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Page 6
August 3. 2011
Military
Wasteland
continued
frontpages
ter and soil. Additional demoli
tion, target and rocket areas were
also discovered.
Though contractors removed
hundreds of munitions in a sur
face clearing atop the site’s
C entral Valley floor, w here
Lacamas Creek flows through a
meadow, over $20 million in
clean-up costs remain.
Deeply buried munitions still
lurk 2 inches to 14 inches or
lower below the surface. Land
fills and lead-contaminated soils
are among other areas o f con
tamination. Only two of the five
“Remedial Action Units” of con-
ta m in a ted areas have been
cleaned up.
The county roughly expects
clean up to last another five to
seven years, while others esti
mate 10 more years.
New Funding for Cleanup
The contracting team agreed
to leave the site in 2010 and
lease the property back to the
county, rent-free until July 15,
2011. Today, the lease has been
extended until Aug. 15, allowing
the county to pursue more fund
ing from the Army.
The Army is expected to pro
vide funds to continue clean up.
“We have been making slow,
gradual progress toward a fund
ing agreement,” said Jeff Mize,
public information manager for
Clark County Public Works. In
the end, he says “It’s the Arm y’s
responsibility to clean up the
property.”
Previously, the Army criticized
prime contractor, Mike Gage,
for what they considered to be
inappropriate use of funds in
cluding lavish entertainment and
travel expenses, and refused to
offer any more resources.
“If we had a perfect under
standing of what was on the site
10 years ago, we might be fur
ther along,” said Mize.
up failures if the Army and state
did not refuse help from the U.S.
E n v iro n m e n ta l P ro te c tio n
Agency, who withdrew from the
project in 2003 after 7 years of
involvement.
In a letter to the Army, the
EPA stated their official with
drawal from Camp Bonneville’s
closure team, citing that there
were “significant data gaps and
procedural shortfalls at Camp
Bonneville” as a result of the
Army ’ s “lack of cooperation and
collaboration.”
O th er co n cern s the EPA
stated were; the A rm y’s incom
plete and faulty description of
the site’s contaminants, a lack of
information about property trans
fers, and a limited understanding
about the extent of contamina
tion from munitions, unexploded
ordinances, and areas of chemi
cal releases.
With extensive contamination
remaining in 2009, Bertish peti
tioned for the EPA’s return and
requested new site assessments
with consideration that the prop
erty be placed on the National
Priorities Superfund List.
Military ordnance from a training base east o f Vancouver still at risk exploding.
left footing the Arm y’s mess,
Bertish hopes the EPA’s involve
ment will be the leverage to find
funding and clean up Camp
Bonneville in a proper and timely
manner.
Bombs an “acceptable risk?
While county officials explain
Possible unexploded military munitions make Camp Bonneville a
public danger.
The petition won, and the EPA
began conducting a site investi
gation May 2011 in Phase 1,
collecting groundwater, soil, and
EPA Warnings Disregarded Lacamus Creek samples. The
Dvija Michael Bertish, a local results are still under review,
environmentalist and member of and Phase 2 sampling begins this
the Rosem ere N eighborhood month.
Association, said the County may
W orried the county may be
have prevented the current clean involved in legal conundrum and
that bombs on the site is an
“acceptable risk" for a public
park, some public citizens argue
the opposite. Jerry Barnett, the
county’s project manager for
Camp Bonneville said, “It would
be a different sort of park than
what we are used to.”
He explains that two-thirds of
the property will remain a wild-
life refuge, while the public park mational cartoon booklet called
will be divided among two areas. Larry the Lizard on the Lookout
The most intense public use area for parents with children “who
for tent camping and unrestricted may find remnants of unexploded
use will be on the lower Valley ordinance while playing or ex
floor, where “subsurface clear ploring in the area” of the future
ing” will have been completed, public park.
while a more restricted area on
With drawings and colorful
the Western Slopes will limit hik photos, the book tells kids, “If
ers to trails and roads, away there’s metal on the ground, tell
from potentially dangerous ar someone what you found,” and
eas.
“If glass or wire is what you see,
Areas heavily impacted with tell someone quick and let it be.”
fired artillery will be off limits to
the public and protected by 5-
A history of assault
strand barbed wire fences, he
on the land
said. A ndofcourse, no park will
From 1909 to 1995, under the
exist until Camp Bonneville is ownership of U.S. Army, the
cleaned up according to plan.
forested property was used by
“Even after cleanup is com various branches of the military
plete, bombs will remain on site as artillery ranges for pistols,
in perpetuity, said Bertish, stat rifles, machine guns, howitzers,
ing that unexploded munitions live hand g ren ad e s, ro ck et
may be buried deeper than sub launchers, mortar training shells,
surface clearing. “This is not an and a list of other military weap
appropriate risk to have a public onry.
park adjacent to bombs on the
Investigations in 1995 con
site.”
cluded over 20 areas of concern
Barry Rogowski, a manager for restoration including four
with Washington State’s depart landfills, three grease pits, drum
ment of Ecology, said “Park burials, paint and solvent burials,
rangers trained in m unitions bum pits, maintenance pits, pes
safety and identification will ticide mixing storage buildings, a
make sure public safety is taken former sewage pond, and more.
care of,” along with “ongoing
Among the chemical warfare
safeguards, public education and service activities on the site were
notification, and institutional con three ammunition bunkers, two
trols (such as nodigging) to mini gas chambers, a mustard-train
mize any risk to the public.
ing area, tear gas capsules, smoke
The Army released an infor pots, land mines, etc.