Military Sites in Alaska

Pamela Miller, Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics

Alaska is a site of great strategic importance to the Department of Defense from World War II through the Cold War and into present times. There are approximately 700 formerly used defense sites in Alaska, many in close proximity to Alaska Native communities and traditional fishing and hunting grounds and waters. Alaska has been used as an experimental testing ground for the military’s nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare programs. Weapons testing ranges encompass an area approximately the size of the state of Kansas. Alaska is perceived as “remote,” with small populations of isolated communities that lack the political clout to resist the intrusions. On the Aleutian Island of Amchitka (reports enclosed), the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission detonated three nuclear blasts between 1965 and 1971, including the world’s largest underground nuclear test, the 5 megaton Cannikin test. At Fort Greely in Interior Alaska, the Army operated a nuclear reactor to make weapons-grade nuclear materials. The Army concealed radioactive contamination that affects workers, residents of nearby communities and the natural environment. ACAT released an investigative report on Fort Greely in June of this year (enclosed).

Department of Defense policy has been to leave contamination in place, relying on institutional controls such as fences and signs to “prevent” exposures to toxic chemicals. Many of the sites have significant PCB contamination, in addition to massive fuel spills, solvents, herbicides/pesticides, heavy metals, chemical warfare materials, and radioactive waste. Information about these sites is often shrouded in secrecy—FOIA requests take months or years. All sampling information is conducted and controlled by DoD. The DoD frequently prepares grossly incomplete site characterizations and vested-interest science using contractors with no accountability to affected communities. Most sites lack a comprehensive assessment of the nature and extent of contamination. Although millions of dollars are spent on site assessments in Alaska, much of this money is wasted through the conduct of poor science and lack of accountability.

The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line stations, built to detect missiles and bombers heading toward North America, included 63 military radar stations along the 66^th parallel across Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment (AMAP) Report estimates that 30 tonnes of PCBs were used in the stations, with an unknown amount disposed in landfills. The sites in Canada have been more thoroughly studied. The Canadian government has measured PCBs levels ranging from 1-10,000 nanograms per gram in soils. The AMAP report states that: “these numbers can be compared to remote background areas with 0.9 nanograms PCBs per gram soil. As is apparent from measurements in soils and plants, the severely contaminated soils have served as a source to nearby areas.” The DEW Line and other FUD sites in Alaska hold significant stores of PCBs, many along the margin of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Sea coasts, providing a ready path into the marine and/or freshwater environment and the fat-rich food web of fish and marine mammals—animals used by Alaska Natives and others for subsistence.

Dr. Ronald Scrudato, Director of the Environmental Research Center at State University of New York, Oswego and Superfund Basic Research Program states in his recent review of the Adak Naval Air Station and Saint Lawrence Island sites: “Based on the extensive use of institutional controls and “no further action” remedies for sites that have not been effectively characterized, it is likely that Adak and Saint Lawrence Island will continue to serve as long-term sources of contaminants to the Arctic region.” Alaska Native peoples express profound concerns about the health of traditional foods and human health. Many sites in Alaska warrant objective investigation as NPL sites. A Congressional investigation of the effectiveness of DoD site investigation, remediation, and accountability would be very helpful. I will briefly summarize some of the sites of concern as examples of the problem:

• Northeast Cape on Saint Lawrence Island (northern Bering Sea):  The Air Force acquired the strategically located Northeast Cape site in 1952 and operated it as a surveillance station as part of the Cold War North American Air Defense Command from 1952-1972.  Beginning in 1982, the Navy used the area as a White Alice communications site. Within an area that encompasses approximately 9 square miles, the Army Corps of Engineers contractors have identified at least 23 contaminated sites that require environmental investigation and cleanup.  Contamination includes fuel spills totaling over 220,000 gallons, solvents, heavy metals, asbestos, and PCBs. Recent studies demonstrate that fish downstream from the site contain contaminants (PCBs and PAHs) at levels that warrant a designation of “no consumption recommended (according to EPA guidance).”

• Umiat former Air Force site (Colville River): Near the Umiat site along the Colville River, levels of PCBs in soils ranged up to 240,000 parts per billion. PCBs have been detected in broad whitefish and burbot of the Colville River. Contaminant levels in burbot are high at 665 ppb PCBs and 1029.8 ppb DDT/DDE.

