Title: Prompt and Fast Action to Stop Damages Act of 2019
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Prompt and Fast Action to Stop Damages Act of 2019
This bill authorizes military departments to provide water for agricultural purposes in areas in which activities on a military installation have contaminated a water source with perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances, such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). The military departments may provide uncontaminated water or provide treatment for contaminated water. The agricultural products produced must be destined for human consumption.
The Department of the Air Force may acquire certain real property adjacent to an Air Force base that has shown signs of contamination from PFOA and PFOS due to activities on the base.
The Department of Defense must submit to Congress a remediation plan for water at or adjacent to a military base that is contaminated with PFOA or PFOS.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1567 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1567

  To authorize the Department of Defense to temporarily provide water 
 uncontaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane 
    sulfonate (PFOS) for agricultural purposes to areas affected by 
    contamination from military installations, and to authorize the 
   Secretary of the Air Force to acquire real property to extend the 
 contiguous geographic footprint of any Air Force base that has shown 
  signs of contamination from PFOA and PFOS due to activities on the 
                     base, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2019

   Mr. Lujan (for himself, Ms. Haaland, and Ms. Torres Small of New 
   Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on 
   Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Department of Defense to temporarily provide water 
 uncontaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane 
    sulfonate (PFOS) for agricultural purposes to areas affected by 
    contamination from military installations, and to authorize the 
   Secretary of the Air Force to acquire real property to extend the 
 contiguous geographic footprint of any Air Force base that has shown 
  signs of contamination from PFOA and PFOS due to activities on the 
                     base, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prompt and Fast Action to Stop 
Damages Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) PFAS.--The term ``PFAS'' means perfluoroalkyl and 
        polyfluoroalkyl substances.
            (2) PFOA.--The term ``PFOA'' means perfluorooctanoic acid.
            (3) PFOS.--The term ``PFOS'' means perfluorooctane 
        sulfonate.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of 
        industries around the world, including in the United States 
        since the 1940s.
            (2) PFAS are found in many consumer products like cookware, 
        food packaging, and stain repellants.
            (3) PFAS manufacturing and processing facilities and 
        airports and military installations that use firefighting foams 
        are some of the main sources of PFAS contamination in large 
        concentrations that can lead to human exposure.
            (4) There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to 
        adverse health effects in humans.
            (5) PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals that includes 
        PFOA and PFOS.
            (6) PFOA and PFOS have been the most extensively produced 
        and studied of the PFAS chemicals.
            (7) PFOA and PFOS are very persistent in the environment 
        and in the human body, meaning they do not break down and can 
        accumulate over time.
            (8) Studies indicate that PFOA and PFOS can cause 
        reproductive and developmental, liver and kidney, and 
        immunological effects in laboratory animals.
            (9) The Environmental Protection Agency is beginning the 
        necessary steps--
                    (A) to propose designating PFOA and PFOS as 
                hazardous substances through one of the available 
                statutory mechanisms, including section 102 of the 
                Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
                Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9602); and
                    (B) to set a maximum contaminant level under the 
                Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.).
            (10) In the 1970s, the Air Force began purchasing and using 
        aqueous film-forming foam containing PFOA and PFOS for 
        extinguishing petroleum fires and during firefighting training 
        activities.
            (11) The Air Force has used a proactive, comprehensive 
        approach to identify installations where aqueous film-forming 
        foam containing PFOA or PFOS has been used and there is a 
        suspected release that may impact drinking water and expose 
        humans to PFOA and PFOS.
            (12) The Air Force uses authorities granted under the 
        Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
        Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) and the Defense 
        Environmental Restoration Program under chapter 160 of title 
        10, United States Code, to ensure that no one is drinking water 
        containing unacceptable levels of PFOA or PFOS due to Air Force 
        activities.
            (13) The Air Force provides alternative sources of drinking 
        water, including filters or connections to public utilities, to 
        provide longer-term assurances that individuals are not 
        drinking water containing unacceptable levels of PFOA or PFOS.
            (14) The Air Force asserts that authorities under the 
        Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
        Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.) do not extend to 
        the provision of clean water for livestock or agricultural 
        purposes.
            (15) Livestock and agriculture are produced for human 
        consumption in items such as milk and dairy and provide a 
        direct pathway for human exposure to PFOA and PFOS.
            (16) Under section 634 of the Departments of Commerce, 
        Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies 
        Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-119; 111 Stat. 2525), 
        the Department of Defense was authorized to use available funds 
        to compensate cranberry growers adjacent to the Massachusetts 
        Military Reservation, Cape Code, Massachusetts, for commercial 
        loss of crops in 1997 due to the presence of ethylene dibromide 
        in groundwater, demonstrating previous recognition by Congress 
        of the need to provide compensation for damages associated with 
        chemical releases at military installations.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress--
            (1) supports temporary, explicit, authority for the 
        Department of Defense to address indirect pathways to human 
        exposure from PFOA and PFOS until such time as the Federal 
        agencies with oversight over agricultural products and food 
        have established regulatory standards; and
            (2) supports the designation by the Environmental 
        Protection Agency of PFAS as hazardous chemicals.

