750 acres of waterfront property in Middle River, Md., the Glenn L. Martin State Airport is operated as a general aviation facility by the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) and is the operations home for the Maryland Air National Guard.
The property was purchased by the State of Maryland from the Martin Marietta Corporation in 1975. As the former site owner, Lockheed Martin bears a degree of responsibility for the environmental damage done to the region.
Prior to 1991 investigations at the facility were conducted by the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP). Sixteen toxic sites were identified as warranting further investigation. After several investigations the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) ruled that no further cleanup actions were necessary.
That changed in 1991 after bits of crushed, buried drums were discovered along the runway. Lockheed Martin became involved in the investigation when debris uncovered at the site suggested a link between Lockheed’s predecessor and the areas being probed.
The drums were found to contain toxic dried zinc-chromate paint. The Maryland Aviation Administration removed these drums and the MDE ordered additional studies when the drums were discovered. Tetrachloroethene [PCE], trichloroethene [TCE] and vinyl chloride [VC]) were detected at extraordinary levels in soil samples. These are the same chemicals that poisoned groundwater at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in groundwater at concentrations exceeding the EPA’s maximum contaminant levels for safe drinking water by more than a factor of 1,000 (Maryland Environmental Service [MES], 1994).
In groundwater samples, elevated concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), VOCs, and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) were detected, and concentrations of several metals (chromium, lead, and nickel) exceeded their respective MCLs. The TCE concentration at one well was four orders of magnitude greater than the Maximum Contaminant Level. High levels of petroleum–related benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) were detected in groundwater at several site locations.
Surface water
In 1997, the Maryland Aviation Administration looked at contamination in Frog Mortar Creek. Copper and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s) were detected at high concentrations in sediment samples (Apex Environmental, 1998). However, Maryland Environmental Services, MES determined that the concentrations in sediment were comparable to levels found in other sediment samples collected in the Chesapeake Bay, and that they posed no public health or environmental concerns with respect to surface water or bottom sediment quality.
In December, 2020, the Lockheed Martin Corporation published an investigation report on PFAS at Martin State Airport that described the presence of 7 PFAS compounds totaling 15,520 ppt in the groundwater very close to shore of Frog Mortar Creek. Is this report intended to be a substitute for the missing CERCLA documents?
PFOA was reported at a concentration of 2,300 ppt which is 575,000 times over the EPA’s interim health advisory. The PFOS at 7,800 ppt is 390,000 times over the threshold.
The red dot shows the location of groundwater testing near Frog Mortar Creek that showed 15,520 ppt of total PFAS.
The base and runway are located at the confluence of the environmentally sensitive Middle River, Frog Mortar Creek, and Stansbury Creek in Baltimore County.
Aqueous film-forming foam containing PFAS compounds was used and discarded at several fire training areas on base. Highly toxic sites include maintenance buildings, hangars, and places where fuels and oils were stored. PFAS was allowed to flow into surrounding creeks and rivers through storm water outfalls. Oysters, crabs, and fish are contaminated and people shouldn’t eat them.
The red marker shows the Maryland Department of the Environment’s sampling site for water and fish in the Middle River.
In 2023, the MDE reported finding 9.62 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOS in the water at the mouth of the Middle River where it enters the Chesapeake Bay, approximately 2 miles from the Air National Guard base. PFOS (perfluoro octane sulfonic acid) is known to bioaccumulate in fish at levels that are hundreds to thousands of times ambient water levels. The MDE did not report on any other PFAS compounds while the base is uses many types of PFAS, some that also bioaccumulate in fish.
It's not surprising, then, that the MDE says it found 12,400 ppt of PFOS in a White Perch and 18,340 ppt of PFOS in a Yellow Perch.
What does it mean? The EPA’s interim health advisory for PFOS in drinking water is .02 ppt. The Yellow Perch is nearly a million times above this limit. Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant ought to be warned. Everyone ought to be warned.
