[CPEO-MEF] Bloodsworth Island, Dorchester County MD; Naval training site loca

[Pauline Simon <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[Original message from Henry Immanuel]

From: "nowar" <nowar@ezy.net>
To: <cpeo@cpeo.org>
Subject: Bloodsworth Island, Dorchester County MD;  Naval training site
located in the great Cheapeake Bay 
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 15:10:58 -0400

Please Post:
  
  
For about 5 years I have been trying to initiate an investigation, due to
the fact surrounding the site's history, but also because of the simple
fact that the EPA Region III lost or misplaced these important documents
for over 10 years.  Finally we are on the road to having this site
evaluated so as to see what kinds of problems have been created since 1938.
  
I am enclosing a letter that was sent to Honorable Saxton, some years ago,
but yet no one in government has done a thing.  Not a single person private
or within government seemed to have cared about this Island.  
  
I am only able to say persistence is the way to get anything done, you have
the time, do it now.
  
Henry Immanuel
  
I have just recieved this letter from the EPA concerning what they want the
DoD to do.
  
  
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
REGION III
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  19103-2029



October 18, 1999

Mr. Steve Olson
Commander Naval Base
1530 Gilbert Street
STE 2200
Norfolk Va. 23511-2797
Attn.: Code N451

Re: Bloodsworth Archipelago

Dear Mr Olson:

The United States Navy (USN) Bloodsworth Archiepeligo was listed on
the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Federal
Agency Hazardous Waste Compliance Docket on February 12, 1988. 
Subsequently, as required by CERCLA section 120(d), the USN
performed a Preliminary Assessment (PA) of the site and submitted a PA
report, dated March 1, 1988, to the EPA Region III.  After careful review
of the PA, EPA has determined that further evaluation of the facility is
warranted, therefore, a Site Inspection (SI) must be conducted at this
time. EPA uses a systematic evaluation process to determine appropriate
actions at potential  Superfund Sites.  In the first phase, hazardous
substance releases from a site are evaluated during two investigations, the
PA and the SI.  The SI seeks to determine, through collection and analysis
of environmental waste and media samples, whether hazardous substances are
present at the site and are migrating to the surrounding environment.  At
the end of the SI, EPA decides whether the site requires further
investigation for possible inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL),
or should be dropped from further Superfund consideration.  Other SI goals
are to support potential removal or enforcement actions to collect data
supporting a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) or other
response actions.  EPA cannot complete the evaluation process necessary in
determining eligibility for inclusion on the NPL, without reviewing an SI
for the facility.  Please complete and submit an SI report to EPA within
ninety days of receipt of this letter.    If an SI has been conducted,
please forward a copy of the SI Report to this office as soon as possible.




Attached is a copy of EPA's Interim Final Guidance for Performing Site
Inspections Under CERCLA.
If there are any questions, please call Todd Richardson, EPA Region III
Federal Facilities Docket Coordinator at (215) 814-5264.

Sincerely yours,

Henry Sokolowski, Chief, 
Enforcement and Federal Facilities Branch      

cc: Paul Leonard, Chief, Federal Facilities Section
William Wentworth, Site Assessment Manager 
______________________________________________________________________________
  
  
                                     Henry Werner Meseke Immanuel

2250 Elliott Island Rd

Elliott MD 21869

October 27, 1997

Chairman: Honorable Jim Saxton Kathy Miller: fax: 202-225-1542

Sub Committee on Fisheries, Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans Phone:
202-225-2761

Rm.: H1-805 **202-226-0200 

ONeill House Office Bldg.

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Honorable Jim Saxton,

For three years, I have been trying under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) to have the Pentagons Military establishments which have bases, and
utilize the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, their tributaries, and
wetlands, to release to me records which might reflect what kinds of
discharges, releases (accidental or otherwise) detonation or testing of any: 

a) chemical agent or weapon,

b) biological agent or weapon, and

c) nuclear or atomic material or weapons.

I also included in my FOIA request a desire to know how these agents have
affected the environment (but not limited to contamination), human health,
wildlife and their habitats. Needless to say, the Military does not try to
have a true open records policy, but rather they are as secretive as can
be, which leads me to believe that they are hiding the damage that they
have contributed to our health and the environment. 

Just months before Pfiesteria was discovered in Maryland, I had been trying
to receive information pertaining to Bloodsworth Island, of which I had
already been made aware that the Island and the surrounding waters ( due to
deep water discharges) had been contaminated by their numerous bombings
that had started in 1942 to the present. This year the Seals desired to
utilize the Island for training maneuvers though Bloodsworth Island is
"......completely contaminated with an unknown quantity of unknown types of
unexploded ordnance.", (document written in 1988: by the Naval Energy and
Environmental Support Activity, Port Hueneme, Ca.; EPA# 7170090016, and
this information was compiled in 1981). The facts seem to reflect that the
Navy is in denial and does not even acknowledge these reports about
pollution. By 1992, the EPA had in their file a Potential Hazardous Waste
Site Preliminary Assessment Report ( the same id# 7170090016) explaining
the problems that existed on the Island. The last document I was to receive
was prepared for the U.S. EPA Hazardous Wastes Management Division, by the
Dynamac Corporation, Philadelphia Pa., dated: May 18th 93. This too had the
same EPA id# 7170090016. The most damaging statement was their summary and
conclusion. They claimed that..... "A release to the surface water pathway
is suspected because hazardous wastes were directly deposited into
wetlands, and surface water is located immediately adjacent to the source.
Also, there is no surface water runoff containment. Both primary fisheries
and sensitive environments (wetlands) have been identified. Surface water
and sediment samples should be obtained from the Bloodsworth Islands to
determine whether or not a release has occurred." 

