Updated Community Relations Plan for the Former Naval Air Facility Adak, Adak Island, Alaska, Revised October 2001

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS

The purpose of the Adak Community Relations Plan is to identify public participation and communication issues and outline the Navy's methods to keep the community informed during the environmental cleanup and the public-to-private land transfer of the former Naval Air Facility (NAF) Adak, Alaska. This is a revision to the plan originally finalized in 1994. This plan is consistent with the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990 (BRAC), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), and with their implementing regulations and guidance documents.

The Navy conducts community-relations activities to ensure that local stakeholders have input into the CERCLA decision-making process, and that they are informed about the progress of those actions. The Navy has committed to putting forth its best effort to provide interested citizens with regular and up-to-date information regarding the environmental investigations and cleanup of the island via fact sheets, newsletters, presentations, and web site announcements.

Periodic fact sheets or newsletters may be distributed to inform stakeholders about ongoing or upcoming cleanup activities. The newsletters and fact sheets typically include updates on the cleanup, a schedule of upcoming events, and contact information. Newsletters will be posted to the Adak web site and mailed to individuals and organizations on the general mailing list.

Public outreach materials will be written in non-technical language, as much as possible. The Navy will use the following guidelines for its community relations' materials.

• Publications will generally be brief, normally two- to- four-pages in length.
• Names of contacts who can provide further information will be included.
• Newsletters and fact sheets will be published as necessary to keep stakeholders informed.
• Fact sheets and other publications will be available in the information repositories on Adak Island and in Anchorage and will be posted to the Adak web site.
• Fact sheets and newsletters will be mailed to the general mailing list.

This plan addresses in later sections the Navy's plan to inform and involve the public. The plan contains a list of acronyms and a glossary of terms to assist readers in understanding technical language used by state and federal agencies involved in the environmental cleanup efforts. Please refer to the listing of acronyms and the glossary located at the front of this document for assistance. In addition, a listing of names and contact information for federal and state personnel working on Adak environmental issues is included in Appendix B.

If you would like more information regarding the Adak cleanup program or would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact:

Jim Brown
Engineering Field Activity, Northwest
19917 - 7th Avenue N.E.
Poulsbo, WA 98370-7570
(360) 396-0082
jim.r.brown@navy.mil

1.1.1 Background

Adak Island was used by the Aleuts over the past several thousand years while hunting whales, seals, otters and sea lions, as well as sea birds. Aleuts fished Adak's freshwater streams and surrounding seas. Historically, the Aleuts lived in large communal, subterranean structures of grass and earth build over driftwood or whalebone frames. The Aleuts developed sophisticated kayaks and waterproof clothing to deal with the cold marine environment. Aleut settlements were often located in coves along freshwater streams. There are remnants of prehistoric Aleut settlements that remain on Adak today.

Russians first visited the Aleutian Islands in the early 1740s and were trading with the Aleuts by the 1750s. By 1830, Russian settlers had occupied Adak and relocated the Aleuts to Russian settlements in Kodiak, the Pribilof Islands and Sitka. Adak Island became part of the Alaska Territory that was subsequently purchased from Russia by the United States in 1867. By 1910, over hunting had nearly depleted the once-abundant sea otter and fur seal populations. In 1913, Adak Island was included in the 2.9-million-acre Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge established by the President. In 1980 all of Adak Island was included within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge established by Congress in the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), and it remains part of that wildlife refuge.

Since August 1942, the northern portion of Adak Island has been used for military activities. Navy presence at Adak was officially recognized by Public Land Order 1949, dated August 19, 1959, which withdrew the northern portion of Adak Island, comprising approximately 76,800 acres, for use by the Navy for military purposes. As a result of years of Department of Defense (DOD) activities on the island, various hazardous substances and petroleum chemicals were released to the environment. A number of environmental restoration programs were initiated as early as 1986 to address these contamination issues.

The Former Adak Naval Complex was proposed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List (NPL) in October 1992 and formally listed in May 1994. A Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) among the Navy, USEPA, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), effective in November 1993, specified the procedural requirements for the environmental cleanups to be performed under CERCLA. The Navy is the lead agency, and the USEPA and the ADEC are oversight regulatory agencies.

The FFA included 84 sites to be investigated, and if necessary, cleaned up. The FFA stated that petroleum-related contaminated sites, such as those with underground storage tanks (USTs) and leaking underground fuel lines, would be evaluated under the State-Adak Environmental Restoration Agreement (SAERA), which was signed by the Navy and ADEC in April 1994. The purpose of SAERA is to execute the assessment, containment, monitoring, and remediation of affected soil and groundwater at sites with petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) and leaking USTs.

