Removing decades-old bombs and cleaning contaminated groundwater at Fort Meade will continue as it has for the past 15 years.
The only significant difference now is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in charge, and the work may get done sooner.
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“I think now there will be greater accountability in the Army’s actions,” said Tad Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Army. “Transparency is what you want to achieve, and folks will now have a tremendous amount of confidence that we are being held to standards and that we are being held accountable.”
The Department of Justice ordered the Army this past week to comply with the EPA’s order to clean up the Odenton fort, where unexploded bombs and buried toxic chemicals have contaminated soil and the water table, ending a nearly two-year-long dispute.
The Army has spent $83 million to clean 33 of the 52 sites in an effort even the EPA told The Examiner was “not lacking.”
But the EPA said it had authority over the cleanup sites, which are under the EPA’s National Priorities List, commonly known as Superfund. Fort Meade was placed on the list in 1993.
The two agencies fought on Capitol Hill in September before a Senate committee, but Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin and other Democrats grilled the military and accused it of not being good environmental stewards.
The Army must now develop a plan and meet EPA determined deadlines. The same contractors used in previous cleanups will continue their efforts, Davis said.
Complying with the order could create a “renewed sense of urgency to the Army,” though the Army always had worked with the EPA on the cleanup remedies, he said.
The main difference now: The EPA is in charge, officials said.
When asked what the EPA will do differently from the Army, EPA spokeswoman Tisha Petteway said in a e-mail the agency would “ensure proper investigation and cleanup of the facility.”
The Maryland Department of the Environment isn’t too overjoyed by the Army backing down from its protest, as MDE Secretary Shari Wilson is still waiting for results, officials said.
“It’s a good step, but we want to now see some concrete evidence,” including a timetable and a published cleanup plan, said Bob Ballinger, MDE’s spokesman.
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