In an article published on May 19, 2026, the New York Times reported that New Mexico’s litigation against the federal government concerning PFAS contamination at military bases in the state, in which K&W is counsel, “will become an important benchmark in how the more than 15,000 similar PFAS suits nationwide are treated in court.”
The report comes on the heels of a verbal agreement between the State and the federal government that will have the State leading the off-base investigation and cleanup at Cannon Air Force Base, where releases of PFAS have infiltrated groundwater and spread to nearby dairy farms. However, the agreement “does nothing to address the deeper questions of responsibility,” the NYT reports. The report further notes that Holloman Air Force Base is also severely contaminated (and this contamination has spread in record numbers to migratory game birds in the area), which is another subject of litigation between the parties and not subject to the verbal agreement. Thus, much remains to be done in resolving New Mexico’s legal claims against the federal government.
The New York Times article is available here; New Mexico’s press release regarding the verbal agreement can be found here.