Operations at three World War II-era naval sites located on Native Village of Eyak (NVE) tribal lands contributed to surface soil hydrocarbon and heavy metals contamination as well as leaving unsightly and potentially dangerous abandoned structures. Bethel was contracted to propose and implement Clean Closure remedies at these sites:
- Former Mile 14 Naval Radio Station. Authored soil remediation work plan and site characterization cleanup report and provided field support to conduct x-ray fluorescence field screening.
- Former Point Whitshed Radio Station. Authored surface debris removal work plan and site characterization report; provided field support to install and collect drive-point groundwater samples.
- Middleton Island Abandoned Fuel Pipeline. Authored site characterization and pipeline removal work plan.
Unique Challenges
- Bethel proposed alternative cleanup levels for remediation at the Mile 14 site which were approved by ADEC, resulting in substantial cost savings to NVE.
- Bethel proposed that demolished concrete from the remote Point Whitshed site be used for subsurface backfill rather than importing expensive borrow material; this approach was approved by regulators and substantially reduced barging costs
- Bethel suggested and implemented scope changes to proposed work at Middleton Island to provide a more consistent and streamlined approach to the remediation process.
