Mid-Atlantic Superfund

EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic)

Maryland
Anne Arundel County

EPA ID# MD9210020567

2nd Congressional District

Last Update: June 2008

Other Names

None

Current Site Status

Federal Facility Agreement

On August 27, 2007 EPA issued a unilateral RCRA 7003 order to Fort Meade. EPA issued the order due to the absence of a federal facilities agreement being in place at Fort Meade. The Army was unwilling to negotiate an order that included the 14 Areas of Concern on the Fort Meade property and the 3 areas of Concern that are on the transferred Patuxent Research Refuge property. The Army position was that the four original sites used for the NPL listing were the only sites that were a part of the NPL and the only sites they were willing to negotiate in an FFA. The order requires the Department of the Army to move forward with the cleanup of 14 hazardous waste sites on the Fort George G. Meade military base in Anne Arundel County, MD, and adjacent property previously transferred by the Army to the U.S. Department of Interior and now part the Patuxent Research Refuge. This action garnered significant interest from the elected officials within the state.

The order, issued under EPA’s authority to address solid and hazardous wastes that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment, requires the Army to assess the nature and extent of the contamination, determine appropriate corrective measures, and implement them..

The contaminants of concern include numerous solvents and heavy metals, explosives, arsenic and PCBs. Elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, pesticides and explosive compounds have been detected in aquifers. Low levels of volatile organic compounds, including tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethlylene, and pesticides have been detected in residential wells located in Odenton, MD.

Based on information available to the EPA, most drinking water sources are not affected by the contamination. In addition, munitions have been found throughout the former range training areas of the base, including portions of the Little Patuxent River.

People who drink water containing PCE and TCE may develop liver problems and have an increased risk of getting cancer. Exposure to PCBs may cause skin rashes, immune system problems, and a potential for increased cancer risk.

The Army has been working to address wastes at the site since 1998 when the Fort Meade installation was designated as a Superfund site. Today’s order ensures that the work proceeds under appropriate EPA oversight.

In response to the order the Department of the Army has scheduled a conference with the Regional Administrator that is scheduled for October 17, 2007. EPA Region III met with the Army on October 17, 2007 to discuss the UAO. The major outcome of this meeting was that EPA determined that the UAO should remain in effect. EPA and the Army, however, agreed to negotiate a CERCLA Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA). Major issues include the inclusion of the Tipton Airfield parcel in the FFA. EPA deleted that portion of the site from the NPL in 1999 based upon the evaluation of the chemical hazards. Land Use Controls (LUCs) established separately by the Army to address unexploded ordnance (UXO) related hazards in 1998 may not be fully protective of human health and the environment. (Since 2000, EPA and DOD have been evaluating LUCs for UXO using CERCLA LUCs policies.)

On January 4, 2008 the Army Deputy Assistant Secretary conferred with the EPA Assistant Administrator and due to lack of progress in the FFA negotiations the UAO became effective February 5, 2008. To date the Army has not complied with any of the provisons in the UAO. The Army has filed a formal appeal with the Department of Justice and the Office of Management and Budget to render a decison regarding the validity of the UAO.

EPA conducted a third negotiation session with the Army on January 8, 2008 to continue negotiations for the FFA as agreed upon at the October 17, 2007 meeting. Prior negotiation sessions were conducted on December 12, 2007 and December 19, 2007, respectively. One proposal being considered is that EPA and the Army work under a two party agreement while the Department of Interior and Architect of the Capitol, two agencies that own property at Fort Meade, work under an MOU with the Army. The EPA RPM met with the Army on January 24, 2008 to discuss the Findings of Fact section of the document. The army proposed to include the four site that were included in the NPL listing for the site be included in the site and all other sites be reference in seperate appendices. The breakdown in negotiations had cqaused the UAO to become effective February 5, 2008.