In October 1995, the closure of the former base became law under BRAC. Since that time, fast track environmental cleanup has been undertaken to facilitate a land exchange between the Department of Interior and The Aleut Corporation (TAC). The Adak Reuse Corporation (ARC), a not-for-profit corporation representing a range of interests in the region, became the local redevelopment authority under the BRAC process. ARC has been planning reuse of the Adak property and initiating reuse activities under authority of a lease with the Navy.

The Navy, U.S. Department of the Interior, TAC and the ARC signed a land exchange agreement, Agreement Concerning the Conveyance of Property at the Adak Naval Complex, in September 2000. Within that agreement, the Navy agreed to carry out all environmental remedial investigations and remedial actions associated with military activities by the Operable Unit A Record Of Decision (ROD) and the Operable Unit B ROD, and the FFA and SAERA; and those required under applicable law including, but not limited to, CERCLA. The OU-A ROD was signed by the Navy in October 1999, by the USEPA in March 2000, and by the ADEC in April 2000. There will be two OU-B RODs. The completion of the OU B-1 ROD is anticipated in the fall of 2001. The completion of the OU B-2 ROD is anticipated in 2002.

1.1.2 Environmental Restoration

The CERCLA environmental cleanup of Former Adak Naval Complex was divided into two operable units, Operable Unit A and Operable Unit B. Operable Unit A addresses CERCLA hazardous substance releases. Operable Unit B addresses ordnance hazards associated with military activities. The Operable Unit A ROD presents the selected remedial actions for the OU A chemical sites, and the petroleum sites that were formerly addressed under RCRA.

Under the CERCLA remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) for OU A, the Navy has evaluated 58 sites on land, as well as down-gradient groundwater and aquatic sites. The major components of the selected remedy for the CERCLA sites (including the OU A water bodies and downtown groundwater) include the following:

• Excavation and treatment by thermal desorption of contaminated sediments and soils;
• Recycling of treated sediment and soils as daily cover material at the on-island Roberts Landfill;
• Placement of a soil cover over Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) 4;
• Institutional controls to prohibit unacceptable exposure to hazardous substances remaining on site;
• Monitoring of groundwater for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX), diesel-range organics (DRO), gasoline-range organics (GRO), bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, methylene chloride, tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, lead, and natural recovery parameters;
• Monitoring of aquatic biota for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The remedial work has been completed. Institutional controls for sites that have contamination remaining onsite have been or will be put into place. The Final Institutional Controls Management Plan (ICMP) addresses the issue of institutional controls in detail. Please refer to that document for a complete review of specific institutional controls that are in place on Adak and what those restrictions mean to the community.

Under the SAERA petroleum cleanup program, the Navy addressed 128 sites. The major components of the selected remedy for the petroleum sites, in accordance with SAERA and applicable regulations, include the following:

• Removal and treatment of petroleum-contaminated soils to meet 18 AAC 75 requirements;
• Recycling of treated soils as daily cover material at the on-island Roberts Landfill;
• Monitored natural attenuation of petroleum chemicals in soil and groundwater;
• Free-product recovery to the maximum extent practicable as an interim remedial measure. This will be followed by a focused evaluation of remedial alternatives available to achieve a final cleanup remedy in compliance with 18 AAC 75.300 for soils and groundwater (as specified in SAERA);
• Institutional controls to minimize the potential for direct contact with contaminants, to restrict groundwater use, and/or to restrict soil excavation until remedial objectives have been met.

Further remediation is required at 15 sites where petroleum product floats on top of the groundwater. Other sites will be monitored to evaluate the rate at which natural attenuation is occurring. Those petroleum sites are subject to institutional controls delineated in the Draft Final Institutional Controls Management Plan.

The Operable Unit B investigations and remedies address safety risks posed by ordnance and explosives (OE) and unexploded ordnance on Adak within the former Navy facility. Operable Unit B consists of two subsets: Operable Unit B-1, and Operable Unit B-2. Operable Unit B-1 consists of 130 sites and Operable Unit B-2 consists of 62 sites. Six sites initially evaluated are outside the Navy facility on the southern portion of Adak and will be investigated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Figure 1-3: The locations of the Operable Units B1 and B2 ordnance sites for which remedial action is recommended in the FS.