EPA to oversee cleanup of Ft. Meade in Anne Arundel County

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 23, 2009 by Andy Rosen

Four federal agencies have agreed to end a longstanding dispute over the cleanup of environmental contaminants at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, a move that could bring conclusion to a state legal challenge to the way the site was being handled.

The Environmental Protection Agency will oversee the U.S. Army's cleanup of the site under the agreement announced Monday, which also includes the Department of Defense, the Architect of the Capitol and the Department of the Interior. A disagreement over who would oversee the cleanup had been brewing for several years.

Though the Army says it spent about $84 million to clean up contaminated areas around the base since the site's decontamination was made a federal priority in 1998, the defense department and the EPA never had an agreement to place the EPA in charge of the cleanup.

Harry Lockley, a public affairs officer at Fort Meade, said the agreement allows the Army to follow the letter of the law in cleaning up the site.

Without such an agreement, there was no set time frame for the cleanup, said EPA spokesman David Sternberg.

"What's significant about the agreement is that it's a legitimate [document] that puts the army under an enforceable schedule to proceed with the cleanup," he said.

State officials had grown impatient with the cleanup at Fort Meade, where contaminated sites include parts of the current military installation and other parcels of land that have been transferred to the Department of the Interior and the Architect of the Capitol. According to the EPA, the contaminants include several solvents and heavy metals, explosives, arsenic and PCBs.

The state sued the Army in December, after demanding an agreement be put in place last fall. The agreement is a positive development, but Horacio Tablada, director of waste management administration with the Maryland Department of the Environment, said it does not erase the state's concern.

MDE wants to see a finalized agreement after a 45-day public comment period before it considers dropping its case, he said. It's crucial to have a legally binding contract because that gives the cleanup more structure and does not leave it at the mercy of annual budgets, he said.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., had made a resolution to the deal one of his top priorities, said spokeswoman Susan Sullam. She said the EPA's oversight will ensure accountability for the Army under the deal.

"I am pleased that after nine years, a formal agreement has been reached regarding the cleanup of contaminated sites at Fort Meade," Cardin, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, 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."

Some contaminants have been detected in aquifers, the EPA says. All told, there are 14 contaminated sites at the installation, which measures nearly 14,000 acres and is 12 miles from Baltimore. Three other contaminated sites are on land controlled by the other federal agencies.