Environmental Concerns
On January 18, 1994, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to add Wurtsmith Air Force Base to the National Priorities List. This would make the base a Superfund site. The proposal was driven by the discovery of contaminated groundwater on the base. Contaminants of primary concern include metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds, including trichloroethylene, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and vinyl chloride. Knowledge of the contaminated soil and groundwater have been known since 1977, and cleanup efforts began before the Superfund program was created. In 1999 and 2001, Soil vapor extraction systems were added to remove the volatile organic compounds from the site. Since 2004, bioventing and biosparging systems have been cleaning the soil and groundwater as well.
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Famous quotes containing the word concerns:
“Our ideal ... must be a language as clear as glass—the person looking out of the window knows there is glass there, but he is not concerned with it; what concerns him is what comes through from the other side.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)