Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England

Massachusetts Military Reservation

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIODS (Comment Period Closed) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is issuing the Draft Demolition Area 1 Decision Document Addendum and the Draft BA-4 Disposal Area No Further Action Decision Document for informal public comment periods that will run from June 17 to July 17, 2009. These documents detail proposed decisions by the EPA regarding the sufficiency of response actions previously completed at Demolition Area 1 and the BA-4 Disposal Area at Camp Edwards on the Massachusetts Military Reservation by the Impact Area Groundwater Study Program. These actions were taken to remove contamination that might pose a threat to groundwater. Comments can be submitted by fax to: 617-918-0028; by e-mail to: murphy.jim@epa.gov or by mail to: Jim Murphy, EPA, One Congress Street, 11th Floor, (Mailcode: ORA), Boston, MA 02114. DRAFT DECISION DOCUMENTS Demolition Area 1 Addendum - June 2009 (PDF) (23 pp., 2.28 MB, about PDF) BA-4 Disposal Area - June 2009 (PDF) (19 pp., 1.34 MB, about PDF) FACT SHEETS (developed by the US Army in coordination with the EPA and the MassDEP) Demolition Area 1 Addendum (PDF) (6 pp., 1.34 MB, about PDF) BA-4 Disposal Area (PDF) (4 pp., 465 KB, about PDF) SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS Decision Document – Demolition Area 1 Groundwater Operable Unit - November 2006 (PDF) (89 pp., 9.99 MB, about PDF) Demolition Area 1 Source Area Completion of Work Report - April 2009 (PDF) (524 pp., 17.33 MB, about PDF) BA-4 Disposal Area Investigation Report - February 2009 (PDF) (119 pp., 6.68 MB, about PDF) BA-4 Disposal Area Rapid Response Action Completion of Work Report - February 2009 (PDF) (110 pp., 4.95 MB, about PDF)

Introduction

Protecting Cape Cod's drinking water continues to be a major focus at EPA New England. The Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR), a 22,000-acre property that has been used for military training activities since 1911, is located over a sole source aquifer that provides drinking water for 200,000 year-round and 500,000 seasonal residents of Cape Cod. Parts of the aquifer have been contaminated by fuel spills and other past practices at MMR's Otis Air Force Base. Otis is currently being cleaned up under our Superfund program.

Camp Edwards

Fearful that military training was causing even more damage to the groundwater, EPA's New England Office in February 1997 (AO1 (PDF) (29 pp., 63 KB, about PDF)) ordered the National Guard to conduct a study of the effects of military training on groundwater. In May 1997 (AO2 (PDF) (33 pp., 73 KB, about PDF)), EPA suspended most military training at Camp Edwards, including all use of live explosives, propellants, flares and lead bullets. It was the first time in our country's history that military training activities had been halted due to environmental and public health concerns. The groundwater study, which is ongoing, has produced evidence of serious groundwater and soil contamination from training with munitions, from unexploded ordnance and from disposal of munitions and other hazardous materials.

As a result of the evidence of contamination, EPA in January 2000 (AO3 (PDF) (44 pp., 107 KB, about PDF)) ordered the National Guard to begin the process for the removal of unexploded ordnance from the base and to clean up contaminated groundwater and soils. The order was the first of its kind in the country. And in January 2001 (AO4 (PDF) (39 pp., 102 KB, about PDF)), EPA ordered the military to use a detonation chamber at the base to destroy the more than 2,500 rounds of different kinds of ammunition dug out of burial pits on the base during the course of the military's investigation of pollution at the firing ranges.

All four of EPA's orders were issued under the agency's emergency powers to prevent imminent and substantial endangerment to public health. (The first three orders were issued under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the fourth under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.)

Administrative Orders		Press Releases
Perchlorate Read about EPA's study on perchlorate... more		Resources Otis Superfund Fact Sheet and related EPA Web sites ... Mass. DEP MMR site and other MMR sites ... more
Small Arms Ranges