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Naval Air Station Cecil Field

Naval Air Station Cecil Field
EPA ID: FL5170022474
Location: Jacksonville, Duval County, FL
Congressional District: 06
NPL Status: Proposed: 07/14/89; Final 11/21/89
Project Manager
Documents:About Adobe Portable Document Format

Site Background:
To alleviate the training burden on NAS Jacksonville, the Navy purchased 2,600 acres in southwestern Duval County and officially commissioned the base as U.S. Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Cecil Filed in December 1941.  To achieve the status of master jet base, the Navy purchased an additional 2,000 acres, constructed four 8,000-foot runways in 1951, and was redesignated as NAS Cecil Field on June 30, 1952.  By 2003, the base consisted of over 17,000 acres of contiguous property, and an additional 15,000 acres of noncontiguous property used for bombing ranges and an outlying landing field.  The official mission of NAS Cecil Field was to provide facilities, services, and material support for the operation and maintenance of naval weapons, aircraft, and other units of the operating forces as designated by the Chief of Naval Operations.

Cleanup Progress: Threats Mitigated by Physical Clean-up Work
In July 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommended the closure of NAS Cecil Field and on September 30, 1999, the Base was officially closed. BRAC 1995 redirected the 15,000 acres of the noncontiguous property to NAS Jacksonville, leaving 17,225 acres to be transferred to the City of Jacksonville. The Cecil Field Development Commission formed to facilitate the property being transferred by the Navy and submitted a Base Reuse Plan in March 1996.  The reuse plan identified future uses including recreational, industrial, aviation related uses and natural resources. Property transferred to date amounts to 16,707 acres, which includes 5,791 acres to-date to Jacksonville Airport Authority for the operation of the airfield for general aviation and aviation related businesses; 8,244 acres to-date to the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission for industrial development; and 2,670 acres to-date to Clay County and Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department for parks, greenways and recreational facilities.

Remedial Action
Records Of Decision (RODs) have been approved at all sites.  Remedial action is under way at the last site, i.e., OU 5, Site 15, which was used as a former skeet range and included a burn chamber for the disposal of live munitions.  Soil in that area contains high concentrations of lead.  A lot of scrap metal and some live Unexploded Ordnance/Munitions Explosion Constituents (UXO/MEC) have been buried in that area.  UXO/MEC removal is occurring very slowly because of the safety need to screen all soil similar to an archaeological excavation.  This screening must be completed before soil containing hazardous waste can be excavated.  The photo on the left below illustrates the excavation, by shovel, and screening of soil for UXO/MEC.  The photo on the right below illustrates some of the UXO/MEC found.  Excavation is occurring at the rate of approximately 0.25 acres per week.

Construction Completion
Construction Completion, Ready For Reuse/Ready For Anticipated Use (RFR/RAU), and NPL Delisting are projected for 2009.

Remaining disposal work
NAS Cecil Field consists of 17 parcels: 11 public benefit conveyances, 1 negotiated sale, and 5 economic development conveyances.  The property will be redeveloped by the Jacksonville Airport Authority, and the City of Jacksonville, and will include an airport, parks and recreation.  EPA has approved the transfer of all of this property.  The remaining few acres in the OU 5, Site 15, area remain to be transferred.

For information about the contents of this page please contact Leonna Teasley

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