************ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *************** NEW EPA STUDY SHOWS CONTAMINATION AT CAMP BONNEVILLE HAS MIGRATED Contact: Dvija Michael Bertish, Rosemere Neighborhood Association 360-281-4747 Original Release: May 31, 2012 Update: June 8, 2012 EPA Region X (Seattle Office) has published a May 2012 Technical Data Report entitled “Camp Bonneville Expanded Site Inspection, Vancouver WA” (Technical Document [...]
Posts Tagged ‘superfund’
EPA Testing Results at Camp Bonneville Show Contaminated Plume Growing & Moving
EPA has released the initial results of its testing at Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington. EPA is conducting assessment of the known and suspected release of hazardous substances at Camp Bonneville to determine whether it warrants listing under the Superfund Program following a petition from Rosemere Neighborhood Association (RNA). [...]
Camp Bonneville Sampling and Quality Assurance Plan
This Sampling and Quality Assurance Plan is the next stage in Rosemere Neighborhood Association’s effort to obtain Superfund status for Camp Bonneville. (Click HERE to view previous articles on RNA Superfund Petition for Camp Bonneville)
Environmental Protection Agency contractors, Ecology and Environment, Inc., of Seattle, will collect soil samples for lab analysis from all over the site and will be installing additional monitors in wells to test groundwater contamination as well as in-stream monitoring in Lacamas Creek.
The Sampling and Quality Assurance Plan details where sampling will occur and how it will be analyzed to determine what clean-up needs to be achieved to ensure public health and safety.
View the plan here (NOTE: this is a fairly large file): Camp Bonneville_Final Sampling and Quality Assurance Plan
Progress on Rosemere’s Superfund Petition for Camp Bonneville WA
Background: Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition, Submitted by Rosemere Neigborhood Association & Columbia Riverkeeper
In February 2009, following Rosemere’s extensive involvement in what we consider a faulty clean up action plan at the Camp Bonneville military installation, Vancouver WA, Rosemere and Columbia Riverkeeper submitted a formal petition to the US Environmental Protection Agency to list the property on the National Priorities Superfund List.
See the original superfund petition here: http://www.rosemerena.org/home/2009/04/06/preliminary-superfund-petition-for-camp-bonneville-february-3-2009/
The goal of the petition was to bring EPA back into the project in order to correct failing cleanup efforts, currently at a complete standstill. EPA had been a major participant in cleanup efforts more than 10 years ago, but in 2003, EPA withdrew its involvement citing a lack of cooperation from both Clark County government and the US Department of Defense that owned the contaminated property. Camp Bonneville was a former 4000 acre international military training site where munitions, including missiles, grenades, and chemical warfare were used in live drills.
Documented groundwater contamination at the site has entered the Troutdale Aquifer System, a federally designated Sole Source Aquifer that was petitioned by Rosemere and Columbia Riverkeeper and established in 2006. The source of the contamination is a vast collection (both known and unknown) of buried military munitions and chemicals that have leached into the soil and groundwater throughout the site. Rosemere contends that the plume of toxic chemicals has been mobile for many years, and may have exited to compound, threatening Lacamas Creek and its tributaries, and Lacamas Lake which is hydrologically connected to the Columbia River.
EPA Moves Forward With Site Inspection of Camp Bonneville for Consideration to List as Superfund Site
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10 Office has announced the results of its Preliminary Assessment of Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington. In a letter dated March 1, 2010, EPA informed Camp Bonneville cleanup contractors and the Washington State Department of Ecology that based on the information gathered [...]
EPA to Perform Preliminary Superfund Assessment of Camp Bonneville
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informed the Rosemere Neighborhood Association (RNA) today that it has determined that performing a Preliminary Assessment of Former Camp Bonneville Military Reservation is warranted.
On February 3, 2009, RNA petitioned EPA to conduct a preliminary assessment of the known and suspected release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants at Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington (just outside Vancouver). The EPA’s decision means it will assess the Camp Bonneville site to determine whether it warrants attention under the Superfund Program.
Click here to read EPA’s letter EPA Petition for Preliminary Assessment at Former Camp Bonneville
Data Gathered for Vancouver Lake Superfund Assessment – March 4, 2009
In August, 2007, RNA and Columbia Riverkeeper submitted a formal Citizen Petition for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a Preliminary Assessment to consider Vancouver Lake a superfund site due to contamination from substances like PCBs. The Citizen’s Petition scored sufficiently for EPA to to move to the next step, which is a site inspection study. Contractors for the EPA arrived in Vancouver to gather around 30 sediment samples that will be shpped out of state for analysis at federally contracted laboratories.
RNA Receives letter of support for Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition – February 9, 2009
camp_bonneville
The Rosemere Neighborhood Association has received a letter of support for our Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition from Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (Wisconsin). CSWAB was organized in 1990 when rural families near Wisconsin’s 7,400-acre Badger Army Ammunition Plant learned that private drinking water wells were polluted with high levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Read the entire document here (Adobe PDF format).
Preliminary Superfund Petition for Camp Bonneville – February 3, 2009
The Rosemere Neighborhood Association has requested that the Environmental Protection Agency conduct a preliminary assessment of the known and suspected release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants at Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington (just outside Vancouver). Read the entire document here (Adobe PDF format).
Work at Camp Bonneville to remove contamination – September 20, 2004
Landfill Four is coated in plastic to prevent
erosion and movement of the pollution from rain.
The yellow posts in the background mark a test well
that is used to monitor ammonium perchlorate
levels in the groundwater.
Camp Bonneville is a decommissioned military installation in Clark County. The US Army used this forested area for target practice, including the firing of missiles. The camp was also used as a munitions landfill. These buried munitions have caused a toxic underground plume of ammonium perchlorate to develop.
