| Action Date |
Action |
Description |
DEC Staff |
| 12/21/1990 |
Site Ranked Using the AHRM |
Initial ranking. |
Former Staff |
| 5/16/1994 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = RPL2 - Site Information Request Letter). Staff sent PRP-CS Database Notification Letter to Cristal Fosbrook requesting update/confirmation of information concerning the contaminated site. |
Jeff Peterson |
| 9/12/1994 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
(Old R:Base Action Code = PUBP - Public Participation)). Public meeting held at Delta Community Center 7pm. ADEC attendees Ron Short, Paul Bateman, Colonel Kraus new head of DPW and Colonel Peter Topp new head of ACOE Alaska District made statements and took questions about possible four dud nerve gas shells on GRTS Expansion Area now state land. Contractor will begin field investisgation this week. Army will proceed with security clearances for State personnel and declassification of pertinent documents. |
Ronan Short |
| 10/11/1994 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = PUBP - Public Participation)). Draft Report by Dames and Moore on GRTS Explosive Area. Includes interviews and history of activities at site. Report compiled after Public Meeting on September 12, 1994. ACOE Huntsville is Army authority for Army CWM. |
Ronan Short |
| 10/27/1994 |
Site Characterization Report Approved |
(Old R:Base Action Code = LFI - Limited Field Investigation (CERCLIS)). Draft Report by Human Factors Applications Inc, EOD Division on GRTS Explosive Area. Includes Non-invasive site inspection and history of activities at site. Site visit completed after Public Meeting on September 12, 1994. Report states no immediate safety hazard exists, but suggests that magnetic anomalies exist at several impact areas. |
Ronan Short |
| 2/8/1995 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
A public meeting was held at Delta Junction Community Center on February 8, 1995 to present Army's plans for site investigation in 1995. Approximately 35 attendees including state and federal officials. |
Ronan Short |
| 5/24/1995 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SI - Site Investigation). Draft SI for Non-Intrusive Work and Safety Plan received for (GREATS) = Gerstle River Expansion Area and Test Site. |
Ronan Short |
| 7/6/1995 |
Site Characterization Workplan Approved |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SI - Site Investigation). FINAL SI for Non-Intrusive Work and Safety Plan received for (GREATS) = Gerstle River Expansion Area and Test Site. |
Ronan Short |
| 9/21/1995 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = FI - Field Inspection (General)). Site visit with Robert Layne-DNR and Dames and Moore staff. Visited suspected burial sites at active site, also work is proceeding at FUDS part: Site 10 and 9 to confirm the absence of nerve gas shells. Sampled private well at Webb residence MP. |
Ronan Short |
| 12/7/1995 |
Update or Other Action |
Draft Intrusive Work plan received this date for GREATS. Draft plan calls for intrusive excavation of ten anomalies. Several hundred found but most believed to be shell fragments (frag). |
Ronan Short |
| 1/2/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
DRAFT/Fort Greely Gerstle River Expansion Area and test Site/Geophysical Target Analyses Report and test Grid location Maps received. |
Ronan Short |
| 3/11/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
Received Planning document for proposed work at the Gerstle River Expansion Area. |
Ronan Short |
| 3/29/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SI - Site Investigation). Draft Emergency destruction plan for VX and GB nerve gas. That may be found during invasive investigation at Sites 9, 9A and 10. Invasive investigation scheduled for summer 1996 but may be delayed due to Army plan approval timetable. Plan prepared by Steve Bird (PMNSCM). |
Ronan Short |
| 4/4/1996 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
Teleconference between Bob Chivvis, Loran Baxter and ADEC staff. Staff requested clarification of Emergency Destruct Plan (EDP). |
Ronan Short |
| 4/10/1996 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