Tipton Airfield

EPA deleted the Tipton Airfield parcel of the FGGM NPL Site in November 1999. Anne Arundel County currently operates the Tipton Air Field as a county airport. The first Record of Decision ('ROD') for the Tipton Air Field parcel was signed on December 30, 1998. All field work was completed on February 28, 1999 for the final Tipton ROD, signed in June 1999. The Army began long-term monitoring of the Tipton area groundwater in June 2001. Groundwater monitoring has continued through 2006 with a few minor modifications to the analyte list.

Ordnance Disposal Area

EPA has approved the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study ('RI/FS') for the Ordnance Disposal Area ('ODA'), and the Army has done some preliminary sampling of the site to evaluate natural attnuation parameters. A Proposed Plan was finalized, but progress towards a final ODA ROD for has been delayed due to Army questioning EPA NPL authorities at the ODA. The Department of the Army signed a Decision Document on January 20, 2006 without the consent or concurrence of EPA. In a letter dated November 2006 EPA informed the Installation commander that it has exceeded its authority under CERCLA section 120 by unilaterally issuing the order. EPA is in the process of developing a plan of action to address this issue. In January 2008 the Army indicated to EPA that they will withdraw this document from the Administrative record and submit the document to EPA for review and comment so it will be counted as a Record of Decision.

Family Housing Development

The Army continues privatization of base family housing. In the past, the private contractor responsible for siting and construction of housing had not invloved regulators or the public in the review of its environmental documents, for which the FGGM Restoration Advisory Board ('RAB') became concerned. Army regulations encouraged but did not require regulator and public involvement. The issue was resolved, and the contractor started new construction in November 2002.

Manorview Dump

Excavation by the family housing contractor early in 2003 unearthed a 1940s waste dump, and further investigation by the Army determined that the dump extended onto the grounds of the base Manorview Elementary School. Anne Arundel County leases the property from the Army and most of the students come from military families living on the base. Preliminary results revealed no immediate human health threat, due in part due to a six foot earthen barrier that covers the waste material. Additional soil sampling was conducted to assess any possible health risk to the students. Additional buried waste was discovered in early 2004 further from the school, and closer to the site of the future housing units. The Army is planning to conduct an RI/FS to determine the best way to remediate the waste found at the dump site. Results of the RI revelead elevated levels of methane at the waste dump. The draft final RI was submitted in October 2007. The document is currently being reviwed by EPA. Twenty homes were built on the parcel where the methane was discovered and 12 families had to be relocated to alternative housing while the investigation continues. As an interim measure the Army is in the process of using an agressive soil gas venting system to reduce the levels of the methane in the waste dump. The twenty homes that were built in this area remain vacant and will not have occupants until the methane is no longer a risk to human health. EPA reviwed and commented on the RI for the site in May 2008 and are awaiting a response from the Army.

Closed Sanitary Landfill

State permitted landfill that closed under RCRA authority in the mid 90's. The landfill was one of four sites that was used to score Fort Meade for NPL listing. Sample results for the landfill have revealed elevated levels of VOCs, metals and carbon tetrachloride at the post boundary. The army installed two off-site wells in January 2004 and sampled the wells in June 2004. Sample results from the offsite wells revealed MCL exceedances for carbon tetrachloride. Army met with Anne Arundel county to discuss options for investigation and the county asked the army to provide bottled water to two residences who have priviate wells within 0.5 miles of the carbon tetracholoride exceedances. County health officials have also informed the army that their are about 160 private wells within a mile radius of the Fort Meade off-site wells. EPA and the county sampled 17 wells in April 2005 located within a 1/4 mile radius of the landfill and found low-level contamination but no risk associated with the landfill for drinking water. EPA approved human health risk assessment tables for the RI in January 2007. The Final RI was submitted in May 2008.

Post Laundry Facility

The FGGM project team is reviewing the cleanup alternatives for the Post Laundry facility. A ROD for this site is scheduled to be signed in December 2008.

DRMO

EPA is in the process of reviewing the response to comments for the FFS. The Army's preferred remedy is Monitored Natural Attenuation and LTM of groundwater. EPA has meeting scheduled for February 14, 2008 to discuss the merits of the proposed MNA/LTM remedial alternative. EPA has had three meetings with the Army regarding this site. EPA has proposed additonal wells and sampling locations. A ROD for this site is scheduled to be completed in March 2009..

