superfund

The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base site covers 125,000 acres in San Diego County, California. The base provides housing, training, logistical and administrative support for the Fleet Marine Force units. Past disposal practices have contaminated the groundwater and soil. In an initial investigation, the Marine Corps found nine areas of contamination. Waste generation operations at this site include maintenance and repair of vehicles (trucks, tanks, and aircraft); landfill operations; waste disposal areas, such as scrap yards; and fire fighting drill areas. The base contains wetlands, streams, and rivers which feed into the Pacific Ocean. This land is the only remaining undeveloped area between Los Angeles and San Diego.

An opening exists for more inclusivity in the Burn Pits Bill H.R. 2372 which streamlines the process for obtaining VA benefits for burn pits and other toxic waste exposures. The bill is directed at those service members who were exposed to contaminates, especially in burn pits, where diseases appear years later because a latency period exists before disease detection.

Past activities at McGuire AFB in support of operational missions created a number of waste sources of potential environmental concern. Site investigations and long-term cleanup are ongoing.

The primary mission of the 4,198-acre Luke Air Force Base (LAFB) site was to provide advanced flight training to fighter pilots. Discharges and waste disposal practices at LAFB resulted in soil and possible groundwater contamination. Thirty-two areas of the base were subject to further investigation. Soil was contaminated with waste oils and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) resulting from the diverse processes that have taken place at the site. Groundwater was potentially contaminated with waste oils and VOCs. Potential human health hazards include accidental ingestion or direct contact with contaminated materials.

From 1985 to 2001, personnel at Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi in Atsugi, Japan may have been exposed to environmental contaminants from off-base waste incinerators. The incinerators were shut down in May 2001.

This 1,200 acre site is comprised of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove (NASJRB/WG) and the Willow Grove Air Reserve Station (WGARS), which are operating U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force installations, respectively, located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Activities that generate, store, or dispose of hazardous waste at the facilities fall into four general categories: (1) aircraft maintenance; (2) base civil engineering; (3) fuel operation and (4) personnel training.

The 13,000-acre Aberdeen Proving Ground (Edgewood Area Site) site is located in Edgewood, Maryland and includes Gunpowder Neck, Pooles Island, Carroll Island and Graces Quarters. Development and testing of chemical agent munitions took place at this federal facility site. From 1917 to the present, site activities have included conducting chemical research programs, manufacturing chemical agents, and testing, storage and disposal of toxic materials. Site activities contaminated soil, sediment, ground water and surface water with hazardous chemicals. EPA placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990.

The 2,807-acre Alameda Naval Air Station is a closed Navy installation located on Alameda Island, adjacent to the city of Alameda. Solid wastes generated at the site were disposed of in two on-base landfills. In addition, various wells have recently tested at extremely high levels for PFAS contamination.

Jacksonville NAS is an active installation facing a variety of contamination issues both in the past, and in the present. The EPA placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List in 1989 because of contaminated soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water. More recently, the problem of high levels of PFAS in water at the base has come to the fore.

Puget Sound Naval Complex in Bremerton, Washington is situated on the north side of the Sinclair Inlet along the southern portion of the Kitsap Peninsula. Contamination and exposures began early at Bremerton, then subsided for a while, until new recent studies suggest additional contamination issues, including problems with PFAS.