Teleconference between Bob Chivvis and staff from Non-Stockpile Chemical Munitions, Sam Swearingen, and SAIC Corp. Staff requested a CLEAR explanation of alternatives that could be presented to the public. Proposed public meeting in late May/June '96. |
Ronan Short |
| 5/24/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SI - Site Investigation). Draft 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Submission. Site Investigation for OE and RCWM Gerstle River Expansion Area and Test Site, Alaska. |
Ronan Short |
| 6/1/1996 |
Preliminary Assessment Approved |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SA2 - Phase II Site Assessment (General)). 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Submission (Phase 2), Site Investigation for OE and RCWM, Gerstle River Expansion Area and Test Site, Alaska, received 6/28/1996. |
Ronan Short |
| 6/1/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
(Old R:Base Action Code = SI - Site Investigation). 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Submission (Phase 2), Site Investigation for OE and RCWM, Gerstle River Expansion Area and Test Site, Alaska. Response to Comments on the May, 1996 Version of the Draft 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Submission with Dames and Moore's Responses and Annotations, received 7/15/1996. |
Ronan Short |
| 6/3/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
Complete 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Plan received. Briefing paper on this activity sent to Anchorage and Juneau on approximately July 1, 1996. |
Ronan Short |
| 6/5/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
Review conference for Draft work plan for intrusive activities. Comments submitted. Document approximately 90% complete. |
Ronan Short |
| 6/6/1996 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
(Old R:Base Action Code = PUBP - Public Participation)). Public meeting held at Delta Junction Community Center. Approximately 20 attendees. Concerns raised: hunting season, down wind hazard, safety precautions? |
Ronan Short |
| 7/31/1996 |
Update or Other Action |
Inserts for the 1996 Intrusive Work and Safety Submission (Phase 2), Site Investigation for OE and RCWM. These inserts include: Interim Holding Facility Plan, Transportation Plan, Monitoring Plan, replacement pages C5-5 through C8-3, and replacement pages C9-1 through C9-16, received August 5, 1996. |
Ronan Short |
| 3/27/1997 |
Update or Other Action |
Site updated by Shannon and Wilson, based on the Army Defense Site Environmental Restoration Tracking System Worksheets dated 11/8/96. The worksheets list a variety of hydrocarbon compounds in soil and dieldrin in sediment. |
S&W |
| 11/12/1999 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
Attended RAB meeting. |
Rielle Markey |
| 11/17/2000 |
Site Added to Database |
Fort Greely Gerstle River Test Site, Reckey 198933X902501, was split into this and three other sites. |
Former Staff |
| 3/5/2001 |
Update or Other Action |
File number corrected from 170.38.025 to 141.38.030. |
Mitzi Read |
| 3/27/2001 |
Update or Other Action |
ADEC has contracted Geophex UXO Ltd. to provide technical support for UXO investigations at the GREA |
Greg Light |
| 3/27/2001 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
Attended meeting with the Alaska and Huntsville District USACE staff to resolve ADEC concerns over proposed SOW for UXO investigation at registration areas 9E and 10N. Expect investigation workplan to be submitted to ADEC for review by late April. |
Greg Light |
| 7/24/2001 |
Site Characterization Workplan Approved |
Staff approved site characterzation workplan for Sites 9E and 10N. |
Greg Light |
| 11/7/2002 |
Site Characterization Report Approved |
Geophysical report recieved in March 2002. No UXO was found at the site. |
Greg Light |
| 5/24/2004 |
Update or Other Action |
DEC staff Tamar Stephens met wtih Corps of Engineers staff Shah Alam, Bob Haxlett, and David Westerman, and Army staff Rielle Markey, to review status the site. Corps showed videotape that documented records search and included statements from staff who conducted weapons testing in 1960's to clarify that "unknown" meant that rounds were detonated, but precise coordinates of detonation was unknown due to detonating in the treetops. |
Tamar Stephens |
| 5/25/2004 |
Update or Other Action |