Architect of the Capitol/Library of Congress

EPA is currently reviewing the Tech Memo (TM) respopnse to comments for the site which recommends unrestricted use at the site based on risk values presented in the TM. EPA may take issue with the conclusions of the report because of the unrestricted use recommendation while their is still waste left in place. This site will be an issue because of the NPL listing dispute mentioned above. This site was not scored for NPL listing purposes and the army has indicated that they are prepared to sign this document without EPA concurrence, therby exceeding it's authority under CERCLA. The army has since backed off the stance that they would sign a decision document for this site and is in the process of respnding to EPA comments on the Tech Memo.

Site Description

Fort George G. Meade (FGGM) has been a permanent U.S. Army installation since 1917, and once occupied approximately 13,500 acres of land in northwestern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, along the Little Patuxent and Patuxent Rivers, midway between Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C. The community of Odenton, Maryland borders the eastern edge of FGGM. FGGM’s current mission is to provide a wide range of support to 114 tenant organizations from all four services, as well as several federal agencies. Major tenants include the National Security Agency, the Defense Information School and the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. The population of FGGM includes approximately 8,000 military personnel, 25,000 civilian employees and 5,700 family members of military personnel.

EPA proposed FGGM to the NPL after evaluation of contamination due to past storage and disposal of hazardous substances. Contaminants at the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office ('DRMO'), Closed Sanitary Landfill ('CSL'), Clean Fill Dump ('CFD') and Post Laundry Facility ('PLF') included solvents, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls ('PCBs'), heavy metals, waste fuels and waste oils. The NPL site includes all areas of hazardous substance contamination on, and possibly off base if FGGM was the source, and includes the both Base Realignment and Closure Act ('BRAC') and non-BRAC portions of FGGM. The Federal Register public comment period for the FGGM proposed inclusion to the NPL concluded on June 2, 1997, and EPA placed FGGM on the NPL on July 28, 1998. In 1988, BRAC identified 8,848 acres of FGGM for closure: to date, 8,100 BRAC acres have been transferred to the Department of Interior’s Patuxent National Research Refuge (PNRR) for use as a wildlife refuge: 7,600 acres in October, 1991, and 500 acres in January, 1993 as part of Defense Appropriation Bills for 1991 and 1992, respectively. Currently there are 2 operable units identified on the DOI property the CFD and the Ordnance Demolition Area (ODA). The CFD ROD was signed in September 2000. Review and comment on the ODA's Proposed Plan and ROD will resume when EPA and the army resolve the DOI NPL listing issue. The Army has retained ownership of the CSL, which encompasses approximately 308 acres of former BRAC property. 366 acres of BRAC property included the former Tipton Airfield transferred to Anne Arundel County for use as a General Aviation Facility.

Redevelopment

The Fort Meade ('FGGM') project team completed the review of approximately 150 Solid Waste Management Units ('SWMUs'). The SWMUs have been placed into four categories: (1) no further action; (2) further action under NPL authorities; (3) further action under soild waste authorities; and (4) status to be determined (based on additional sampling.) The majority of the site is category (1) no further action, and is available for unrestricted development and is not a threat to human health and the environment. Environmental Baseline Surveys (EBS) have been conducted at the site including the area where the EPA Environmental Science Center is located. The EBS concluded that the areas could be used for unrestricted development. Fort Meade has an Installation Action Plan (IAP) in place that outlines the total multi-year Installation Restoration Program for the facility. At the center of the issue is whether or not the transferred property or any of the other sites not included in the NPL scoring are considered part of the original NPL site.

Site Responsibility

Cleanup of this Site is being addressed under Federal actions.

NPL Listing History

This site was proposed to the National Priorities List of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites requiring long term remedial action on April 1, 1997. The site was formally added to the list July 28, 1998.

