By Jason McNabb
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ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico (KVIA) — From a distance, Holloman Lake looks like a nice spot to park an RV, go camping, and enjoy the water.
But once one gets a whiff of the air, which faintly smells of rotten eggs, and gets close enough to see the yellow-ish color of the water, it’s clear that getting in might be a bad idea.
“Somebody might go swimming in the lake, somebody’s dogs might come down here, someone’s children might come down into this lake,” said Jeremiah, a camper at Lake Holloman that had just learned about the severity of the contamination.
Holloman Lake was built in the 1960s to collect stormwater, and waste from a water treatment plant at Holloman Air Force Base.
Now, it serves as a wastewater catch basin for the base, and it’s facing massive a pollution problem.
An investigation from the New Mexico Environment Department found record amounts of perfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS chemicals, have been discovered in the water, as well as the nearby soil, plants and animals.
The investigation’s report was released this January.
“[PFAS are] really strong chemicals, it’s in virtually everything we encounter in our lives, it’s proven to be toxic now, and it bioaccumulates in our bodies. The more we’re exposed, the more we ingest it, the more it builds up in your body,” said NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney.
He says exposure to PFAS can lead to cancer, reproductive problems, developmental delays, and organ issues, and these issues don’t stop at one’s self.
“Those are things that become generational, because you pass PFAS to a child,” said Kenney.
The U.S. Air Force started testing for these chemicals in the late 2010s at bases all across the country.
Every base in New Mexico tested positive, including Holloman AFB, Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, and Cannon AFB near Clovis.
Both defense and state environmental officials say years of firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals used in training exercises at the base is the likely cause for the pollution.
Those types of firefighting foams were slated to be phased out of use in the U.S. military by October of 2024, under the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
The discovery of the chemicals by the U.S. Air Force led the New Mexico Environmental Department to conduct additional testing, which uncovered the extent of the contamination at Holloman Lake.
“New Mexico now has the unfortunate title we never wanted, title we’d gladly yield to someone else, levels of PFAS ever scientifically discovered on planet earth,” said Kenney.
The state’s report found that a Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat caught at the lake tested 900 times higher for the level of PFAS that is considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, better known as the EPA.
Researchers worry migratory birds at the lake can spread the chemicals further.
The PFAS in the water creates a foam that coats the surrounding beach, rocks, and vegetation at the lake, which researchers believe could make its way into the air.
During ABC-7’s visit, remnants of the foam could be seen lining the lake.
At least a dozen campers were parked alongside the lake, including a couple who had just arrived to camp for the next couple of days.
After being informed about the pollution, the couple told ABC-7 they felt unsafe.
Minutes later, they were seen leaving the campground area and heading back onto U.S. 70.
More campers told ABC-7 they had just learned of the contamination earlier in the day.
One person even said they had seen children playing near the water days earlier.
Holloman Air Force base declined an interview with ABC-7, but in a statement, a spokesperson for the base said “protecting human health and the environment is a top Department of the Air Force Environmental Priority and we have taken aggressive steps at Holloman to meet that priority.”
When ABC-7 visited the lake, it had no posted warning about contamination.
It only had a sign that stated the water isn’t drinkable, and that swimming, fishing, and boating aren’t allowed.
The spokesperson for the base says bird and wildlife hunting was banned at the lake in 2019, but NMED Secretary Kenney says the Air Force needs to cut off access to the lake completely.
The lake is on Holloman Air Force Base property, but has been open to the public since the 1990s.
According to a spokesperson for the base, the lake was part of a land transfer from the Bureau of Land Management through the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996.
The spokesperson said that act requires the Air Force to allow public access to the lake area.
The spokesperson said additionally, the base has spent $2.9 million dollars investigating the contamination.
If the investigation finds unacceptable conditions, the spokesperson says it could give the EPA authority to clean up the site, creating a Superfund.
There are currently 14 active EPA Superfund cleanup sites in the state, including one in Las Cruces.
The spokesperson added drinking water sources for the base and nearby Alamogordo have not been affected.
However, the New Mexico Environment Department believes the Air Force needs to be doing more, and has filed two lawsuits against them, seeking reimbursement damages caused by the pollution.
Lawmakers in Santa Fe also just introduced two new bills regarding PFAS, which would ban the sale of certain products containing the chemicals, and would allow the state to enforce cleanup duties upon the responsible party.
You can read the bills here, and here.
Both bills are now pending in front of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“Really, I think the Holloman study is a call to action, it’s New Mexico’s silent spring that we really need to take this seriously, and find a way through this. This isn’t the legacy we want to be known for,” said Kenney.
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