Site visit by DEC staff Tamar Stephens and Corps of Engineers staff Shah Alam, Bob Hazlett, and David Westerman. |
Tamar Stephens |
| 3/4/2005 |
Update or Other Action |
Reviewed Proposed Plan from USACE that recommends NFRAP for GREA. Agree with plan and will present findings in Delta Junction RAB on March 9, 2005. |
Mike Jaynes |
| 8/4/2005 |
Meeting or Teleconference Held |
Attended Army Corps presentation of Chemical Weapons (CWM) and munitions (MMRP) reports at City Council Meeting and Open House. Both reports are now open for 30 day review by State Agencies and the public. Also spoke with reporter from Delta News and Fairbanks News-Minor. Will be reviewing reports and submit official comments in conjunction with DNR. |
Mike Jaynes |
| 10/1/2007 |
Update or Other Action |
Submitted notification letter to Alaska Department of Natural Resources (ADNR)notifying the agency that USACE had submitted "Final Closure" documentation for the Gerstle River Expansion Area (GREA). The letter informed ADNR that pending the resolution of one outstanding issue ADEC was prepared to approve "Site Closure". ADEC had requested a through evaluation of the breakdown of VX and Sarin chemical agent (CA) and their associated agent breakdown products (ABP)prior to granting closure. The letter requested that ADNR identify any objections they had to "Site Closure". |
Guy Warren |
| 10/30/2007 |
Update or Other Action |
Received ADEC response to 10/1/07 correspondence. ADNR identified numerous objections to site closure. These include: information regarding the breakdown of CA and ABP, quality defeciencies with unexploded ordnance (UXO) surveys, concerns regarding the contents of former borrow pits, and other land management concerns related to the former DoD use of the area. |
Guy Warren |
| 4/1/2008 |
Update or Other Action |
Issued contract to ADEC's UXO Support contractor (UXOPro) to preform evaluation of Chemical Agent (CA) and agent breakdown products (ABP) at the GREA. UXOPro identified Dr. Gary Groenewold to perform the evlauation. Dr. Groenewold is a chemist with thet Idaho National Laboratory and has extensively researched contaminant fate and transport in natural and man-made environments, focusing on the behavior of chemical warfare agents and radionuclides, for the last 16 years. The evaluattion will include a literature review to identify other research regarding the degradation of CA and ABP and modeling using the actual quantities of agent released at the sites. |
Guy Warren |
| 12/1/2008 |
Update or Other Action |
Received Final "Assessment of the Potential for Residual Contamination in the Gerstle River Expansions Area" report prepared by UXOPro and Dr. Groenewold. The report evalutes degradations rates for CA and ABP identified from various field and laboratory experiments and applies these various rates to the GREA. The report concludes that is it "that it is very unlikely that any residual toxicity has survived at the GREA during the 42 year time interval between the detonation experiments and today". However due to potential uncertainty the report recommends a "limited sampling and analysis campaign" to verify the reports conclusions and provide conclusive evidence that CA and ABP no longer pose a threat to human health, public safety, or the environment. Provided report to USACE and requested the recommended sampling effort. |
Guy Warren |
| 7/14/2010 |
Site Characterization Workplan Approved |
ADEC approved the 2010 Site Characterization activites. USACE will collect soil samples form the former test grids at the GREA for analysis of CA and ABP. |
Guy Warren |
| 8/30/2010 |
Update or Other Action |
Received Draft "Site Investigation" report. Sample results were reported as Non-Detect. Prepared comment on the Draft Report and submitted them to the USACE. |
Guy Warren |
| 3/28/2013 |
Cleanup Complete Determination Issued |
ADEC signed the "Declaration of Project Closure Decision for DERP-FUDS Gerstle River Expansion Areas Ordnance Sites". The decision cocument and associated Closeout reports for MMRP and CWM. This site included former Test Grids 9, 10, and 11 as well as regestration areas 9E and 10N. Extensive geophysical surveys, intrusive investigation, and environmental sampling have demonstrated that the site no longer poses a threat to human health, public safety, or the environment. |
Guy Warren |