Threats and Contaminants

Elevated levels of various volatile organic compounds ('VOCs'), pesticides and explosives compounds have been detected on-post in the Upper and Lower Patapsco aquifers, both of which are used as domestic water sources by residents who live to the east of FGGM. The water supply for FGGM is obtained from wells installed in the deeper Patuxent aquifer. Low levels of tetrachloroethylene ('PCE'), trichloroethylene ('TCE'), other VOCs, atrazine and certain pesticides, have been detected in residential wells located in Odenton, Maryland. To date, ground water samples have been collected at 25 residential wells and one commercial well. TCE, PCE and/or atrazine are present in some residential wells at levels above respective federal Maximum Contaminant Levels ('MCLs'). TCE and PCE are chlorinated solvents that were typically used in the past for degreasing, parts cleaning and other industrial activities. Atrazine is an herbicide that is commonly applied for agricultural purposes. EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment ('MDE') are continuing to investigate potential sources of off-post ground water contamination. VOCs, pesticides, explosive compounds and PCBs have also been detected in the Patuxent River watershed, which includes tributaries to the Patuxent River and associated wetlands. Finally, numerous unexploded ordnance ('UXO') have been discovered throughout former range training areas at FGGM, including a portion of the Little Patuxent River.

Contaminant descriptions and associated risk factors are available on the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, an arm of the CDC, web site at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hazdat.html

Cleanup Progress

Environmental cleanups at FGGM use a combination of “removal actions,” which are intended to quickly reduce immediate threats to human health and the environment posed by contaminants, and “remedial actions,” which provide for permanent cleanup of contamination that poses long-term risks to human health and the environment.

In order to more effectively manage investigations and cleanups at FGGM, the Army, MDE, and EPA [the project team] have defined separate Operable Units ('OUs') that include various contaminated sites and areas of potential environmental concern. The project team has developed target schedules for investigations and cleanups at these OUs. As more information becomes available regarding the nature/extent of contamination at FGGM, the project team may create additional OUs and/or revise existing schedules accordingly. A total of nine off-base residences, where TCE, PCE, and/or atrazine had been detected above federal MCLs, are hooked up to the county water supply system. Another five residences are being provided bottled water by MDE.

The Army has completed Removal actions (excavation/off-site disposal of drums and surrounding contaminated soil) at the DRMO site, an emergency removal of UXO from a portion of the Little Patuxent River and three UXO surveys, which included removal of detected UXO, throughout the TAA parcel and PNRR. The Army completed Removal actions (UXO clearance activities) on the TAA parcel, with the first ROD signed on December 31, 1998 and the final ROD for this OU in June 1999. Most recently the army completed a UXO sweep of the Little Patuxent River in July 2006.The Army initiated environmental investigations and studies at eighteen sites on the base. The Army is also performing environmental investigations at three non-BRAC sites (ASL, DRMO and PLF). To date, RIs have commenced at over eleven sites, with additional environmental studies planned at both BRAC and non-BRAC areas of potential environmental concern. Several additional removal actions, RODs, and Remedial actions are planned within the next few years. The Army transferred the entire Tipton parcel to the County. In order to satisfy the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ('RCRA'), the Army identified 150 Solid Waste Management Units ('SWMUs') and Areas of Concern ('AOCs').

The Department of Defense ('DoD') has been delegated the authority to conduct investigations and cleanups under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended ('CERCLA'), commonly known as “Superfund.” The Army is the “lead agency” responsible for the FGGM investigations and cleanups with oversight by EPA and MDE. FGGM environmental investigations and cleanups are funded by the DoD Installation Restoration Program ('IRP') and Defense Environmental Restoration Account ('DERA') and BRAC funding. In addition to CERCLA requirements, FGGM is also subject to RCRA Corrective Action requirements. EPA is responsible for ensuring that the Army also addresses all RCRA SWMUs and AOCs at FGGM, which involves contaminants similar (or identical) to those addressed under CERCLA. These response actions, in addition to cleanups already completed, will continue to reduce the threat of exposure to contaminants at FGGM.

Contacts

Site Contacts

Administrative Record Locations