This July, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) hosted U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) staff on a tour of five Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) sites in the Northeast. Under FUSRAP, USACE performs active remediation before transferring cleaned up sites to LM for long-term stewardship.
“This tour is essential for LM and USACE to explore the progress being made at these sites across USACE’s North Atlantic Division,” LM FUSRAP Program Manager Darina Castillo said. “Our partnership, along with our continued work with stakeholders and community leaders is key to the success we are seeing at FUSRAP in the areas of beneficial reuse and stakeholder engagement.”
LM Technical Director David Shafer and Office of Site Operations Action Officer Dante Tan joined Dr. Castillo on the tour. During various legs of the tour, participants were able to meet with local stakeholders as well as representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the General Services Administration (GSA), and state agencies. LM and USACE share a commitment to the protection of human health and the environment as well as meaningful stakeholder engagement.
The tour included sites in Hicksville, New York; Maywood and Deepwater, New Jersey; and two sites in Middlesex, New Jersey. USACE also provided a presentation on their site in Curtis Bay, Maryland.
The tour gave LM staff a firsthand look at the progress being made at sites being actively remediated by USACE. At the Middlesex South Site in New Jersey, the tour participants saw first-hand the results of several years of collaboration towards beneficial reuse including the construction of a public road across the government-owned property to support a new warehouse which promises to bring jobs to the community. Additionally, the tour provided LM and USACE the opportunity to share information and plan for eventual site transfers. Close collaboration between the two agencies is essential to ensure efficient and effective site transitions to long-term stewardship.
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