Deadlines for completion have come and gone earlier than. An replace supplied to the county council in 2020 estimated the groundwater contamination cleanup to be 90 p.c accomplished, with the remaining 10 p.c to wrap up by early 2021.
Established in 1909, Camp Bonneville was used as a coaching camp for numerous navy branches. Over its 85-year lifespan, troops stationed at Fort Vancouver would use the positioning as a drill discipline and rifle vary. A capturing vary utilized by regulation enforcement businesses continues to be in operation on the property.
The navy stopped utilizing the practically 4,000-acre web site in 1995. In 2006, the U.S. Military transferred possession of the property to the county. Since then, with grant funding from the Military, the county undertook a serious effort to clear the property of unexploded ordinance, explosive compounds, munitions and lead, in addition to clear up soil and groundwater contaminants.
“Heavy metal contamination like lead does not readily dissolve in water and instead remains in the soil. Former maintenance operations and underground and above-ground storage tanks also contributed to the soil and water contamination,” Tyler advised the council.
Tyler stated the subsequent step will likely be for PBS Engineering, a Portland agency employed to watch the groundwater, to finish a draft feasibility research report.
“This report summarizes the contamination, past cleanup efforts, status of groundwater monitoring and evaluates options for ongoing cleanup,” Tyler stated.
As soon as the draft report is completed, the Division of Ecology will host a public assembly to present residents a possibility to study extra in regards to the cleanup work and supply remark.
Subsequent, a sitewide groundwater cleanup motion plan will likely be drafted, which can even have a public assembly and remark interval, Tyler stated.
The groundwater cleanup might take a number of years, he stated.
Periodic critiques
In August, a state auditor’s workplace report discovered the ecology division and Clark County failed to fulfill state necessities to conduct five-year critiques on cleanup efforts on the web site.
In response to Tyler, these critiques embody a compilation and assessment of paperwork supporting the cleanup actions, a assessment of institutional controls, web site inspections and a report summarizing this info. The ecology division then makes use of this info to finalize the periodic assessment and can maintain a public assembly and public remark interval.
“The decision was made but not documented to hold off on periodic reviews until all remedial action units were completed,” Tyler stated.
Gregory Shaw, a former member of the now disbanded Camp Bonneville Group Advisory Group, stated the periodic critiques needs to be a vital piece of the cleanup work.
“If you’re going to transition it from a restricted area into an open area, an area that the public might have access to, you have to make sure that the cleanup that you did was both effective at the time and has remained effective over time,” Shaw stated.
Even after an space is cleaned up, Shaw stated you possibly can’t assume it would stay that manner.
“The Department of Ecology and the Army themselves have raised the issue that, because of the amount of rain and snow and windstorms we get, munitions may well migrate to the surface, sometimes propelled by freeze-thaw cycles and sometimes just erosion or trees falling over and pulling up stuff that’s buried,” he stated.
Shaw additionally stated, primarily based on his time serving on the advisory committee and data he’s obtained by way of public information requests, that even areas thought-about cleaned want extra work.
Tyler stated the county and Division of Ecology are working cooperatively to schedule and full the present and future periodic critiques. The present periodic assessment report is due from the county by Jan. 20. After that, the county might want to full the subsequent periodic assessment report inside 5 years.
Future use
Over time, there have been quite a few options about what to do with the property. Medvigy beforehand advised the positioning may very well be used to supply housing to veterans. Others have advised a behavioral well being facility or housing for homeless folks.
In response to Tyler, growing a grasp plan for the way the positioning will likely be used should wait till the cleanup actions are full.
Shaw worries making even a number of the property right into a public park might put residents in danger.
“A park is an area of high human activity, especially if you’re going to have campgrounds and yurts or tents … all the kinds of things that the county proposed in the reuse plan,” he stated, mentioning that 2,000 acres haven’t been cleared of ordnance.
Shaw stated a park must be fully fenced in to maintain guests from wandering into extra harmful areas with unexploded munitions, and even that won’t deter some guests.
“There’s no possibility that the county will ever have the resources to fence areas off adequately because of the hodgepodge of areas that are cleaned up. There is no core area which is easily defined as usable because it’s been properly cleared,” Shaw stated.