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Wing, EPA back plan to treat contaminated base site

  • Published
  • By Margo Turner
  • 89th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AMCNS) --  The 89th Airlift Wing and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed a Record of Decision to address historic contamination of groundwater at Fire Training Area No. 4 here during a briefing of the base’s Environmental Restoration Program at the Maryland Department of the Environment headquarters in Baltimore Nov. 22.

Colonel John I. Pray Jr., 89th AW commander, signed the ROD with Tom Voltaggio, EPA Region 3 deputy administrator. EPA Region 3 includes Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

The Senior Partners meeting provided Air Force, EPA, MDE and Prince George’s County Department of Health Department officials with the status of the ERP, which includes Fire Training Area No. 4, a two-acre site located in the southeast corner of the airfield east runway. Waste petroleum products and solvents were released to a bermed area and ignited from 1973 to 1980 at the site, according to a report on the Web site, http://public.andrews.amc.af.mil/PA/env/public.

Fire Training Area No. 4 is one of two sites on Andrews that have received a ROD. The other site was Storage Tank 10 on the northwest side of the Andrews airfield. A ROD was signed in September and called for groundwater monitoring of the site.

“I appreciate how Andrews has tested these innovative concepts,” said Maureen T. Koetz, deputy assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health, during the Nov. 22 briefing. “The sooner the sites are cleaned up, the quicker they can return to a beneficial use. The cleanup activities at Fire Training No.4 enables the bed-down of the Air Sovereignty Alert Mission at Andrews.”

Andrews has proven that common priorities and clear standards can accelerate the cleanup process of contaminated sites, said Brig. Gen. Del Eulberg, Air Mobility Command Installations Regulation and Mission Support director at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

General Eulberg said other commands will follow the Andrews model in the future.

Through the ERP, Andrews is saving money and the environment is getting better, he said. “The ERP cost savings contribute to funds available to support the global war on terror.”

Mr. Voltaggio complimented Andrews for taking aggressive steps to ensure the public is informed about the cleanup of contaminated sites on the base and at the Brandywine site.

Brian Dolan, 89th Civil Engineer Squadron environmental restoration chief, said Andrews is working closely with its regulatory partners.

“We meet frequently to prioritize work and resolve problems in order to get to the business of restoring our environment,” said Mr. Dolan.

He said the signing of subsequent RODs will be accomplished over the next two years for two other fire-training sites and three other landfill sites on Andrews and for the Brandywine Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office in Brandywine, Md.