Fort Detrick occupies 1,200 acres, which is 10 percent of the land area of the entire City of Frederick . Of those 1,200 acres, 400 acres are in “Area B.” Area B is the site of numerous landfills, 43 of which were found in 1992 to be contaminated with TCE and PCE, two carcinogenic chemicals. In that same year, TCE contamination was discovered off-post in residential wells.
In 2001, the Army commenced an interim removal action (IRA) at one of the landfill areas believed to be most contaminated. In 2003, vials containing live bacteria were discovered in the excavation. Some of the bacteria were identified as being human pathogens. (Picking up on our failure to justify the invasion of Iraq by the discovery of bioweapons there, The Guardian newspaper in England then ran a headline that read: “US Finds Evidence of WMDs at Last — Buried in a Field in Maryland.”)
In 2003, The Frederick News-Post sent a reporter to speak to afflicted residents on Kemp Lane and others neighboring Area B. The result was a front-page story titled “Cancer Questions: Residents Point Finger at Detrick.”
The discovery of live human germs at Area B led to the decision to curtail further “intrusive investigations” at the remaining landfill areas. Instead of a strategy of removal of hazardous waste, it was decided to implement “remedy in place.” That remedy amounts to the installation of landfill caps over the disposal areas. The Environmental Impact Statement for the new USAMRIID building at Detrick says that this remedy will be completed by September 2008. To date, the remedy has yet to be completed.
Last week, as a citizen member of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) which is entrusted with overseeing the “cleanup” of Area B, I was given a tour of progress being made with the landfill caps. During the tour, one of the fort’s environmental managers mentioned in passing that the City of Frederick wanted to run part of its “Christopher’s Crossing” beltway across Area B. What?
The geology of Area B is treacherous — full of unpredictable, underground limestone configurations. The Army has yet to even assess groundwater contamination, which finally compelled MDE, EPA and both of our senators all to insist on Area B being placed on the National Priority List as a Superfund (hazardous waste) site as of this past April.
I have learned that the fort had a similar reaction to mine when in about 2000 the city initially inquired about a road across Area B. One thing that has changed since then is revealed in an Oct. 16, 2009 FNP article, “City gives Fort Detrick tax break on private utility plant,” in which we learn that the city just agreed to waive property taxes in the amount of about $40,000 per year for 10 years in response to a request by the fort’s commander, Judith Robinson. (My calculations indicate that the $40,000 figure is understated, but this tax waiver will have to be further examined in a future column.)
Tucked inside the article about the “tax break” is the following passage: “Robinson said ... the Army would [in turn] provide a property easement at no cost to the city for the eventual expansion of the Christopher’s Crossing road project.” No one from either Frederick or Fort Detrick has illuminated the fact that this apparent deal involves running a highway across Area B.
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