NEWS RELEASE 2002-33, September 4, 2002;

NEWS RELEASE 2002-33
September 4, 2002

Informal Public Comment Period Planned on the Draft Work Plan Leading to Final Groundwater Cleanup Decisions

MASSACHUSETTS MILITARY RESERVATION, Cape Cod, Mass.—The Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) will hold a 14–day informal public comment period on the draft work plan leading to final cleanup decisions for four groundwater plumes.

An interim Record of Decision (IROD) was signed in 1995 to accelerate the cleanup process for the containment of seven groundwater plumes. Although treatment systems are in operation and contaminated water is being treated, the cleanup decisions made then were "interim" decisions. Currently, AFCEE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with concurrence from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are resuming the process to reach final groundwater cleanup decisions for the Eastern Briarwood, Western Aquafarm, Storm Drain 5 North and South, and Fuel Spill 12 groundwater plumes in accordance with the requirements in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. For each of the four plumes, the work plan summarizes site conditions since the Remedial Investigations (RI) to ensure that the RI objectives have been met and outlines the steps to reach the final decisions which include a baseline risk assessment, feasibility study, and proposed plan. The process to reach final cleanup decisions for the Ashumet Valley, Chemical Spill 10 and Landfill 1 groundwater plumes will be separate from this work plan.

AFCEE welcomes comments during the informal 14–day public comment period from September 12 to September 25, 2002 on the work plan leading to final groundwater cleanup decisions.

Copies of the work plan will be available beginning September 12 for review at the main libraries in Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich. The work plan also will be available at the U.S. Coast Guard library and the Installation Restoration Program Office located on base and on the MMR web site at www.mmr.org.

Written comments may be submitted to:

HQ AFCEE/MMR
Attn: Doug Karson
322 East Inner Road
Otis ANG Base, MA 02542-5028
By fax to: (508) 968-4673
By electronic mail to: doug.karson@mmr.brooks.af.mil

By Internet to: www.mmr.org/comment.htm

Although responses to informal comments will not become part of the Administrative Record, responses to comments will be provided through telephone calls and/or written correspondence. For additional information about the informal public comment period, please call Mr. Doug Karson at (508) 968-4678 extension 2 or toll free (866) GO-AFCEE.