[CPEO-MEF] Despite glitches, Devens clean-up is progressing

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Massachusetts
HARVARD HILLSIDE
Despite glitches, Devens clean-up is progressing
By C. David Gordon
11/5/2003

DEVENS -- Work to cleanup contamination sites on Devens continues
despite some glitches, Base Realignment and Closure and Army Corps of
Engineers officials reported at last Thursday's Devens Restoration
Advisory Board meeting.

Two sites will continue as concerns well into the future because of
their sheer complexity.

The project at the former Army airfield to clear out two plumes of
parachute cleaning fluid (tetrachloroethylene) that are moving in
groundwater appears headed toward full-scale cleanup.

Arcadis, the company contracted to carry out the work, is preparing a
"record of decision" for Environmental Protection Agency and state
Department of Environmental Protection regulators for their review this
week. A little over three months later, the company's complete remedial
design is expected to be submitted, and, by May 2004, the work should
begin.

Arcadis' contract continues through the EPA's first five-year review in
mid 2009. That could entail, if deemed necessary, any adjustment in
remediation (if not found to be needed earlier).

The Army's Guaranteed Fixed Price Remediation Contract includes payment
of up to almost $7 million as the company meets certain milestones as
the remediation process continues and includes an insurance policy
guaranteeing against remediation cost overrun of up to 150 percent of
that project cost in the performance period.

Even more complicated is the Shepley's Hill Landfill groundwater study
project, which involves arsenic moving beyond the landfill into
groundwater beneath some land in Ayer.

BRAC Coordinator Benjamin Goff told the RAB that working toward a "scope
of work," a project outline for bidders, and seeking a contractor to
further define the problem and work out a permanent solution involves
"the issue of tasking between the Army and regulators."

Once that is done, the BRAC environmental office and Army Corps of
Engineers can seek bids in the winter and a contractor can start work in
late winter or early spring.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.harvardhillside.com/Stories/0,1413,108~5347~1746031,00.html

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