SEC. 4. PROVISION OF WATER UNCONTAMINATED WITH PERFLUOROOCTANOIC ACID 
              (PFOA) AND PERFLUOROOCTANE SULFONATE (PFOS) FOR 
              AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES.

    (a) Authority.--
            (1) In general.--Using amounts appropriated or otherwise 
        made available for operation and maintenance for the military 
        department concerned, or for operation and maintenance Defense-
        wide in the case of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary 
        concerned may provide water sources uncontaminated with 
        perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, including PFOA 
        and PFOS, or treatment of contaminated waters, for agricultural 
        purposes used to produce products destined for human 
        consumption in an area in which a water source has been 
        determined pursuant to paragraph (2) to be contaminated with 
        such compounds by reason of activities on a military 
        installation under the jurisdiction of the Secretary concerned.
            (2) Applicable standard.--For purposes of paragraph (1), an 
        area is determined to be contaminated with PFOA or PFOS if--
                    (A) the level of contamination is above the 
                Lifetime Health Advisory for contamination with such 
                compounds issued by the Environmental Protection Agency 
                and printed in the Federal Register on May 25, 2016; or
                    (B) on or after the date the Food and Drug 
                Administration sets a standard for PFOA and PFOS in raw 
                agricultural commodities and milk, the level of 
                contamination is above such standard.
    (b) Secretary Concerned Defined.--In this section, the term 
``Secretary concerned'' means the following:
            (1) The Secretary of the Army, with respect to the Army.
            (2) The Secretary of the Navy, with respect to the Navy, 
        the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard (when it is operating as 
        a service in the Navy).
            (3) The Secretary of the Air Force, with respect to the Air 
        Force.
            (4) The Secretary of Defense, with respect to the Defense 
        Agencies.

SEC. 5. ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY BY AIR FORCE.

    (a) Authority.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of the Air Force may acquire 
        one or more parcels of real property within the vicinity of an 
        Air Force base that has shown signs of contamination from PFOA 
        and PFOS due to activities on the base and which would extend 
        the contiguous geographic footprint of the base and increase 
        the force protection standoff near critical infrastructure and 
        runways.
            (2) Improvements and personal property.--The authority 
        under paragraph (1) to acquire real property described in that 
        paragraph includes the authority to purchase improvements and 
        personal property located on that real property.
            (3) Relocation expenses.--The authority under paragraph (1) 
        to acquire real property described in that paragraph shall 
        include the authority to provide Federal financial assistance 
        for moving costs, relocation benefits, and other expenses 
        incurred in accordance with the Uniform Relocation Assistance 
        and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (42 U.S.C. 
        4601 et seq.).
    (b) Environmental Activities.--The Air Force shall conduct such 
activities at a parcel or parcels of real property acquired under 
subsection (a) as are necessary to remediate contamination from PFOA 
and PFOS related to activities at the Air Force base.
    (c) Funding.--Funds for the land acquisitions authorized under 
subsection (a) shall be derived from amounts appropriated for fiscal 
year 2020 for military construction or unobligated balances available 
for military construction.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--The authority under this section 
constitutes authority to carry out land acquisitions for purposes of 
section 2802 of title 10, United States Code.

SEC. 6. REMEDIATION PLAN.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to 
Congress a remediation plan for cleanup of all water at or adjacent to 
a military base that is contaminated with PFOA or PFOS.
    (b) Study.--In preparing the remediation plan under subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall conduct a study on the contamination of water at 
military bases with PFOA or PFOS.
    (c) Budget Amount.--The Secretary shall ensure that each budget of 
the President submitted to Congress under section 1105(a) of title 31, 
United States Code, requests funding in amounts necessary to address 
remediation efforts under the remediation plan submitted under 
subsection (a).
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