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The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality recently presented 1998 environmental excellence awards to six companies and organizations remediating the Hastings, Nebraska Superfund site. One recipient was the U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers, which has been working since 1987 to clean up the former Blaine Naval Ammunition Depot east of Hastings. Pilot-testing with methane-enhanced biodegradation, a technology pioneered by the Department of Energy, shows promise to deliver the final blow to a tenacious contaminant plume. |
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Built in 1942–43 on a site comprising nearly 50,000 acres, the Blaine NAD operated for 15 years. At one point during World War II, it was producing 40 percent of all U.S. Navy munitions. After ceasing operations in 1957, the plant took nine years to decommission. The largest of seven subsites in the Hastings Superfund site, much of the NAD has been put to other uses, including a community college, an industrial park, and an animal research center operated by the Department of Agriculture. But contaminated ground-water plumes covering six square miles still require remediation. |
