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Volpe Center Highlights - July/August 2003

Human and Natural Environment

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility and Economic Growth
Human and Natural Environment | Organizational Excellence | Homeland Security
Awards | Papers and Presentations

Supporting Environmental and Safety Compliance (FAA)

The Volpe Center will perform site investigations at a former military base in North Truro, Massachusetts that is now occupied by an FAA air route surveillance radar facility (at right).

The Volpe Center's Environmental Engineering Division is supporting various environmental and safety compliance programs for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in New England. These programs include the Environmental Cleanup Program, responsible for the identification, assessment, cleanup, and closure of contaminated properties; the Fuel Storage Tank Program, which addresses spill prevention, maintenance, and testing of containment systems, as well as the removal and replacement of non-compliant or leaking tanks; and the Fire Life Safety Program, under which facilities such as air traffic control towers are upgraded to comply with fire protection and emergency egress standards.

Over the past several years, Division staff--led by Mr. Christopher Zevitas--have managed significant environmental cleanup and site closure efforts at air route surveillance radar (ARSR) sites located in Bucks Harbor, Maine and St. Albans, Vermont. More recently, Ms. Michelle Morris oversaw the completion of abatement, demolition, and environmental restoration activities at a former remote transmitter/receiver site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Site investigation plans have also been developed for additional ARSR and similar sites located in Caribou, Bucks Harbor, and Skowhegan, Maine; and Cummington and North Truro, Massachusetts. Sitework will be underway at the Caribou and Bucks Harbor sites this fall and will include advancement of soil borings; installation of groundwater monitoring wells; and sampling and analysis of soil, air, and groundwater. Suspected site contaminants include petroleum products associated with leaking underground storage tanks (USTs), asbestos-containing materials, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead-based paint, herbicides, metals, and other hazardous materials associated with current and previous site uses by the FAA and the Department of Defense.

Mr. William Halloran and Mr. Ryan Cummings recently supervised the removal and replacement of an underground fuel-storage tank at a critical air traffic control facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Ms. Patricia Carnes is also leading an effort to develop electronic hand-held tank compliance inspection tools for FAA, while

Mr. Mark Gentile of the Technology Applications and Deployment Division is managing fire life safety upgrades at the Worcester Regional Airport's air traffic control tower in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In a related Volpe project, Mr. Steve Losier of the Environmental Engineering Division coordinates the production and distribution of The Bridge newsletter for FAA headquarters Airway Facilities, Environmental, Energy and Safety Division (AFZ-800). The Bridge is a quarterly publication that AFZ-800 has used since 1996 to emphasize priorities and to communicate news on progress, lessons learned, and policy changes. A recent issue features the cleanup of contamination at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a former Naval Air Station and FAA's sole Superfund site. Other articles address fire life safety upgrades to air traffic control towers in Alaska, a photovoltaic hybrid power system at a remote navigation facility in Wyoming, and an environmentally friendly de-icer for snow removal applications.

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