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NEWS | March 20, 2019

JBLE tackles Superfund

By Senior Airman Derek Seifert & Tim Blevins 633rd Air Base Wing Public Affairs & Air Force Civil Engineer Center

The U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center Restoration Branch at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia has maintained a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality since December 1994, to investigate, and if required, find appropriate economical solutions to address areas of contamination on Fort Eustis.

 

In response to toxic waste dumps like Love Canal and Valley of the Drums, Congress established the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act in 1980, which aimed to identify sites, known as Superfund sites, contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants and the party or parties responsible for addressing the contamination.

 

During an initial evaluation in 1996 by the EPA, 49 sites were evaluated, 39 were determined to require no further action and 10 sites on Fort Eustis were determined to need further investigation and evaluation resulting in JBLE establishing the Installation Restoration Program.

 

A 2007 site inspection identified 16 closed military ranges on Fort Eustis that required further investigation to determine if any cleanup actions were required and formed the Fort Eustis Military Munitions Response Program.

 

Five IRP sites have been placed on long-term management. These including Baileys Creek, Browns Lake, Eustis Lake, and Landfills one and four. Each site listed as long-term management is inspected annually to ensure the selected remedies are still in place and working as designed.

 

The MMRP sites consist of World War II training ranges which were primarily small arms ranges. However, Langley Field Gunnery Range and Bombing Target H were used as practice bombing ranges by the Air Force, leaving behind traces of munitions debris and unexploded ordnance that contained black powder spotting charges that could have been exposed to water over time, causing it to become extremely unstable.

 

Fort Eustis has managed a very active restoration program since the identification of these sites and has been very successful in cleaning up and closing sites.  One example is recreational catch and release fishing is now allowed in both Browns and Eustis Lakes.

 

“We try to work with the installation to use or reuse as much of the land as we can,” said Tim Blevins, JBLE-Eustis restoration branch chief. “The main goal is to eliminate or mitigate risk to human health and the environment, so installation personnel and wildlife are not exposed to unnecessary risk.”

 

Superfund sites became an important focus after environmental disasters like Three Mile Island in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania and Tar Creek in Oklahoma.

 

“Military training is inherently a dirty business, everything from smoke grenades, practice grenades and blank rounds,” said Blevins. “We made a lot of messes, particularly during World War II, and the 1940s and 50s, before environmental laws were created. JBLE-Eustis has had great success in cleaning up and closing many sites.”

 

The 733rd Civil Engineer Division Environmental Section provides the necessary means for Fort Eustis to accomplish its mission while protecting human health and the environment. The protection and preservation of vital training areas and environment will help Fort Eustis remain a major Department of Defense asset with the flexibility to meet future mission needs.

 

For more information, call the JBLE-Eustis Restoration Office as 878-7379.