Left-wing MPs slam Costa over toxic legacy at Lajes Air Base

For residents of the Azores—and anyone on the mainland who relies on the archipelago’s fragile economy—the dispute over Lajes Field has returned with fresh urgency. Two left-wing parties, Livre and Bloco de Esquerda (BE), say laboratory results released last week confirm a wider plume of toxic chemicals than the Government previously admitted. They argue that Lisbon is allowing Washington to dictate the pace of clean-up, leaving families in Terceira Island exposed and former base workers still waiting for compensation.

A familiar quarrel, now super-charged

Prime Minister António Costa thought the matter had been contained after the 2023 bilateral accord that earmarked €62 M for decontamination. Yet Livre MP Rui Tavares and BE leader Mariana Mortágua claim the deal merely "moves paper" while per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) keep leaching into the water table. In parliamentary questions delivered Tuesday, both parties accused Costa of trying to tapar o sol com a peneira—the Portuguese idiom for pretending a problem does not exist. The Prime Minister’s office replied that “all targets remain on schedule,” but promised no extra funds.

New samples, old chemicals

An independent study financed by the University of the Azores detected PFAS concentrations of 174 ng/L in wells less than 1 km from the base perimeter. That is nearly six times the limit proposed by the European Commission for drinking water. Researchers also found elevated trichloroethylene—a solvent tied to liver cancer—in soil cores dating back to 1955 aircraft maintenance operations. Environmental engineer Patrícia Furtado, who led the fieldwork, argues that “the deeper plume is migrating faster than projected,” a claim the Ministry of Defence has not yet disputed in writing.

Human toll behind the statistics

Roughly 450 Portuguese civilians have been employed by the U.S. Air Force at Lajes since the Cold War. According to the Metalworkers’ Union of the Azores, at least 58 of them have developed respiratory diseases they link to chemical exposure. Manuel Sousa, a retired mechanic, describes working without proper masks while handling firefighting foam now known to contain PFAS. "The Americans paid me a salary, yes," he says, "but no one warned us about the poison." A class-action filed in Angra do Heroísmo last year seeks €15 M in damages; hearings resume in November.

Diplomatic friction on the runway

Portugal’s defence treaty with the United States, renewed every 5 years, is due for another review in 2026. The Foreign Ministry insists that cooperation at Lajes is "strategic for NATO" as it bridges the Atlantic refuelling gap between Europe and the Middle East. U.S. diplomats privately argue that they have already spent $50 M on remediation since 2012. Publicly they remind Lisbon that Pentagon budgets require congressional approval—an implicit nudge for Portuguese lawmakers to temper their rhetoric.

Azorean livelihoods in the balance

Beyond the geopolitical sparring, Terceira’s economy remains tightly bound to base operations. The most recent regional statistics show that 12 % of the island’s GDP is generated directly or indirectly by Lajes Field. Hoteliers and restaurant owners worry that an exodus of U.S. personnel would erase hundreds of jobs, yet polling by the daily Diário Insular found that 71 % of residents now prioritise environmental safety over the base’s payroll. “We can’t drink economic growth,” quips civil-society activist Marta Serpa, who is organising Saturday’s protest in Praia da Vitória.

What comes next?

Parliament votes next week on a Livre-BE motion compelling the Government to publish monthly contamination data and to seek binding timelines from Washington. Even if the measure fails, analysts expect the Lajes question to loom over the 2026 treaty talks and the 2027 general election. For the Azores, the debate is no longer abstract: it plays out in every glass of water, in every job tied to the runway, and in a community that refuses to let the issue be swept under the rug again.