To: Board of Supervisors
From: Thomas Geiger, County Counsel
Report Title: Coalition of Airports Affected by Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Counsel, or designee, to execute an agreement, in an amount not to exceed $5,000 annually, to participate in a coalition of commercial and public airports affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to share information related to pending multi-district litigation in federal court in South Carolina.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The $5,000 cost of joining the coalition, and annual renewal costs, will be paid by the Airport Enterprise Fund.
BACKGROUND:
The County’s Buchanan Field Airport in Concord is required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide aircraft rescue and firefighting services using aqueous film-forming foam that meets military specifications. Per FAA regulations, the foam must include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) constituents. To maintain its FAA certification as a “Part 139” airport (an airport operating under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 139), Buchanan Field must comply with FAA mandates regarding firefighting foam.
PFAS are a class of thousands of toxic chemicals. PFAS are widely used in consumer products, including food packaging, cookware, clothing, carpets, shoes, fabrics, polishes, waxes, paints, and cleaning products, as well as in firefighting foams designed to quickly smother liquid fuel fires. These so-called “forever chemicals” are stable in the environment, resistant to degradation, persistent in soil, and known to leach into groundwater.
Beginning in March 2019, the California State Water Resources Control Board began an investigation into the storage and use of PFAS at Part 139 airports, including Buchanan Field. As a result, since 2019 the Airport has incurred more than $800,000 in costs for PFAS investigations and reporting. Costs are likely to increase as investigating, testing and monitoring continues, and to the extent the Water Board imposes cleanup requirements.
In recent years, over 16,000 individual cases have been filed against chemical companies to recover damages for environmental contamination caused by PFAS. The cases have been consolidated for coordinated pretrial proceedings as part of a federal multi-district litigation (MDL) before the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, as MDL Case No. 2873. Many of the plaintiffs generally allege that aqueous film-forming foams containing two types of PFAS contaminated groundwater near various military bases, airports, and other industrial sites where these foams were used to extinguish liquid fuel fires.
The coalition of commercial and public airports affected by PFAS would share information related to MDL Case No. 2873. Attorneys involved in the coalition will not appear, or be directly involved, in any court proceedings, but coalition counsel will work with retained plaintiffs’ counsel in the multi-district litigation to provide and evaluate information and legal strategy that would support each individual airport’s potential claims. This Board order authorizes the County to participate in the coalition, at a cost of up to $5,000 annually, but does not authorize the County to file a lawsuit in the multi-district PFAS litigation.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The County will not become a member of the coalition.
cc: Greg Baer, Director of Airports