This is a note I prepared in response to a general query on
military base landfills:
Most U.S. military bases have one or more abandoned general
purpose landfills. Sometimes the are covered by athletic fields,
golf courses, etc., and even locating them may be difficult. It
takes a persistent investigatory team, and usually requires
anecdotal testimony from former base workers.
These are dumps containing residential garbage; landscape refuse
such as cuttings from golf courses; construction debris; oils,
paints, and solvents; pesticides; batteries. That is, they
contain hazardous substances, but the bulk of the trash is not
particularly hazardous, althoug the rotting organic waste may
generate methane.
Unless one can pinpoint the toxic wastes, treatment is
impractical. Removal (dig and haul) is sometimes used, if the
parcel is required for construction or if it's in an
evnironmentally sensitive area, but that merely moves the waste,
without reducing the toxicity. Current laws and regulations make
off-site removal very difficult.
In the U.S., EPA's presumptive remedy for such landfills is
capping, which is designed to keep rain and other precipitation
from flowing into the waste and causing contaminants to leach.
If toxic leachate has been detected, then groundwater monitoring
and sometimes even extraction (pump and treat) are required.
Often there is a debate over the make-up and thickness of the
cap.
Institutional controls are required, however, to prevent
activities likely to pierce the cap.
At military bases with multiple dump sites, however, another
alternative is often backed by the military, regulators, and the
community: landfill consolidation. That is, material from one
landfill is moved to another, and only the receiving area is
capped.
Because one party owns property containing multiple landfills,
it's not necessary to obtain a permit for off-site disposal.
(Everything is on site.) Consolidation reduces the area to be
capped - thus with a restricted land use. Depending upon the
concentration and toxicity of the hazardous waste being moved,
treatment - or disposal in a haazardous waste landfill - may be
required for a fraction of the waste. Finally, consolidation is
often cheaper than other alternatives, included multiple caps in
place.
All of these factors, of course, vary from landfill to landfill
and base to base. Each must be evaluated in its own right.
Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO (and Pacific Studies Center)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
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