The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is reporting progress in its long-running cleanup with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Atlas “D” Missile Site 4.
When the DEQ discovered in 1998 that water at the site was contaminated with trichloroethane (TCE), it teamed with the Corps to determine the extent of the contamination and how best to remediate. TCE had been used to clean rocket fuel tanks, engines, and liquid oxygen lines while the site was active in 1960-1965 and, when washed away with water, contaminated unlined waste channels and pits.
The cleanup is expected to continue for several years, but understanding the history of the site and the process of collaborating with the Army Corps has provided important lessons for the DEQ. For more information on the cleanup, see here.
