Disagreement over Fort Meade cleanup

Examiner

The Department of Defense continues to reject a federal order detailing how to clean up contamination at Fort Meade despite stern demands from U.S. senators Thursday for a speedy resolution.

“If it was operating in good faith, [the Defense Department] would have signed an agreement years ago,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., during a hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill.

Cardin asked several times, at one point shouting, why the Defense Department hasn’t reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over cleaning up toxic chemical and unexploded bombs at the Anne Arundel fort, which was placed on a national cleanup list known as Superfund in 1999.

“Just because there is no remedy in place, doesn’t mean we haven’t looked at it and made sure the public and the environment is protected,” said Wayne Army, the defense department’s deputy undersecretary for defense installation and environment.

EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment officials said the contamination poses no immediate risk to human health, though several senators were adamant that lives are at stake.

Army continued the Defense Department’s claim that it has spent millions of dollars to clean up most of the contaminated sites at the Odenton installation.

Cardin and other senators weren’t swayed, saying the EPA, not the Defense Department, has the experience to do environmental work.