Dirty work

Old military site cleaned up

October 9, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

POINT MACKENZIE - Abandoned since 1988, the Goose Bay military site acts like a magnet - drawing vandals and serving as a target-shooting range and trash-dumping location.

This week, that could come to an end, as a work crew demolishes all the structures at Nike Battery-Control complex and disposes of leftover hazardous waste at the Mat-Su Borough Central Landfill, according to Stafford Glashan, whose company, Shannon & Wilson Inc., was contracted by the state Department of Natural Resources to deal with the environmental hazard.

&#8221We're getting rid of an attractive nuisance,“ DNR Manager Sam Means said Tuesday as he toured the work-in-progress at the old military site.

&#8221We've been begging the state for money to get this done for five consecutive years now,“ he said.

DNR received $290,000 from state lawmakers to remove the structures at the unused military facilities, sample the soil for contaminants and get rid of all hazardous materials. The bulk of the demolition should be completed Oct. 14, according to Glashan.

The job will be done in two phases, Glashan said. This fall, everything - including the fence around the property - will be removed.

Soil will be sent to Anchorage-based Alaska Soil Recycling, where a process will be used to burn out the

contaminants, he said. When the &#8221thermally remediated“ dirt gets a stamp of approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, it will be sold to construction companies for fill. Next spring, as part of phase two, crews will return the land to its original contours and reseed the ground, Glashan said.

&#8221By this time next year, it'll look like a park,“ he said.

Demolishing the military complex aims to eliminate some of the problems, according to Matt LaCroix, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game habitat biologist. A viable solution - to protect the area from future trash-dumping and firearms-discharging - remains to be found, he said. Fish and Game manages the acreage in the Goose Bay State Refuge.

&#8221This has been a destination spot. There's stuff to burn, stuff to smash and stuff to shoot at,“ LaCroix said. &#8221This is an ongoing issue, like on many refuges and state lands.“

Already, much of the debris has been removed, and only the concrete foundation and a scattering of trash is left of a building that was set on fire twice in 1995.

&#8221I remember this. This was like Baghdad,“ said Means, who toured the area before demolition started.

The task of tearing down the structures, most of which contain asbestos, requires more than heavy machinery. There's plenty of painstakingly slow labor involved. After two water tanks were removed, blackened asbestos that had been used was exposed. Workers in full biohazard gear and masks pulled apart and bagged the material.

&#8221You can see the magnitude of how much work has to be done by hand,“ Glashan said.

The employees of Absolute Environmental have previous experience with asbestos removal.

&#8221That's why I hired them. They went into this with their eyes wide open,“ Glashan said.

One laborious task partially completed: Righting three drums of oil that had been tipped on their sides and used as impromptu targets.

Workers placed orange flags where the oil had tainted the earth. Soil samples sent to the lab will reveal what contaminants are present, Glashan said.

Glashan discussed removal of the fence, which has not deterred trespassers. Members of the tour group tossed around the idea of recycling the fence for future use. No one could come up with an immediate need, or determine what kind of shape the chain-link fence might be in once it is taken down. Many alders have grown through the links, making the removal more difficult.

&#8221I hate putting stuff in the landfill that can be reused,“ Glashan said.

A raven flew over the bullet-riddled concrete frame of a building, which 20 years ago may have been bustling with activity, with military employees. Then, a demolition saw was fired up again, splitting the quiet and throwing sparks as it cut into concrete.

Brass bullet casings and spent shotgun shells, ranging in color from red and yellow to green, lay thickly scattered across the ground. Next year, grass and wildflowers from the hydroseed project could be thriving in decontaminated soil.

&#8221The refuge was established for the wildlife. But in its current condition, it's not suitable for wildlife or humans,“ LaCroix said.

Once the site is clean and the soil re-seeded, Fish and Game and DNR will look down the road at ways to prevent future degradation of the state land.

&#8221This is good to see,“ said Clark Cox, natural resources manager with the Division of Mining, Land and Water, during the morning tour. He watched a 4300 excavator tear out car-sized chucks of concrete and twisted iron.

&#8221If the state is going to spend almost $300,000, it's good to see it progressing the way it is,“ Cox said.

Dawn De Busk can be reached at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.