[CPEO-MEF] Six years later, Camp Edwards cleanup a moving target

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Massachusetts
BOSTON.COM
Six years later, Camp Edwards cleanup a moving target
By Greg Sukiennik, Associated Press
7/6/2003 11:05

BOSTON (AP) Decades of weapons testing and target practice left Cape
Cod's sole source of drinking water tainted with potentially harmful
chemicals. But six years into the cleanup effort, environmentalists and
neighbors say the military is looking for ways to shirk its
responsibility for the problem.

Camp Edwards, the northern portion of the 22,000-acre Massachusetts
Military Reservation, a Superfund site, was used from 1911 until 1997
for target practice, and by defense contractors testing and disposing of
munitions.

It's located directly over the high point of an aquifer, meaning
contamination leaching through the sandy soil quickly migrated in every
direction.

Twice in the past two years, perchlorate a chemical found in
propellents, rockets, missiles and fireworks that has been linked to
health and developmental problems was found in wells outside the
boundaries of the base.

''It's complicated to understand what (the groundwater) is going to
do,'' said William Walsh-Rogalski, an attorney for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. ''At different times of the year the
amount of water varies and its direction can change very suddenly. ...
We're chasing it in all directions.''

The Camp Edwards cleanup is also a topic of debate among lawmakers,
environmental regulators, the Pentagon and the Bush administration over
the environmental impact of military training, the health effects of
perchlorate, and who should pay to clean it up.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/187/region/Six_years_later_Camp_Edwards_c:.shtml

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