The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) yesterday issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking scientific and technical information, technology testing, active research, and policy considerations related to PFAS disposal and destruction. The RFI includes topics such as data and reports related to PFAS-contaminated livestock, composting PFAS-contaminated livestock carcasses, PFAS destruction, incineration of PFAS-contaminated material, and data from placing PFAS-contaminated material in a hazardous waste landfill or associated research into short- and long-term risks, among other information.
The RFI comes on the heels of NMED’s condemnation of U.S. DOD’s failure to address PFAS-contaminated groundwater from New Mexico’s Cannon Air Force Base, which migrated offsite and resulted in the contamination, and ultimately euthanization, of the entire herd of 3,665 cows at the Highland Dairy farm (see press release). The cows and their milk were first discovered to have been contaminated in 2018, and since then NMED has been working with the state and U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to help the farm to plan for disposal and provide payments for lost value of the herd. The resulting Highland Dairy removal plan is the first of its kind nationally to address PFAS-contaminated cows as hazardous waste.
Responses to the RFI will be accepted until July 18 at the state’s public comment portal.
