16 September 97 Dear Community Member: We are beginning an important and exciting step in the process to clean up groundwater plumes emanating from the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The decision criteria process begins today for the Storm Drain 5 (SD-5) South plume. This decision process is the way that project managers from the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will compare and evaluate alternatives for cleaning up the SD-5 South plume. The decision to be made by AFCEE and announced on December 15th will be the alternative that will be presented in a draft execution plan on February 2, 1998. It is scheduled to be designed, constructed, and started up in accordance with the EPA-enforceable deadline of June 22, 1999. We have already started this same decision process for the Chemical Spill 10 (CS-10), Ashumet Valley, and Landfill 1 (LF-1) plumes. The first public event will be a posterboard session where staff will be available to answer your questions and listen to your ideas about the alternatives under consideration. It will be held at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds Administration Building on Route 151 in Falmouth on Wednesday, October 8, from 3:30 to 9:00 p.m. If you would like to learn more about the alternatives, ask questions of technical staff, or make suggestions, please plan to stop by the posterboard session. A public meeting with additional information on the proposed alternatives will be held on November 12. You will be notified of the time and location, and it will be advertised in local newspapers. The public meeting will include a posterboard session, where you can stop by and talk to staff one-on-one, as well as a presentation and question-and-answer period. The public comment period on the alternatives runs from September 16 to November 21. All written comments will be responded to and a responsiveness summary will be prepared and released. If you have any questions about the decision criteria process, or would like to schedule a speaker to talk to a group or organization about the alternatives, please contact Jerry Whitaker of the Community Involvement Office at (508) 968-4678. Your involvement in the decision criteria process is critical. It ensures that the alternative selected not only cleans up the plume, but also is most acceptable to the affected communities. The decision criteria process will enable you to:
I encourage you to participate in the decision-making process for the SD-5 South plume. Enclosed are four fact sheets that will provide you with more information. The first, SD-5 South Plume Response Alternatives, describes the alternatives that are currently being considered, as well as those that are no longer under active consideration. The other three fact sheets provide background information that may help you better understand the alternatives—Storm Drain 5 Groundwater Plume provides an overview of the plume; Groundwater Treatment Technologies describes the technologies that make up the various proposed alternatives; and Glossary and Acronyms defines some of the more technical terms that are used in the other fact sheets. We look forward to working with you and developing an alternative that achieves the goal of cleaning up the SD-5 South plume in a manner that is acceptable to the affected communities. I hope to see you on October 8th in Falmouth. Sincerely,
JIM F. SNYDER Remediation Program Manager Attachments:
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