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Show Hill AFB cleans up aging re fuse sites By JAMS CARTER HILL AIR FORCE BASE--While some past handling, storage and disposal practices involving hazardous materials were once regarded as acceptable environmentally, environmen-tally, the scientific community now realizes the adverse impact of those practices. As the public becomes more aware of the environment, efforts are being made to ensure the earth is a safe place to live. Hill Air Force Base is among those taking measures to clean up. In the 1940s through the 1960s, hazardous wastes were placed in landfills and disposal pits on HAFB, causing the base to be placed plac-ed on the National Priorities List of environmental unsafe places in 1987. HAFB is now involved in programs pro-grams to clean up these sites. The base has improved, having gone from 13 notices of violations in 1987 to two in 1990. Under the HAFB hazardous waste program, nothing goes into the air or water without a permit and nothing goes into the earth without being in tight tolerance, said Mr. VanOrman, environmental engineer at HAFB. Hazardous waste disposal programs pro-grams are a cooperative effort involving in-volving not only the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but also the states, general public and media. The Air Force subscribes fully to this cooperative effort. Costing $50 to $100 million, the state cleanup for HAFB will begin in late fiscal year 1990 or early FY 1991. Environmental management will carefully engineer cleanup to ensure that state and EPA funds are expended ex-pended correctly. Every person using any material defined as hazardous is responsible for proper receiving, handling and disposing of those materials. Hazardous waste is processed through the Hazardous Waste Control Con-trol Facility and disposed off-base at licensed facilities through the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. The Hazardous Waste Control Facility is responsible responsi-ble for collecting and recycling all hazardous waste for the entire base. Every spill made is handled so nothing gets into the environment. "We are responsible for it and we take care of it ' Van Orman said. |