S. 3446 — A bill to require the Secretary of Defense to submit a strategy to accelerate the response efforts of the Department of Defense with respect to releases of perfluoroalkyl substances or polyfluoroalkyl substances from the activities of the Department.

This section directs the Secretary of Defense to submit to the congressional defense committees, not later than 180 days after the date of enactment, a strategy to accelerate Department of Defense response efforts with respect to releases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from department activities, consistent with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The strategy must include (1) criteria to prioritize response actions at military installations and National Guard facilities based on relative risk to human health and the environment; (2) timelines for completing each phase of the CERCLA cleanup process at each such site; (3) a plan to deploy additional technologies, personnel, or resources to reduce remediation delays, including the number of department-accredited laboratories for PFAS testing and the number in the process of accreditation; and (4) benchmarks to evaluate performance of each military department and Defense Agency in reducing relative risk from PFAS releases. This section further directs the Secretary, not later than one year after the date of enactment, to publish on a public Department of Defense website an online dashboard—updated semiannually—summarizing (1) obligated and expended funding for PFAS response efforts, disaggregated by site; (2) status of CERCLA response efforts (including interim removal actions) at each site; (3) projected and actual timelines for response actions at each site; and (4) community engagement points of contact. This section defines terms for the section, including CERCLA, National Guard facility, removal, and response (as in 10 U.S.C. §2700) and Defense Agency (as in 10 U.S.C. §101(a)).