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U.S. Navy agrees to clean up Wahiawa and Lualualei Superfund sites / Soil contaminated with PCBs, volatile organic compounds, metals

Release Date: 04/02/2009
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, higuchi.dean@epa.gov

(04/02/09) HONOLULU – The U.S. Department of the Navy has signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Hawaii’s Department of Health to address clean up at Navy owned property at Wahiawa and Lualualei on Oahu.

Under the terms of the Federal Facility Agreement, the Navy will work with the EPA and the state to address any remaining issues at the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in Central Oahu and the Navy Radio Transmitter Facility at Lualualei near the Navy Munitions Command base in Leeward Oahu.

“This is a critical step in completing the clean up actions,” said Keith Takata, director for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Superfund Division. “Our agreement with the Navy and the state finalizes the process that the Navy will follow to complete the investigation and clean up of any remaining chemical contamination at both sites.”

Preliminary investigations have indicated that no immediate threats currently exist at the sites while further investigations continue. The sites are primarily land disposal and landfill areas that are no longer in use and former PCB transformer sites. Soil contaminants at the sites include PCBs, volatile organics, semi-volatile organics and metals. PCBs can cause cancer in animals and adversely affect the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems in humans.

The Navy will continue investigation and cleanup at both locations, which are on EPA’s National Priorities List—also known as the Superfund list. Clean up actions conducted to date have been focused on soil from former PCB transformer sites, which has been excavated and transported to NAS Barbers Point for treatment.

The document will be available online at www.epa.gov/region09/NavalComputer, along with additional information about the site history and cleanup progress. EPA will be accepting public comments on the document for 45 days, beginning April 3. Comments can be submitted via email to ripperda.mark@epa.gov

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