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# Funding Gap Leaves Holloman Lake PFAS Wildlife Tests Unfinished
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-new-mexico-2026-09-16-b/
- Published: 2026-09-16T18:42:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-16T18:42:06.000Z
- Description: New Mexico researchers told lawmakers that frozen oryx and wildlife samples from PFAS-contaminated Holloman Lake remain untested after funding ran out, leaving hunters without a complete answer about food risks.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, New Mexico

New Mexico researchers say they cannot complete wildlife testing around Holloman Lake without more money, leaving an important question unresolved for hunters: whether oryx moving through the contaminated area can carry unsafe levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. University of New Mexico researcher Jean-Luc Cartron told the Legislature's interim Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on September 15 that samples remain frozen and untested after funding ran out, according to [Source New Mexico's report from the hearing](https://sourcenm.com/2026/09/16/researcher-tells-new-mexico-lawmakers-more-funding-needed-for-holloman-lake-wildlife-pfas-testing/?ref=theamericanquorum.com).

The funding gap matters because Holloman Lake is not an isolated wildlife site. Oryx can range across the Tularosa Basin and are hunted for food, while migratory birds that use the lake can travel far beyond it. [UNM's summary of the peer-reviewed research](https://news.unm.edu/news/new-research-examines-holloman-lake-pfas-contamination?ref=theamericanquorum.com) says the team has observed oryx regularly visiting the lake and is working with the Department of Game and Fish to evaluate possible risks to hunters. Researchers have found PFAS in tested oryx tissue, but the limited sample does not yet establish how contamination varies among animals or what consuming the meat could mean for people.

Holloman Lake is a man-made wastewater lake west of Alamogordo near Holloman Air Force Base. The [New Mexico Environment Department's ecological report](https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Holloman-Lake-PFAS-Ecology-Report%5F1-08-2025-1.pdf?ref=theamericanquorum.com) documented extensive contamination in surface water, sediment, plants and wildlife. Researchers have linked the pollution to historical use of aqueous film-forming firefighting foam. The [Environmental Protection Agency explains](https://www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas?ref=theamericanquorum.com) that many PFAS break down very slowly, can accumulate in people and animals, and have been used in firefighting foam at military bases and airports.

Cartron told lawmakers that the laboratory work now waiting for support includes additional oryx samples and other material already collected from the area. He estimated that, with adequate funding, researchers could finish analysis and produce a final report within about a year. Until then, the evidence supports caution but not a precise estimate of risk. He advised hunters against eating liver from animals exposed near the lake because PFAS can concentrate in organs, Source New Mexico reported.

The practical public-health guidance remains narrower than the unanswered research question. The [Department of Game and Fish says](https://wildlife.dgf.nm.gov/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) access to Holloman Lake and the surrounding land is closed, and the Department of Health encourages people who consumed or captured wildlife there from 2010 through 2024 to contact a health-care provider if they have concerns. That notice does not amount to a statewide warning against oryx meat.

For lawmakers, the immediate decision is whether to fund the remaining laboratory work and analysis. Completing it would not by itself clean up the lake, but it would give wildlife managers and health officials a stronger basis for deciding whether hunting guidance should extend beyond the closed site. Without that work, the state will continue to know that Holloman Lake is severely contaminated while lacking a complete answer about one of the most direct potential routes from the site to New Mexico dinner tables.