Naval Air Station Patuxent River

Naval Air Station Patuxent River, often called Pax River, is a United States Navy installation in Lexington Park, St. Mary's County, Maryland. Commissioned on April 1, 1943, the station was built to consolidate the Navy's scattered aircraft testing facilities and occupies roughly 6,400 acres at Cedar Point, where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Today it serves as the Navy's principal center for aircraft test and evaluation, hosting the headquarters of Naval Air Systems Command, the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and the Atlantic Test Range. The installation also operates the Webster Field annex in nearby St. Inigoes. Generations of sailors, Marines, and civilian personnel have lived and worked at the base since World War II.

Decades of aircraft maintenance, firefighting training, and on-base waste disposal left a legacy of environmental contamination. Landfills and disposal areas at Pax River received sewage treatment sludge, paints, solvents, thinners, and pesticides, and later investigations found additional chemicals in soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water. Several categories of contaminants have been documented at the installation.

1. PFAS, a family of man-made compounds sometimes called forever chemicals, have been detected at all 16 areas of interest sampled at Pax River and at the Webster Field annex. Navy site inspections begun after a 2018 preliminary assessment found the chemicals in shallow groundwater that seeps toward local creeks and rivers, and reports released in 2021 described PFOS in Webster Field groundwater at levels far above federal health advisories. A Maryland Department of the Environment pilot study detected very low levels of PFAS in St. Mary's River surface water near Webster Field but found no PFAS in oysters sampled there, and the state reported no levels of concern for recreation or oyster consumption. PFAS exposure has been associated in some studies with certain cancers and other health conditions.
2. AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) was used at the station for firefighting and crash response training. The foam is a primary source of the PFAS found in soil and groundwater at hangars, fire training areas, and other sites on base, raising concerns about potential exposure for firefighters and others who handled it.
3. Solvents and thinners from aircraft maintenance and industrial shops were disposed of in base landfills, and chlorinated solvents have been identified in groundwater. Long-term exposure to certain industrial solvents has been associated with potential neurological and cancer-related health concerns.
4. Heavy metals, including lead-contaminated soil, have been documented at disposal areas on the installation. Exposure to lead and other heavy metals has been linked to potential neurological, kidney, and developmental effects.

The Environmental Protection Agency added Naval Air Station Patuxent River to the Superfund National Priorities List on May 31, 1994. Under the Navy's cleanup program with EPA and state oversight, remedies such as landfill caps, soil excavation, bioremediation, and institutional controls have been completed at many sites, with periodic five-year reviews finding the remedies protective. Remedial investigations of PFAS sites at Pax River and Webster Field are ongoing alongside the legacy Superfund work, and Navy sampling of on-base drinking water wells through 2020 reported no PFAS detections.

Veterans and family members who served at Pax River may want to follow the Navy's environmental restoration updates and EPA site documents as the PFAS investigations progress. Anyone with questions about past exposure or current health concerns may benefit from discussing their service history with a VA health care provider and reviewing VA guidance on environmental exposures.