Photo By Laurie Pearson | Contractors load contaminated soil into trailers to be hauled off base as part of an...... read more read more
An old skeet and trap shooting range is the current focus for Installation Restoration underway aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif.
“We’re engaging in Remedial Design and Remedial Action at the CERCLA Area of Concern 10 and N-2 Area 1,” said Carrie Ross, Parsons project manager and professional engineer. “The clean-up project is to remove contaminated soils.”
“CERCLA stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act,” said William Bueno, National Environmental Policy Act program specialist with the Environmental Division on base. Congress voted to implement CERCLA in 1981 to address the dangers of abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste dumps by developing a nationwide program for emergency response, information gathering and analysis, liability for responsible parties, and site cleanup, Bueno explained.
“From 1982 to 1999, the Marine Corps operated a skeet and trap range for base personnel in the south-central portion of Nebo,” said Lindsey White, Remedial Project Manager, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest. “Clay target fragments and lead shot are present on the ground surface and in shallow soils at the site.”
The clay target fragments contain PAHs (polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) in the tar used in their manufacture and the fragments were spread across the central portions of the site. “The bullets historically used at the range contained lead pellets which are scattered across the site,” White explained. “Waste oils contaminated with PCBs (toxic polychlorinated biphenyls) were sprayed across unpaved roadways at the southern portion of the site.”
“The cleanup effort at this site is basically what we refer to as a ‘dig and haul’,” White said.
“The equipment operators are digging down a minimum of six inches in order to ensure that we reach uncontaminated soil,” said Matt Ivers, principal geologist with Parsons, one of the contracted companies hired to conduct the clean-up project. “It’s then loaded into the trucks for transportation to a hazardous waste facility.”
Throughout the process, the fleet of trucks enter the base through the commercial gate, which took careful planning between James Fejeran, Compliance Branch chief overseeing the Installation Restoration Program, and the Marine Corps Police Department. With up to 50 trucks a day entering the base at once, the MCPD staffed the commercial gate to specifically vet each driver efficiently as they enter the base. They then proceed to the weighing station located at the north end of Iwo Jima Boulevard, near the warehouses.
“They weigh in empty, then proceed to the restoration site,” Fejeran said. “They are loaded with the contaminated soil. Then they weigh out before they leave the base.”
Fejeran’s role throughout the process includes ensuring that moving parts, the logistics, continue to work smoothly.
“James ‘Jimmy-D’ DeBenedetti, was in charge of this program, and he recently retired, so I stepped in to keep it moving forward,” Fejeran said. “He really had it all laid out and planned and organized.”
Upon Jimmy-D’s retirement, Fejeran quickly came up to speed with the open projects, such as this one, and dug in, so to speak.
“The drivers are really experts at knowing their rigs,” Ivers said. “As the equipment operators dump bucket-loads of soil into the trailer, the driver monitors the indicators to ensure that the correct amount is loaded and that it’s distributed properly in the trailer. It’s all then hauled to an off-site disposal facility.”
“Once all excavation work is complete, the site will be regraded to promote storm-water drainage,” White said. “Young creosote bushes will be planted to aid in restoring the existing vegetation at the site and to support erosion control.”
So far, as of May 31, 362 truckloads have been sent off-base for disposal, equating to roughly 8,362 tons of soil, White explained. “NAVFAC’s role in the Installation Restoration Program is as the lead for all planning, budgeting, contract acquisition and oversight, regulatory coordination and general project management,” White said. “These efforts are led by the Remedial Project Manager, who is supported by technical staff and leadership at NAVFAC. NAVFAC works very closely with the Environmental Restoration Manager at MCLB Barstow throughout the entire process, from planning to clean-up fieldwork to site closeout. The goal is to support the cleanup of our Navy and Marine Corps installations to allow for the most unrestricted use of the installations’ property as possible.”
In addition to Parsons, other contractors are assisting in the process, to include Capitol Environmental for excavation and disposal, Meyer Land Surveying, and OTIE for sampling and lab analysis, and Going, Going, Gone for soil removal, explained Ross.
“Historic hazardous materials and waste processing and disposal practices at many locations, including MCLB Barstow and other USMC installations, were not as regulated as they are today,” White said. “Thus releases of contaminants to the environment occurred. The Installation Restoration Program is a means of evaluating historic release sites, determining their risks to human health and the environment as a whole, allocating Department of Navy (DON) funds, and conducting cleanup actions or other long-term protective measures across DON and USMC installations.”
One goal of the IR Program is to reduce the footprint of historically impacted property to allow for the most unencumbered use of military bases.
“MCLB Barstow is fairly far along in the IR process, with numerous ongoing long-term projects, and only a few outstanding cleanup actions to still initiate,” White said.
The process for this particular project is expected to take approximately two months.
| Date Taken: | 06.13.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2019 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 327279 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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