SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — This month the U.S. Department of Defense quietly published a list of new timelines for PFAS cleanup at more than 100 military sites. Among them, Fairchild Air Force Base, which now faces a cleanup delay of six years.

"The idea of a six-year delay hurts us because it’s an immediate public health problem," said John Hancock, the president of the West Plains Water Coalition.

Hancock is also on Fairchild’s restoration advisory board, and says he wasn't in the know immediately.

“I heard about it when the New York Times reporter contacted me to say, ‘What do you know about Fairchild and what’s going on?’ That was Tuesday of last week," said Hancock.

He says he’s been fighting for years for a plan to clean up the toxic chemicals found in West Plains water, attribut

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