News

Signing event signifies environmental milestone

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Steve Marciniak
  • 436th AW Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Those involved in efforts to atone for past damage done to the Dover Air Force Base environment reached a major milestone May 12 when a record of decision was signed.

The ROD, which signifies regulatory agency approval of planned methods to remediate contaminant release sites, was signed by Air Mobility Command, state and federal officials. It marked the last of 59 base contaminant release sites, the cause of Dover's placement on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund National Priorities List, to receive the distinction.

Reaching this milestone represents the product of a relationship built between the Air Force and the regulators from the EPA and Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

"I liken this progress to a partnership," said Brig. Gen. Del Eulberg, director of Installations and Mission Support for AMC at Scott AFB, Ill. "It took (agencies) all working together to re-look at the processes."

As Dover continues to make strides in cleaning up the contamination caused by past practices, regulators say those involved have shown what innovation can do for taking responsibility for the environment.

"What you have done here is the model for every federal facility," said EPA Region III Deputy Regional Administrator William Wisniewski.

"The Dover Restoration Team shaved months off of the completion schedules through the use of better processes, better partnering and better technologies, while at the same time ensuring compliance with all environmental requirements, and maintaining the highest standards," General Eulberg said.

To speed up gaining regulatory approval, base environmental experts, working with AMC, DNREC and EPA officials, tackled the approval process to see where bureaucratic waste could be eliminated. Previously, each ROD was worked individually. Under the new relationships forged between the agencies, multiple RODs could be coordinated simultaneously.

"The Dover partnering effort required the team to analyze and streamline processes to work more efficiently in order to compress a two-year time schedule into one year," said William Barry, AMC's Environmental Programs Division chief at Scott AFB. "This streamlining effort resulted in the completion of six RODs within six months ... a first for the Air Force. It is not unusual for a ROD to take two years or more to complete."

One priority of accelerating the restoration was to return the contaminated land to the Air Force for use.

"We are committed to having remedies in place at all clean-up sites by fiscal year 2012," General Eulberg said. "And Dover is showing that we can meet that objective."

Of the 59 contaminant release sites identified at Dover, 45 were contaminated with hazardous chemicals, primarily chlorinated solvents, which were widely used from the 1950s to the early 70s for parts cleaning. While the contamination has entered into the groundwater, experts stressed that the community's drinking water is safe, as the drinking water sources are several hundred feet below ground level.

"Today's event is analogous to crossing the 50-yard line, and much work remains. However, I'm extremely confident we will achieve our goal together," said Robert Hofelich, AMC chief of Environmental Restoration Branch, also at Scott AFB.

Additional support for Dover's efforts came from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which serves as Dover's technical support agent for environmental clean up; and from URS Group Inc., the primary contractor working the Dover project.

Following the ceremonial portion of the event, attendees witnessed a demonstration of one of the new technologies being used to clean up the chlorinated solvents as URS Group Inc. and its subcontractor, Vironex, showcased accelerated anaerobic biodegradation. In this process, a mixture of vegetable oil, sodium lactate and water are injected into the ground at previously-determined levels. This mixture serves as a food source for native bacteria, which then metabolize the contaminants into inert compounds. These sites are then monitored, and can be re-injected if deemed necessary to meet clean-up objectives.

"Of the remaining 19 sites requiring groundwater cleanup, we've already implemented remedies at eight of those sites, we are right now installing remedies at nine more, and we start work at the remaining two sites - the two in today's Record of Decision - next month," according to Jo Anne Deramo, the 436th Civil Engineer Squadron's Restoration Manager. "Our goal is to have all remedies in place at all sites by the end of September."