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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Indian Island dropped from Superfund list
Bv Janet Huck
Leader Staff Writer
After decades of disposing of defused bombs, bunker fuel as thick as tar and deadly munitions at
sites throughout Naval Magazine Indian Island, the Navy got serious about cleaning up the island,
which was named a Superfund site in 1994. Personnel identified 18 sites, cleaned them up, and
applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for official removal from the Superfund list, which
details the most contaminated and polluted sites in the country.
Then they discovered one more disposal site - underwater - just as the cleanup money ran out.
Officials were worried the cleanup wouldn't be finished for another decade.
Undaunted, Navy Remedial Project Manager Larry Tucker got creative. He convinced the Navy
on Whidbey Island to dedicate its practice dives to searching for sunken munitions near a
demolished pier. Luckily the divers didn't find any munitions, so Indian Island was back on track
for deselection.
Last Friday, July 15, the EPA director of environmental cleanup handed Capt. Jonathan D. Kurtz,
commanding officer of Indian Island, the official deletion certificate.
"It's signed, Larry, so it's official," Kurtz said as he accepted the certificate.
Indian Island is the first naval facility in the country to work its way off the Superfund list, where it
resided for 11 years.
Yet the cleanup was hardly routine. There were underwater sites, sites containing burned
munitions as well as munitions that sUNived the burning, and PCB-contaminated landfills
exposed to Port Townsend Bay. To clean up the island, Tucker and his crew used new
technologies that are now being copied at other naval installations. The island is now so pristine
that eight bald eagles, 400 harbor seals and hundreds of environmentally sensitive oysters have
returned to the island.
"I'm impressed with the cleanup," said Ralph Rush, who runs an oyster and clam business on
neighboring Marrowstone Island. "Clean water is essential to my business."
Oysters returning
The EPA was impressed too. Dan Opalski, environmental director for the Office of Environmental
Cleanup in Region 10, said deselecting a site is a "big deal" because it happens so infrequently.
"They did what they promised to do," he said. "The EPA wants to thank the Navy."
Rear Admiral Leendert Hering, commander of Navy Region Northwest, said the cleanup of Indian
Island illustrates the importance of the environment to the Navy.
"This country is engaged in a war, but complying with environmental regulations and conducting
operations are not mutually exclusive," said Hering.
Naval Magazine Indian Island, which serves as the major ordnance storage and handling center
for the Navy's Pacific Fleet, has been in operation since the late 1930s. The Navy first used the
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island to manufacture submarine nets and mines. In those mid-2Oth-century years, it was
acceptable to dump toxic chemicals and waste indiscriminately, so there were 19 different
Superfund sites on the island.
The most contaminated site was the north-end landfill near Rat Island that had been used since
1934 for a municipal dump containing pesticides, PCBs and petroleum products - all exposed to
wave action from Port Townsend Bay. Tucker and his staffers buried the contaminants under
10,000 cubic yards of synthetic clay and other protective covers. They capped it with a plastic
sheet to keep rain from filtering down through the layers.
On the side of the shoreline that experiences the roughest wave action, the crew placed riprap to
protect the buried landfill. In less aggressive areas, they planted huge driftwood logs anchored to
the shore to prevent erosion.
"That was an innovative approach that was first used here," said Tucker. "And the logs make the
shoreline look better."
With the monitoring wells showing no ground contamination, oysters are beginning to grow
around the corner and a colony of 400 harbor seals is nesting on Rat Island, just offshore.
Kurtz said Indian Island isn't content to rest on its laurels. "We did a cleanup beyond the
cleanup," he said.
The Navy has recently removed 330,000 pounds of metal scrap, 680,000 pounds of wood debris
and refuse, and 70 creosote-soaked piles. When appropriate, refuse was shipped to recycling
centers.
"We have an environmental commitment here on Indian Island," said Kurtz.
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