New groundwater pollution found at VAAP site

PDF: A map of past and present contamination spots on the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant site

U.S. Army officials said it is unclear if an unexpected discovery of pollution in groundwater at the former Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant site will increase the cost of an ongoing multimillion-dollar cleanup there.

The property, now owned by Hamilton County and slated to become an expansion area for Enterprise South industrial park, once was the site of a fertilizer manufacturer, CF Industries, which leased property from the Army.

Now groundwater sampling there has found levels of contaminants in excess of drinking water standards, according to U.S. Army spokesman Scott Bolton and Tim Woolheater with the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Is it (an) additional remedy that may be required? Yes. But does that mean that we will go over $80 million? No, not necessarily,” said Mr. Woolheater, adding that the find does not pose a threat to area residents.

“It adds some confusion and managerial problems, but I don’t think it will add anything to the time frame,” he said.

Last fall regulatory and Army officials announced that most of the soil cleanup work at the former TNT plant is complete and to date has cost about $85 million. But they said a groundwater cleanup plan now just beginning and slated to end in 2011 could cost an additional $10 million to $80 million.

Nancy Boisvert, of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said the newfound nitrate contamination does not appear to be flowing outside of the VAAP site boundaries. But officials will review the pollution to determine whether it has migrated to other parts of the site.

“One remedy may be just to monitor,” said Ms. Boisvert, who oversees the cleanup work contracted by the Army to private companies.

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said it is premature to speculate on costs and cleanup times.

“We’re in the process of collecting more samples to see what, if anything, needs to be done as far as remediation,” Ms. Calabrese-Benton said.

The CF Industries lease area, on the western border of the VAAP site, initially was used by the Army for nitric and sulfuric acid production from 1942 to 1945 and from 1952 to 1957.

In 1962 the Army leased the 824-acre area to CF Industries, which used the site for the commercial production of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, urea and related products. At the start of the Vietnam War in 1965, the Army reclaimed the use of all the existing acid production equipment in the CF Industries area, and the private company constructed a new acid plant on the 6,000-acre Army property, operating there until 1982, according to Army and regulatory officials. The plants have been dismantled.