The focus of this report will be on the Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center, Atlantic County, New Jersey. According to the NPL listing history site narrative from 1990, the Tech center covers 5052 acres and is currently the site of the Atlantic City International Airport, a New Jersey Air National Guard Station, and many FAA facilities. The site was first used in 1942 with the construction of a Naval air base. In 1958 the FAA took over and used the facilities as an airport and aviation safety research center.
The site was discovered in 1984 by the NJDEP, which at the time was contracted for an assessment of pollution sources that could impact the proposed Atlantic City Municipal Well Field, which was to be located along the north shore of the Upper Atlantic City Reservoir within the FAA Technical Center boundaries. This initial investigation was completed by Roy F. Weston, and he was charged with identifying possible contaminant sources in the area. Five areas were identified as posing a threat to the proposed well field, all of which werelocated on the FAA property. As listed in the NPL site narrative for 1990, these initial areas include: the Salvage Area, where scrap materials and drums of hazardous waste oils and solvents were stored; the Fuel Mist Test Facility, where jet fuels were sprayed and burned to test antimisting properties of certain fuel additives; the Fire Training Area, where fuel fire testing and fire training exercises were conducted; the Avgas Fuel Farm and Photo Lab, where leaks from underground storage tanks, discharge of photographic lab wastes, and spillage of fuels may have occurred; and the Abandoned Navy Landfill, an area south of the main runway used as a landfill by the Navy. The site is still owned and operated by the FAA. The main pollutants found in the site include; volatile organic contaminants including Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylene; Base/Neutral and Acid Extractable Compounds including Naphthalene, Phenol, 2-Chlorophenol; Metals including Chromium, Nickel, and Lead.
In 1993 an Inter Agency Agreement (IAG) was drafted between the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration. This document outlined the responsibilities of each party during the cleanup process. It states that funding for the cleanup will come from the FAA, which will seek sufficient funding through its budgetary process.