These documents were to be public records and open for inspection, though
they were nowhere to be found, (EPA:Aug.18th 1997, "We wish to advise you
that the Superfund Program Office has no records responsive to your
request."; Larry S. Miller, Chief ; PRP Investigation and Site Information
Section, addressed to Henry Immanuel). I realized then that something was
seriously wrong with their filing system because I did have all of the
above mentioned documents in my possession. After going to Congressman
Gilchrests Town meeting at the Pocomoke High School on September 15th 1997
and speaking out about all of the above, things seemed to change. On Oct.
16th 1997, another letter was sent to me by Larry S. Miller inwhich he now
states that "......the USN Bloodsworth Archipelago (is a) Superfund Site
located in Crocheron,Maryland." The big question here is why the long delay
in acknowledging this problem? The document was originally filed on March
23rd 1988 in the EPA Region III office. Just how many others documents like
this exist in some kind of storage file concerning other Superfund sites in
this Country? ! ! 

These documents are very much a concern of mine because this proves that
the government (the Navy and the EPA) had in its possession information
which it did not act on. I believe that these documents were suppressed so
that the Military Complex could continue there various bombings to the
lower Bay with impunity. Needless to say, there are no areas in Maryland
and the Bay region that the Military should be able to bomb legally. Simply
stated, in such a close proximity to population it can only adversely
affect their environment and their health. 

I believe that they bought time for themselves so as that they could
continue to utilize Bloodsworth Island and its surrounding deep water
discharge locations, without regard for human health. A Presidential cease
and desist order must be issued immediately to stop the Military from any
future bombings to the Bay and its tributaries, so as to protect not only
the Bay from further destruction, but to be able to compile data relevant
to how our health has been affected.

If we make Bloodsworth Island the central focal point to the Pfiesteria
problem on the Eastern Shore, we are then able to see that a short forty
miles (40) south is the Pocomoke River area where the Pfiesteria problem
was discovered in Maryland; then about forty miles northeast in the upper
reaches of Fishing Bay the River known as the Chicamacomico is also
plagued. The upper waters of Fishing Bay have been utilized by the Navy in
the past. The Pfiesteria problem might have a connection to Bloodsworth
Island but until an in-depth study of Bloodsworth Island, and the deep
water discharge areas are conducted, we will only be guessing at where to
point our finger to find blame. 

It is easy to blame industry, chickens, and nutrients related to farming.
And, though we might clean up these industries for the betterment of
society, we truly do not have evidence to prove that they are the culprits.
It could even be that Marylands aerial pesticide spraying for mosquitoes
could be having an adverse effect on the Bay! 

I also must include these two major bases: 1) the Naval Surface Warfare
Center at Dahlgren Va., on the Potomac River; and 2) the Aberdeen Proving
Grounds on the upper Chesapeake Bay which are both on the National Priority
List with the Environmental Protection Agency. Consequently, they have
contributed to the most severe pollution problems within close proximity to
a vastly populated area in the United States. This happens to affect every
Marylander, Virginian, and Pennsylvanian. I have been told by Congressman
Wayne Gilchrest (who had responsibility in this sub- committee being
organized), that Aberdeen will take fifty(50) years for a complete cleanup,
if it is at all possible (in his words), and that is most disturbing. 

It would behoove us to immediately look at this problem and consider this a
National Emergency Crisis in which the Presidential powers would be
instituted to save us from our protectors. In another words, save us from
the Pentagons past mistakes. I only want the Pentagon to be a responsible
neighbor, nothing less! But when we as citizens look at their record of any
clean up action on their own volition, it does not seem to be that they are
good neighbors. And, when a site is to be cleaned-up it moves forward at a
snails pace! We as a Nation need this Crisis to be responded to with the
utmost concern. A substantial population is being affected within the
States of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. 

I am hoping that this Congressional Sub-Committee is one for action. The
time to act is now on these major pollutants by the Military!! The
overriding facts of this problem are that we have no facts!!! We also need
to know if their pollution has contributed to the Pfiesteria problem and
clean up should be realized as quickly as possible and this means that we
are going to have to spend money.

The reason for mentioning these problems with the Military is because no
one kept records of the composition and chemical makeup of these long ago
dropped bombs. They did not have to legally keep any records till November
5th 1971. We can only guess at what they used in their bombing campaigns
and if their pollution has contributed to the Pfiesteria problem. 

We should also mention that Dorchester County ranks the highest in the
State of Maryland from deaths due to CANCER and that the Eastern Shore of
MD leads the country in CANCER deaths overall!!!! It just might be that the
problem is the Military! 

My recommendation is that the Military must just bite the bombs and work at
being a good neighbor. And, on their own stop their bombing campaigns and
start their own clean-up action internally with their staff and funds. They
must fight this problem as if it is a true war, but without the EPAs
expenditures. The Superfund was not made for them, but for individuals and
companies which were either without funds or when no responsible party
could be located. Its intention was to be like an insurance company. I have
faith that our Military can shoulder their responsibility and take aim at
the new target and clean up!!! The Congress, Senate, and the President must
be ready to allocate funds as if a National Emergency existed, which it does. 

Sincerely,

Henry Werner Meseke Immanuel

cc:

Governor Parris N. Glendening: Office of the Governor, State House,
Annapolis, MD 21401

Comptroller: Louis L. Goldstein: Box 466, Goldstein Treasury Building,
Annapolis, MD 21401

Executive Office of the President: Michael V. Terrell, Council on
Environmental Quality, Washington, DC 20502

Congressman: Wayne T. Gilchrest, 332 Cannon Building, Washington, DC 20515



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