In addition to the initial payments, most CLG members are required to pay future costs as needed to comply with the record of decision. But others, like the “federal potentially responsible parties (PRPs) agreed to make one-time payments to deal with the remediation, according to the record of the decision. “Department of Defense entities” including Pease Air Force Base, the Air Force and U.S. Navy made a one-time payment into the trust of $5.25 million.

“They gave us that money and they walked away,” Sullivan said. “They cashed out.”

After spending the $27 million, the CLG’s trust now has a total of $420,512 on hand as of last week, Sullivan told the Portsmouth Herald, but he acknowledged the groups and municipalities will have to continue paying into the trust. He said it’s “impossible” to predict how much Portsmouth taxpayers and others will have to pay into the trust going forward as the remediation and monitoring continues.

But Sullivan acknowledged the CLG’s involvement in the site won’t end anytime soon. “My estimate is the CLG will have to (continue monitoring and remediating the site) beyond the lifetime of any person now living based upon this concept of emerging contaminants,” Sullivan said.