• Cape Romanzof Long-Range Radar Site (western Alaska near villages of Hooper Bay, Scammon Bay, Paimute, and Chevak): This site contains numerous hazardous waste landfills and spill sites containing fuels, solvents, ethylene glycol, PCBs, and incinerator ash. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report reveals that the Cape Romanzof Long Range Radar Site has “contaminated the area’s environment. Findings indicate that Fowler Creek’s sediment is contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, and fish and wildlife resources (dolly varden, voles, and red fox) are contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, PCBs and DDT-related compounds.” The site is within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and subsistence fishing and hunting areas of nearby communities.

Several of the state’s impaired waterbodies (currently listed as required under 303(d) of the Clean Water Act are degraded due to military activities:

• Eagle River Flats (estuary of the Eagle River near Anchorage) was used by the Army to test incendiary weapons containing white phosphorus. The area is now part of the Fort Richardson NPL site. Thousands of waterfowl have been killed as a result of exposure to the white phosphorus from the weapons range. The Army refuses to assess or remediate damage from the heavy metals and other toxic contamination from the more than 10,000 unexploded munitions in the estuary.

• Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula served as a military site and fuel storage area. High levels of diesel fuel and other petroleum products contaminate the cliffs, beach soils, and ocean sediments.

• Garrison Slough (near Fairbanks) contains high levels of PCBs in sediments and fish from military operations at Eielson Air Force Base.

• King Salmon Air Force Base (Alaska Peninsula) contaminated the Naknek River, King Salmon Creek, and aquifers upstream from Bristol Bay with petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, heavy metals, and PCBs. DoD selected a remedy of capping large landfills containing thousands of barrels.

The U.S. government exhibits a lack of will in addressing persistent pollutant contamination as a public health issue through such international forums as the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and the international treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Arctic has become a hemispheric sink for POPs because of the physical and biological characteristics of the Arctic environment that favor the accumulation and retention of POPs in the food web. The weakest aspect of the U.S participation in AMAP is POPs—this is also the area that may have the greatest health implications for peoples living in the Arctic.

PCBs and other POPs derive from both military and long-range transport, including atmospheric, oceanic and biotransport mechanisms. A recent research report (Ewald, 1998) demonstrated that spawning salmon carry PCBs and DDT into lakes as the contaminants are transferred from fats in the muscle tissue to roe deposited in the lakes. Grayling, which feed upon the roe, in lakes with anadromous salmon, had significantly higher levels of both PCBs and DDT. Pollutants in the salmon then are more readily available for bioaccumulation in eagles, bear, and humans. Biotransport provides a mechanism for long-range transport of pollutants that are not chemically persistent or volatile enough to survive atmospheric transport, but which may damage environmental and human health. The authors conclude that all seven species of Pacific salmon are likely to be biotransporters of pollutants into freshwater spawning areas. The levels of PCBs and DDT may be high enough to affect roe hatching and survival.

Transient killer whales that feed on marine mammals in the Gulf of Alaska contain PCBs and DDT in extremely high levels. Concentrations are 14-22 times those of fish-eating killer whales. Concentrations of PCBs and DDT are the highest found to date in Alaska marine mammals. The authors suggest that the contamination may come from military sites and/or SE Asia/China.

In a study of green-winged teal in the Aleutian Islands/Bering Sea, more than 25% of the teal had PCBs at levels high enough to cause reduced hatchability. Twenty five percent of the eggs had mercury levels high enough to cause deformities in chicks. All of the teal eggs contained PCBs and DDT/DDE. Sea otters around Adak Island Naval Air Station (NPL site) had PCB and DDT levels higher than in surrounding areas. Blue mussels of Adak and Dutch Harbor (former defense site) have high PCB levels. Sources are likely both military and long-range transport.

The Department of Defense must be held accountable for the contamination that affects water quality, habitat, subsistence and commercial fisheries, natural resources and human health. We appreciate your oversight and concern about military sites in Alaska.

Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) has published the only comprehensive data base of 2,000 contaminated sites in Alaska using GIS, integrating data from state and federal sources, including Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, EPA, DoD. Our web site features the GIS maps presented on a statewide and regional scale and information about some of the sites (http://www.akaction.net).