Community Involvement History

View MMR-IRP History

1982-1988
The early years of the IRP were ones marked by small staffs and budgets, grappling to understand the scope of the problem, mistrust and concern in the community, and virtually no opportunities for the public to be informed and involved in the process. Outreach activities consisted of news releases, periodic news conferences and limited interactions with town, state and federal officials and some homeowner organizations through an advisory committee that was closed to the media and general public. Frustration over the lack of information sharing and concern over possible public health issues associated with groundwater contamination resulted in an extreme lack of credibility for the military and even caused some citizens to stage several protests at the base's entrances.

1989-1992
This period was marked by a distinct shift in focus and attention on the seriousness of the situation at MMR. The addition of the IRP to the EPA's National Priorities List in 1989 brought nation-wide attention as well as more focus by the EPA, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the local community. In 1990 the Air National Guard created an on-site office and began staffing it with full-time employees to manage the IRP locally rather than from Washington, D.C. The implementation of the IRP's first community involvement plan in 1991 laid the groundwork for improving the relationship between the military and the community. It was a process that would take many years to work through to improve both the dialogue and the military's credibility. 1991 also saw the creation of the first-ever citizen advisory team that was made up of local citizen volunteers to advise the military on what should be done to study Ashumet and Johns Ponds. The advice suggested that two studies be performed on the recreational ponds. A Federal Facility Agreement between the Air Guard and U.S. EPA brought structure, time-lines and accountability to the process. This was critical as numerous source areas and groundwater plumes were discovered.

1993-1995
This was a time period marked by a focus on addressing the magnitude of the groundwater contamination issues at the MMR. Three citizen advisory teams were created in 1993, another in 1995, all related to the challenges of coming up with a solution to the groundwater pollution problems. The success of this process was the creation of a Plume Response Plan in 1994 and a commitment from the DoD to fund it. The plan was the result of countless volunteer hours by area residents, working through pain-staking deliberations to reach consensus on what should be done.

1996-Present
Uneasiness and an outpouring of emotion was felt by the community transitioning from 1995 to 1996 as a 60 percent design outlining plans to address all the plumes simultaneously raised serious reservations about the ability to implement it without adversely affecting ponds, rivers and the aquifer in general. This resulted in a setback and the Department of Defense responded by a transfer of management control from the Air Guard to the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence. That transfer made additional resources available immediately to get the program moving forward once again. Between 1997 and 1998 two major groundwater cleanup systems became operational and decisions were made on several of the remaining groundwater plumes that would become operational in the next few years. Intense media coverage, many public meetings, and intense dialogue with the community over various issue such as public health, schedule, treatment systems, monitoring, pond health, risk communication, and property values marked this period. In recent years the amount of interest and attention to the program has waned due in part to it being a mature program with many treatment systems in operation and having funds and plans to address the remaining problems.