By Dhara Patel, ELR Staffer, Class of 2028

The United States Army may have long ceased its chemical weapons program, but its toxic legacy lives on. Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) is a U.S. Army site located in Edgewood, Maryland known for the development, testing, and storage of chemical agent munitions since World War I. The chemical weapons activities the Army performed over the years at the site contaminated the area’s soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water with hazardous chemicals. People and wildlife who ingest or come into direct contact with contaminated groundwater, surface water, soil, or sediments are at risk of exposure to contamination. 

As a result of ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, the U.S. began destroying its stockpiles of chemical agents. APG destroyed its stockpiles through neutralization, a hydrolysis process that breaks down chemical agents with hot water and a caustic compound. As of July 7, 2023, 100% of the U.S.’s chemical agent arsenal has been destroyed. While the decommissioning and destruction of the chemical agent arsenal at APG has concluded, APG is not “Sitewide Ready for Anticipated Use” until at least 2050. Sitewide Ready for Anticipated Use indicates that a site’s cleanup is complete and the site can be safely used for current and future Army operations.

This historic cleanup of chemical agent arsenals is governed by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund. Although these authorities complement one another, they tackle distinct aspects of hazardous substance regulation.

RCRA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control hazardous waste from the “cradle-to-grave.” RCRA’s scope is limited to mainly active facilities, but it also regulates inactive and abandoned facilities. The RCRA requires federal facilities, such as APG, to comply with federal, state, and local requirements. CERCLA mainly focuses on the proper cleanup of inactive hazardous waste sites. Under CERCLA, the President of the U.S. is authorized to delegate to executive agencies the responsibility of cleaning up inactive sites via removal or remediation. 

The EPA, in collaboration with the U.S. Army, placed APG on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in 1990. The NPL helps the EPA prioritize Superfund sites that require further investigation. The cleanup of APG is a multi-governmental agency effort under a Federal Facility Agreement, which holds the Army and the EPA as responsible parties. These parties are responsible for investigating environmental impacts, establishing and executing a procedural framework to respond to contamination at the site, and ensuring compliance with RCRA and CERCLA. Under the agreement, the U.S. Army serves as the lead agency in cleaning up its site and conducting investigations, the EPA supports with overall oversight as part of the Superfund program, and the Maryland Department of the Environment retains the opportunity to participate in the planning and selection of remedial actions.

While RCRA and CERCLA were critical in regulating hazardous waste management at federal facilities such as APG, neither was written to address the magnitude of waste produced from an extensive weapons stockpile or the sensitive nature of decommissioning a long-standing offensive chemical weapons program. 

The cleanup of hazardous waste after military operations may not always align perfectly with the bounds of RCRA or CERCLA. For example, RCRA stipulates that a hazardous waste storage permit is required for waste in storage exceeding 90 days. At other government installations, such as Spring Valley and Camp Sibert, recovered chemical weapon material was stored for much longer, waiting for neutralization. RCRA’s 90-day requirement stifles two key Army operations. Chemical weapon munition investigations and the arduous nature large-scale removal operations often elongate storage time of the agent(s) awaiting evaluation or destruction. Meanwhile, CERCLA notes no issues with storage beyond 90 days. 

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) previously worked with the EPA on the demilitarization of conventional munitions (the Military Munitions Rule), where the EPA reviewed DoD regulations and decided that forcing RCRA permits was unnecessary for the situation at hand. This example demonstrates the effectiveness of the Army and the EPA collaborating closely to resolve the differences in requirements between the RCRA and CERCLA, and the importance of establishing a framework within the existing RCRA and CERCLA language that effectively addresses the management of chemical weapons waste sites. Additionally, regional partnering initiatives have ensured that affected communities, the military installation, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments have access to information related to cleanup activities, promoted transparent negotiations and decision-making on cleanup procedure between federal and SLTT governments, and enhanced trust levels with the public. Collaboration between federal and state agencies enables cost-sharing and accelerates cleanup schedules. Early collaboration between federal and state agencies ensures that cleanup actions remain aligned with the long-term goals of cleanup and restoration, utilizing resources effectively, and provides the public ample notice of the opportunity to participate in the comment and response process. 

As cleanup continues at APG, the importance of interagency collaboration between federal, SLTT governments should remain a priority as agencies continue to navigate the cleanup of a military installation that has exposed service members and the nearby Maryland community to hazardous materials and waste since at least 1976. Access to information for the public and the transparency of decision-making on remedial procedures resulting from interagency collaboration will enable generations of Maryland residents to monitor the proper cleanup of their community through to its completion.