An obscure MDE website advises the public to avoid eating Yellow Perch from the Middle River while it says people can consume one white perch every other month. What else is the state doing to warn the public? It’s been over two years since a fish advisory was posted for Piscataway Creek which drains Joint Base Andrews, but we have never seen a sign where people fish.
The MDE also warns the public not to consume Channel Catfish in the Middle River. It says we should limit Large & Smallmouth Bass to one fish per month; Catfish to 4 meals a month; Brown Bullhead to 2 meals per month; and Spot to 5 meals a month. We don’t know how contaminated these fish are, although the MDE reported that a Largemouth Bass caught near Joint Base Andrews contained 94,200 ppt of PFOS, while the state says the fish taken from the Potomac River are still OK to consume.
The MDE says it’s OK to eat 6 crabs a month from the Middle River. The Maryland agency also advises the public to eat no more than 6 crabs a month from Back River, Middle River, and the Patapsco River, including Baltimore Harbor. The Maryland Department of the Environment has not published crab test results for PFOS or any other PFAS compound.
In 2020, PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) tested backfin crabmeat in St. Inigoes Creek in St. Mary’s City, a half-mile from a small Navy base and found 6,650 ppt of total PFAS. We can expect higher levels of PFAS in crabs in the Middle River.
Crab tomalley or “mustard” is a delicacy for Marylanders, but we shouldn’t eat it and we shouldn’t eat the crabmeat without knowing it’s levels of toxicity.
The MDE says the public should avoid eating the crab tomalley, or mustard in Back River, Middle River, Patapsco River, and Baltimore Harbor. In all other areas of the bay, the public is advised to eat the tomalley “sparingly.”
Advising the public to eat crab tomalley “sparingly” is the state’s way of saying a little bit of poison won’t hurt you too badly. Tomalley in crabs caught near military and industrial sites may contain high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, (PCBs), dioxin, mercury, and PFOA. Although PFOS tends to accumulate in fish, PFOA, a deadly kind of PFAS, settles in crustaceans. The MDE doesn’t track it, or at least they don’t share what they know.
Few care about this. The state wants to protect jobs related to the seafood industry and recreational fishing. It also wants to protect jobs provided by the military.
Although Lockheed Martin Corporation is apparently in charge, the state of Maryland bears some of the responsibility for the contamination from the Air National Guard base. The Maryland Air National Guard has both a federal and a state mission. In peacetime, the governor of each state commands the Air National Guard. Maryland Governor Wes Moore ought to be able to release the Preliminary Assessment and Site Inspection on PFAS from the base. He could also prevail on the MDE to do a better job protecting public health from the scourge of PFAS.
Jobs over the environment
An A-10 Warthog is shown here with a seven-barrel Gatling-style autocannon. Photo: US Air Force
The 175th Wing of the Maryland Air National Guard at Martin State Airport has been in the news lately, although it has nothing to do with PFAS. The Air Force is in the process of retiring the A-10 "Warthog" aircraft based at the airbase, jeopardizing hundreds of jobs of support personnel.
In a rare display of bipartisanship, Maryland’s federal and state officials are stumbling over each to stop the Warthogs from leaving the state, or they are asking the Air Force to keep the flying mission of the base intact with other fighter jets. Maryland U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D). and U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D) implored the Air Force to safeguard the jobs.
Every Maryland delegate from Baltimore County signed a letter to Air Force Secretary Kendall imploring him to keep the flying wing of the Air National Guard at Martin State Airport. Delegate Nawrocki from Middle River, commented, “The Maryland Air National Guard accounts for 545 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs in Baltimore County and the state. If we lost this fighter mission it would have a devastating impact on our local economy.”
In order to give the Maryland Air National Guard a better chance of retaining a flying mission, state officials plan to renovate the runway at Martin State. There is talk of substituting the Warthog with F-35 and F-16 aircraft.
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