In 2014 and 2015, BEM implemented demolition and remediation activities, on behalf of the United States Air Force (USAF), at four remote radar stations located along Alaska’s North Slope region, as authorized under a performance based remediation (PBR) contract for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC). This was the largest single project ever contracted by AFCEC for environmental remediation above the Arctic Circle. These remote radar sites were built during the post-WWII period as part of the military’s Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line to detect incursions into outer space from the former Soviet Union. Due to the remote nature of, and the harsh weather conditions in, the Arctic comprehensive logistical planning was necessary to ensure the timely arrival and departure of staff, equipment, and analytical samples, which depended heavily on charter aircraft and barge transportation.
The work efforts conducted for this project included: state and federal permitting, establishment of remote field camps, contaminated materials transport and disposal, excavation of former waste disposal landfills, closure of petroleum bulk fuel tanks (greater than 1.2 MM gallon capacity), operation of POL-impacted soil landspreading areas, assessment and closure of more than 11,000 linear feet of petroleum distribution transfer piping, demolition of structures (aircraft hangars, fuel pumphouses, warehouses, and radar domes), oversight of multiple subcontractors, technical reporting, and presentations at remediation advisory board meetings. Field work activities were completed with no reportable accidents or injuries.
At two of the four sites, the land was being transferred from the USAF to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Hence, the cleanup needed to be completed to a level that would allow unrestricted use for any future BLM activities including habitat conservation for species covered under the Endangered Species Act. To demonstrate that this high standard had been met, BEM’s chemists used statistical techniques to process the sampling results and prove to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) that the entire footprints of the sites were clean to the 95% upper confidence limit. These methods, initially published as guidance by the Interstate Technical & Regulatory Council (ITRC), were subsequently accepted by ADEC and incorporated into their regulations.
This PBR is now 90% complete and has been deemed one of the most successful PBR projects ever undertaken by the USAF in Alaska.
