Lawmaker: EPA takes charge of Meade cleanup - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Lawmaker: EPA takes charge of Meade cleanup

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Drawn-out efforts to remove toxins and dangerous waste at Fort Meade will come under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency under an agreement long sought by Maryland officials to push the cleanup along faster, Sen. Benjamin Cardin said Monday.

Fort Meade, one of the nation’s largest military bases, has been a Superfund site since 1998 and cleanup efforts for a variety of contaminants have been underway for years. Community members around the base have wanted more supervisory power for the EPA.

A “federal facilities agreement” signed by the EPA, the Defense Department, the Interior Department and the Architect of the Capitol, which archives documents on the grounds of the base, outlines roles and responsibilities for parties in the effort. It gives the EPA final authority over decisions.

“I am pleased that after nine years, a formal agreement has been reached regarding the cleanup of contaminated sites at Fort Meade,” Cardin, D-Md., said in a statement.

“The agreement recognizes EPA’s role as ultimate arbiter of cleanup standards and provides an enforceable framework for the Army to complete all remaining work at the fort,” said Cardin, who has been pushing for the agreement.

There are 14 contaminated sites at Meade, which is about 20 miles from Washington. Another three contaminated sites are on land transferred from Fort Meade to the nearby Patuxent Research Refuge property.

Last year, the Pentagon challenged the EPA’s authority to issue orders to force Superfund cleanups. But in December, the Justice Department said the Pentagon can’t fight an EPA order to clean up Fort Meade.

The state of Maryland filed a federal lawsuit against the Army in December, contending the service has been taking too long to comply with a federal order.

A 1990s evaluation at Fort Meade found a list of pollution left by the military over the years, including solvents, pesticides, PCBs, heavy metals, waste fuels and waste oils. About $84 million has been spent cleaning up the area since the 1990s.

Fort Meade was established in 1917 and sits on about 13,500 acres in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County. It includes the headquarters of the National Security Agency. The fort has a total of about 40,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel. It is scheduled to receive thousands of additional employees in coming years through the 2005 base realignment and closure process.