PROGRAM MANAGER
Phone: 808-496-4358
The mission of the Environmental Restoration (ER) Program is to investigate and clean up hazardous substances or munitions that may pose a risk to human health or the environment. The Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) ER Program was initiated in the 1980s to identify and cleanup areas where past practices impacted the environment. Today the ER Program is comprised of two components, the Installation Restoration (IR) Program and Munitions Response Program (MRP).
- The IR Program identifies, investigates, and cleans up or controls Hazardous Substance (HS) releases from past waste disposal operations and spills at Marine Corps installations. Although the IR Program is intended primarily to clean up past HS releases, it may address the cleanup of past releases of any pollutant and/or contaminant that endangers public health, welfare, or the environment.
- The MRP investigates and cleans up munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) and munitions constituents (MC) used or released on MCBH properties from past operations and activities. MEC includes unexploded ordnance (UXO), discarded military munitions (DMM), and MC that present an explosive hazard. The MRP generally follows the same procedures and policies as the IR Program with some unique aspects, including the integration of explosives safety requirements.
1. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
CERCLA, also known as “Superfund” was created in 1980 in direct response to Love Canal and other notable hazardous substance release and contamination incidents. CERCLA directly addresses environmental releases or threatened releases to the air, surface water, groundwater, sediment, and soil. CERCLA also authorized the creation of a trust fund to be used by the EPA to clean up emergency and long-term hazardous waste (HW) problems. The DoD is not covered by the trust fund; however, Congress set up special funding outside CERCLA, the Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA), to pay the cost of DoD responses to HW site remediation. In a memorandum issued on 3 May 1995, the Deputy Secretary of Defense delegated DERA to the military departments and defense agencies. The account that funds Marine Corps requirements is now referred to as the Environmental Restoration, Navy (ER,N) account. The ER,N account is used to execute both the IR Program and the MRP.
2. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
CERCLA, as originally enacted in 1980, did not include specific provisions for ER at DoD sites. This changed in 1986 with the passage of SARA, which states that all federal facilities “shall be subject to, and comply with, this act in the manner and to the same extent, both procedurally and substantively, as any non-government entity.” Additionally, SARA established the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP).
3. National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP)
The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Part 300) is the regulation that implements CERCLA. The NCP provides the organizational structure and procedures to prepare for and respond to discharges of oil and the release or threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants. The NCP also outlines actions to be taken upon discovery of a release and following notification of a release of a hazardous substance in a reportable quantity.
1. EO 12088 (October 1978), requires each Executive Agency to comply with applicable pollution control standards, including responsibility for all necessary actions for prevention, control, and abatement of environmental pollution with respect to Federal facilities and activities under their respective control. Compliance with applicable pollution control standards means conforming to the same substantive, procedural, and other requirements that apply to private citizens.
2. EO 12580 (January 1987), as amended by EO 12777, delegates Federal agencies as lead CERCLA authority, including DoD. The lead agency authority for DOD has been re-delegated to its individual departments. NAVFAC has been delegated program responsibility to plan and implement response actions at all DON (including Marine Corps) installations.
1. The Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) was established by Congress to provide centralized management for the cleanup of Department of Defense (DoD) hazardous waste sites consistent with the provisions of CERCLA as implemented by the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) of 1982, and amended by SARA of 1986. Executive Order (E.O.) 12580 delegates authority to the DoD to clean up Navy and Marine Corps installations. Two cleanup programs were created under DERP, the Installation Restoration (IR) Program and the Munitions Response Program (MRP). The Environmental Restoration Process provides the framework for cleanup activities on DON installations.
2. The Installation Restoration Program was established in 1984 to identify, assess, characterize, and clean up or control contamination from past hazardous waste sites at US Navy and Marine Corps installations across the country, and is the DoD equivalent to Superfund.
3. The Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) was established in 2000 to address munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) and munitions constituents (MCs) used or released on sites from past operations and activities. The Munitions Response Program (MRP) is the Navy and Marine Corp's equivalent to the MMRP.
A complete list of IR and MRP sites at MCBH is presented HERE. Sites are grouped by MCBH properties which include: (1) Kaneohe Bay (KB); (2) Camp H. M. Smith (CS); (3) Marine Corps Training Area Bellows (MCTAB); (4) Training Support Facility Molokai (TSFM); and (5) Waikane Valley Impact Area (WVIA). Two sites (highlighted green) are considered open and still being evaluated under the IR and MRP programs. The remainder of IR and MRP sites at MCBH properties are considered closed with no further action required or closed with Institutional or Land Use Controls (LUCs) in-place. LUCs are physical, legal, or administrative mechanisms that restrict the use of, or limits the access to real property. Sites with LUCs are subject to five-year reviews that are performed under CERCLA and SARA to verify that the selected remedies for hazardous material and munitions response releases at MCBH properties remain protective of human health and the environment.
The most recent five-year review was conducted in November 2021 and includes an assessment of nine sites, including: (1) H-3 Landfill Site 00001; (2) Quarry Pit Landfill Site 00002; (3) PCB Spill Site 00001 at Camp H.M. Smith; (4) Various Transformers Site 00026; (5) Former Moving Target Range Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Site 00002; (6) Former Trap and Skeet Range UXO Site 00003; (7) Waikane Valley Impact Area UXO Site 22; (8) LF01 Site B0001 MCTAB; and (9) DA101 Site B0002 at MCTAB. All five-year reviews are performed under the CERCLA and the SARA to verify that the selected remedies for hazardous material release at the site remain protective of human health and the environment.
1. ER Program Personnel
The MCBH ER Program Manager, in conjunction with NAVFAC-Pacific, manages the environmental cleanup at MCBH properties by working closely with Federal and state regulators to ensure compliance with environmental statutes and regulations. The Hawaii Department of Health Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office (HDOH-HEER) acts as the lead regulatory agency for the IR and MRP Programs by providing oversight for the environmental program at MCBH. Contact MCBH’s ER program manager at 808-496-4358 with any questions.
2. Administrative Record
The complete Administrative Record (AR) for MCB Hawaii is maintained at NAVFAC Pacific. It includes project documents, technical reports, and any other supporting documentation that form the basis for selection of remedial actions under the ER Program. Contact MCBH’s ER program manager at 808-496-4358 with any questions or data requests.