[CPEO-MEF] Gerstle River Expansion Area (AK)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[I know of at least three other Formerly Used Defense sites where the
presence or suspected presence of unexploded ordnance has led
firefighters to stay off the property. Has any one ever compiled a list
of such sites? In some cases, the risk from fire may be greater than the
direct risk from explosion. - LS]

Residents can comment on cleanup report 


Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
August 4, 2005

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public comment on its
Closeout Report for the Gerstle River Expansion Area ordnance site near
Delta Junction. The expansion area, between 1395 and 1408 Miles on the
south side of the Alaska Highway, was used from May 1965 to September
1967 to test chemical weapons containing Sarin and VX gases. It has been
the subject of controversy ever since. 

In 1970, after two "extensive cleanup operations" were conducted, the
site was returned to the state of Alaska, according to a report released
on Tuesday. The Department of the Army, however, retained the adjacent
Gerstle River Test Site for further investigation.

Six years later, an official document was released stating that while
contamination in the expansion area was no longer a hazard, there was
still a possibility of unexploded ordnance, project manager Teresa
Thomas told Delta Junction City Council and community members Tuesday
evening. 

Nonetheless, that report received little attention until the Hajdukovich
Creek Fire in June 1994, when the Bureau of Land Management determined
the area was unsafe for firefighters because of the possibility of
unexploded ordnance. As a result, it discontinued all fire-fighting
efforts on the ground. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2995318,00.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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