[Military Environmental Forum] COAST GUARD: "Coast Guard’s Reported $448 Million Environmental Liability for Shore Infrastructure"

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

Environmental Liabilities:Coast Guard Should Give Congress More Information on Millions of Dollars in Potential Costs

GAO-26-108173
Government Accountability Office
July 14, 2026

As of September 2025, the Coast Guard reported about $448 million in environmental liabilities related to its shore infrastructure. This includes about $228 million for structures, like housing, presumed to be contaminated with asbestos-containing material or lead-based paint based on their age. It also includes about $220 million in cleanup projects at sites with a known or suspected release of contaminants.

Several factors create uncertainty that could potentially lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional cleanup costs that the Coast Guard has not communicated to Congress. For example, the Coast Guard has identified properties which may be contaminated with “forever chemicals” (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS]), which could increase its fiscal exposure by hundreds of millions of dollars more than it reports. Providing additional context on the potential or likely fiscal exposure associated with contaminants the Coast Guard has identified would give Congress better insight into the total potential fiscal exposure.

…

For the summary and link to the full report, go to
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108173

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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