An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

St. Juliens Creek Annex

Environmental Restoration Program Public Website

Restoration Advisory Board Meeting Information
for St. Juliens Creek Annex Environmental Restoration Program

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic conducts the SJCA RAB meeting annually. The SJCA RAB meets to discuss environmental issues and inform the local community about base cleanup activities. The public is invited to attend; the RAB meeting is your opportunity to participate in the process. The next meeting will be held in 2024 (typically held in May or June of each year). Information will be posted to this website prior to the meeting with additional details.

For additional information, see the Community Outreach tab above.

 

Fifty-nine potentially-contaminated Installation Restoration Program (IRP) sites, Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs), and Areas of Concern (AOCs), and Munitions Response Program (MRP) areas have been identified for evaluation at SJCA based on assessments and investigations. Three IRP sites (Sites 2, 4, and 21) and no MRP areas are currently active in the SJCA ERP. Following desktop audits, Site Investigations, and/or removal actions, 56 sites, SWMUs, and AOCs have been identified for no further action (NFA) by the SJCA ERP Partnering Team. Additional site information on the active and NFA sites is detailed in the Site Management Plan.

SJCA achieved Construction Complete on July 7, 2016. A facility achieves Construction Complete when the last remedial action has been completed or the remedy has been implemented such that the treatment system is operating as intended (Remedy in Place) and the Preliminary Closeout Report for the facility has been signed. Following Construction Complete, ongoing work will consist primarily of monitoring. A Final Closeout Report for the facility will be executed once the remedial action objectives for all of the sites have been achieved, after which time the facility will be eligible for deletion from the National Priorities List.

Click here for a fact sheet providing an overview of the Navy’s ERP at SJCA.

Background

St. Juliens Creek Annex is a 490-acre facility situated at the confluence of St. Juliens Creek and the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in the City of Chesapeake, located in southeastern Virginia. The facility is bordered to the north by the Norfolk and Western Railroad, the City of Portsmouth, and residential areas; to the west by residential areas; to the south by St. Juliens Creek; and to the east by the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located approximately 1.5 miles to the north.

St. Juliens Creek Annex began operations as a Naval facility in 1849. Past operations at SJCA have included general ordnance operations involving wartime transfer of ammunitions to various other US Naval facilities throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, the annex has been involved in specific ordnance operations and processes including those involving black powder operations, smokeless powder operations, projectile loading operations, mine loading, tracer mixing, testing operations, and decontamination operations. All ordnance-related activities at SJCA have been discontinued.

St. Juliens Creek Annex has also been involved in non-ordnance services, including degreasing; operation of paint shops, machine shops, vehicle and locomotive maintenance shops, pest control shops, battery shops, print shops, electrical shops, boiler plants, wash racks, and potable water and salt water fire-protection systems; fire-fighter training; and storage of oil and chemicals.

While activity at SJCA has decreased overall in the past decade with the demolishment of many older structures, most recently it has increased. The current primary mission of SJCA is to provide a radar-testing range and various administrative and warehousing facilities and light industrial shops for nearby Norfolk Naval Shipyard and other local naval activities. Defense Logistics Agency, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Fleet Logistics Norfolk, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Detachment, and a cryogenics school are currently located within SJCA.

Environmental History

In 1975, the Department of Defense began the Navy Assessment and Control of Navy Pollutants (NACIP) Program to assess past hazardous and toxic materials storage and disposal activities at military installations. SJCA initiated its environmental restoration, study, and investigation efforts under the NACIP Program by conducting an Initial Assessment Study (IAS) in 1981.

In 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) was passed by Congress to address potentially adverse human health and environmental impacts from hazardous waste management and disposal practices. In order to manage present and future disposal of hazardous wastes under the RCRA corrective action process, a RCRA Facility Assessment (RFA), was conducted at SJCA in 1989.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or the "Superfund" Act, was passed to investigate and remediate areas resulting from past hazardous waste management practices. In 1983 a Preliminary Assessment (PA), the first step in the CERCLA process, was conducted for SJCA. The NACIP program was changed in 1986 to reflect the requirements of the CERCLA as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA). In response to SARA, the IRP was established to address releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, and contaminants on installations and former properties resulting from past practices that may pose risks to human health and the environment. The IRP is currently addressed under the ERP.

Based on the results of a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) evaluation, SJCA was listed on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) National Priorities List (NPL) in July 2000. Following inclusion of SJCA on the NPL, the SJCA IRP Partnering Team, now referred to as the SJCA ERP Partnering Team, was chartered to streamline the cleanup of the former disposal sites by using consensus-based site management strategies during the CERCLA process.

The team consists of representatives from the Navy, USEPA, and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ). A Federal Facility Agreement (FFA), negotiated between the Navy, USEPA, and VDEQ, was signed in July 2004. Under the FFA, all past and future work at ERP sites, SWMUs, and AOCs will be reviewed and a course of action for future work requirements at each site will be developed.

The Department of Defense has established the MRP under the Defense ERP to address munitions and explosives of concern and munitions constituents at sites other than operational ranges. The Department of Defense and the Navy are establishing policy and guidance for munitions and response actions under the MRP; however, the key program drivers developed to date include that munitions response actions will be conducted under the process outlined in the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Control Contingency Plan (NCP), as authorized by CERCLA. Therefore, the Navy will work with the SJCA ERP Partnering Team to follow the CERCLA process to address MRP sites identified at SJCA.

In 2016, NAVFAC Headquarters released a directive to conduct a comprehensive compilation of existing information about known or potential releases and potential migration pathways for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an emerging class of contaminants, at naval facilities. As part of the NAVFAC Headquarters directive, a Navy wide review of records was conducted to establish an inventory of locations where PFAS may have been used, stored, released, or disposed of at Navy installations. In response to this direction, a Preliminary Assessment (PA) for PFAS was completed and finalized in February 2021; a total of seven areas at SJCA were recommended for further investigation as part of an Site Inspection (SI). The SJCA PFAS SI is currently ongoing. Fieldwork was completed in 2022 and the SI report is currently being developed. For additional information on the Navy’s ongoing efforts to investigate and mitigate PFAS within their facilities across the nation please see the PFAS tab at the top of this page.

 

This is an Official US Navy Website • Please read this Privacy Policy • GILS NUMBER DOD-USN-000702
NAVFAC Jobs  |  FAQ  |  Search  |  Accessibility  |  FOIA  |  No Fear Act  |  Veterans Crisis Line  |  VA Vet Center  |  FVAP  |  Site Map