[CPEO-MEF] VOCs: Ft. Detrick (MD) Area B water contamination

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Fort Detrick panel member frustrated at cleanup pace

Katherine Heerbrandt
Maryland Gazette
July 24, 2012

At least one member of the advisory board overseeing the cleanup of  
chemical contamination at Fort Detrick in Frederick expressed  
frustration last week with the pace of the effort after a consultant  
hired by the U.S. Army revealed levels of a cancer-causing agent  
3,000 times federal safe drinking-water standards.

The consultant Arcadis, hired to test groundwater contamination on  
the base as part of cleanup efforts mandated by the U.S.  
Environmental Protection Agency in 2009, identified trichloroethene,  
or TCE, tetracholoroethene, or PCE, and chloroform as having the  
highest levels of concentration in and around Area B, a disposal area  
for chemical, biological and radiological materials, including  
industrial and munitions waste.

TCE was found in the highest concentrations at 3,000 times the EPA's  
safe drinking-water standards. EPA lists TCE's maximum safe- 
contaminant level at 0.005 micrograms per liter, or five parts per  
billion. Arcadis found PCE at 14,000 to 15,000 parts per billion.

"The good news is we're honing [sic] in on the problem," said John  
Cherry of Arcadis, who presented the preliminary findings to the  
Restoration Advisory Board on July 18 at the Hampton Inn in  
Frederick. "The bad news is there's a problem."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.gazette.net/article/20120724/NEWS/707249981/1124/fort- 
detrick-panel-member-frustrated-at-cleanup-pace&template=gazette

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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