Posts Tagged ‘base redevelopment/environmental cleanup’

Military installations closed outside of the BRAC process would receive the same liability protections as BRAC sites when unknown contamination is discovered, under a bill introduced Wednesday by Indiana Sen. Dan Coats (R). The bill, a companion measure to language included in the House version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, would extend liability protections provided to developers of BRAC installations to all DOD facilities closed after Oct. 24, 1988 …

The city of Salina, Kan., and the federal government asked a federal judge this week for an extension to reach a financial settlement over leftover soil and groundwater contamination at the former Schilling Air Force Base. Salina — along with Kansas State University and the local airport authority and school district — filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the government to expedite cleanup at the base closed in the 1960s, reported KSAL. Contamination includes two plumes containing the industrial solvent TCE. After closing, Schilling was turned over to the city and became the Salina airport.

The Army Corps of Engineers has finished cleaning up contaminated soil at the former Nebraska Ordnance Plant outside of Omaha, leaving remediation of polluted groundwater as the one remaining task. The corps began a preliminary investigation in 1991 of contaminated soil and groundwater at the 17,250-acre plant, which produced bombs and other munitions during World War II and the Korean War. The work left dirt and groundwater contaminated with explosive compounds and toxic solvents. About 8,650 acres are owned by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; some of the site is used by the Nebraska National Guard and Army Reserves, and some is owned privately, reported the Lincoln Journal Star. Groundwater contamination is extensive and cleaning it up is expected to continue for the next 120 years. The corps is treating four plumes, each two or three miles long and 200 feet to half-a-mile wide.

The Navy continues to test soil in one portion of the former Naval Training Center Orlando to determine the boundaries of newly discovered contamination. The Navy expects to finish removing contaminated soil within a year after it completes testing, reported the Orlando Sentinel. For residents, the discovery is setting back plans to open Orlando’s first mountain bike park. It also is proving frustrating as the Navy already has ripped up parts of the bike track built by volunteers in its search for contamination. The Navy previously performed an extensive cleanup of the tract before turning it over to the city for use as a park in 2009.

Fort Monmouth is expected to open by next week to provide long-term temporary housing to residents of coastal New Jersey displaced by Hurricane Sandy and last week’s nor’easter. Utilities should be restored at the former Army post by the end of the week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Wednesday. The site can accommodate between 400 and 500 families, reported NJ.com. Approximately 900 state residents are still in shelters. The state plans to use a lottery to select residents for the emergency housing, Christie said.

Housing inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs visited Fort Monmouth on Friday to assess whether the former Army post could provide long-term temporary housing for residents of coastal New Jersey displaced by Hurricane Sandy and last week’s nor’easter. The inspectors gave good grades to 300 units in seven buildings that could accommodate 600 to 900 people, reported NJ.com. Other buildings could accommodate additional families …

The Navy’s BRAC Program Management Office last week was recognized for leading the restoration of a complex, 230-acre landfill at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, Calif., an effort which saved $42 million and avoided a substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions. For its innovative solution to capping the landfill, which resulted in the creation of 8.7 acres of new wetlands, improvement of 120 acres of existing wetlands and creation of new public access trails, the BRAC office earned a 2012 Secretary of Defense Environmental Award …

The Oakland City Council last week approved final language for an agreement with the city’s master developer for the former Oakland Army Base ensuring at least half of the estimated 2,800 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs the project is expected to generate go to local residents. The project labor agreement with Prologis and California Capital & Investment Group also requires that at least 25 percent of employees used for the project be apprentice-level workers, and that all apprentices be Oakland residents …

Utility workers from around the nation coming to assist recovery efforts in New Jersey will be staying at the former Fort Monmouth, which is located close by many of the beachfront communities hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to build temporary housing at the closed Army post to accommodate the influx of workers, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday …

A Cambridge, Mass., author cites the conversion of a century-old military post overlooking San Francisco Bay into a high-end resort as evidence that obsolete facilities — whether a military base or an old mill — can find new lives in almost any locale, in a commentary in Government Executive. After Fort Baker — located on the Marin Headlands at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge — was abandoned by the military, it was turned over to the National Park Service. After obtaining a lease from the federal government, a development team and a resort operator converted the historic campus into Cavallo Point, a 142-room hotel with a spa, conference rooms, cooking school and Michelin-rated restaurant …