Offutt moves closer to environmental cleanup goal

  • Published
  • By Debbie Aragon
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  The saying "you don't know what you don't know" can be applied to many situations, including that of environmental stewardship. But, not knowing doesn't mean organizations, and the people who work for them, don't have an obligation to remedy any negative situations that may result.

Such is the case with environmental restoration at Offutt and other locations within the Department of Defense.

"In the past, standard practice for disposal of chlorinated solvents was to dump them on the ground," said Philip Cork, chief of Offutt's Environmental Restoration Program. "It wasn't known at the time that the materials were potential cancer causing agents that would persist in the environment."

Over the past decade, society has become more aware of the ill effects of chemicals being used so processes are in place to use them more wisely, Mr. Cork said.

"We are also making every effort to remove these hazardous chemicals from the environment, including soil and groundwater," he added.

"Offutt takes environmental restoration very seriously," said John Kundinger, 55th Mission Support Group director. "The base environmental specialists, contractors, the Environmental Protection Agency and the entire community are doing fantastic work with environmental restoration and mitigation.

"Everyone realizes that environmental cleanup and stewardship are of paramount importance for this and future generations," he said.

Since Offutt's environmental restoration program to clean up hazardous chemicals in groundwater began in 1985, Offutt has made considerable progress, according to Mr. Cork, with remedies in place at all sites requiring remedial, or cleanup, action.

Base officials have always been very proactive in using innovative technologies from various agencies to clean up contaminated sites at Offutt, Mr. Cork said.

"We have implemented many, many innovative technologies over the past 15 years," he added.

One such technology that has proven particularly effective here is biostimulant injections.

This technology is the process of injecting biostimulant, in Offutt's case, mixtures of molasses, soy oil, lactate, and whey, into groundwater plumes contaminated with chlorinated solvents.

The biostimulant applications "involve providing a food source for the microorganisms (already in the groundwater)," explained Mr. Cork. "When the microorganisms use the biostimulant materials, the metabolism of these materials creates the right conditions for degradation of the solvent plumes."

Since 2005, base environmental officials and contractors have injected about 4.5 million gallons of biostimulant mixture into various plumes under Offutt. Large, white tanks used in the process dot the base landscape.

"Biostimulant injection is an emerging technology that provides nutrients for indigenous microorganism that naturally degrades contaminants released at the site," said Jeff Johnson, an environmental scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 7 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Corrective Action and Permits Program. In his position, Mr. Johnson acts as the EPA's project manager on environmental clean-up activities at Offutt under its RCRA permit. RCRA, enacted in 1976, is the Unites States' primary law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste.

Biostimulant injection technology has been implemented at several areas around Offutt, he said, and "while data evaluation is on-going, the preliminary data indicates the technology is actively reducing contaminant levels in groundwater and acting to slow or halt the migration of contamination."

With the approach of winter, biostimulant injections are being suspended because the ground, as well as pipes and pumps used in the process, freeze, according to base environmental officials. The injections will begin again in the spring.

"The remedies (in place here for groundwater cleanup) seem to be quite effective in reducing contamination at the sites," said Mr. Cork and are some of the ways Offutt is moving forward in the area of environmental cleanup.

According to base environmental officials, Offutt is on track to complete cleanup efforts well ahead of the 2015 DOD cleanup goal.