This website is part of the active efforts employed by the United States Department of the Navy (Navy) to provide accurate, timely, and comprehensive information on the Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) at Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL), Mineral County, West Virginia.
Background
ABL was constructed in 1942 for the Army and used as a loading plant for machine gun ammunition. The Navy took ownership of the facility in 1945. Since 1943, ABL has been used primarily for the research, development, production, and testing of solid propellants and motors for ammunition, rockets, and armaments. Currently, the facility is operated as a highly automated production facility for tactical propulsion systems and composite and metal structures.
ABL is located in Mineral County in the northeastern part of West Virginia, approximately 10 miles southwest of Cumberland, Maryland along the West Virginia and Maryland border. ABL consists of about 1,627 acres of land and is divided into three distinct operating plants.
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Plant 1 occupies approximately 1,471 acres and is owned by the Navy and leased to a private defense company, herein referred to as the ABL onsite operator, by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) through a Facilities Lease Agreement. Approximately 400 acres of Plant 1 (the majority of the developed portion of ABL) is located within the floodplain of the North Branch Potomac River.
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Plant 2 occupies 65 acres and is owned and operated by the ABL onsite operator. Plant 2 is not included on the National Priorities List (NPL).
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Plant 3, situated at the base of Knobley Mountain and outside of the floodplain, occupies approximately 91 acres and is owned by the Navy and leased to the ABL onsite operator by NAVSEA through the Facilities Lease Agreement. This land has not been previously developed.
Plants 4 and 5 are under construction on previously undeveloped portions of the Navy’s Plant 1 acreage.
Environmental History
The Plant 1 portion of ABL was added to the NPL on May 31, 1994. The NPL is the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) list of the high-priority hazardous waste sites. The responsibility for funding and carrying out environmental restoration at ABL rests with the Navy. The Navy is completing these activities in coordination with USEPA Region III and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP), under a Federal Facility Agreement (FFA), which was finalized in January 1998.
The environmental condition of ABL is being investigated through the Navy's ERP. The ERP is being conducted in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act and other applicable federal and state environmental regulations and requirements. Thirteen ERP sites have been identified for evaluation at ABL based on assessments and investigations. Six sites (Sites 1, 5, 10, 11, 12, and 13) are currently active in the ABL ERP. The other seven sites were closed out with no further action by the ABL ERP Partnering Team following desktop audits or studies.
Sites are generally categorized by media type into distinct Operable Units (OUs) to streamline site investigation and cleanup efforts. The following OUs and associated media types have a signed Record of Decision (ROD) and remedy in place: Site 1 OU-3 (groundwater, surface water, and sediment); Site 1 OU-4 (soil); Site 5 OU-1 (surface soil, landfill contents) and Site 5 OU-2 (groundwater, surface water, and sediment); Site 10 OU-5 (groundwater); and Sites 11 (OU-11) and 12 (OU-8) groundwater. Site 13 OU-15 (groundwater) is the only remaining site under investigation with a remedy to be documented in a pending ROD.
The Site Management Plan (SMP) for ABL is updated annually and serves as a management tool for the Navy, USEPA, and WVDEP to plan, schedule, and set priorities for environmental remedial response activities to be conducted at ABL. A comprehensive list of sites, solid waste management units, and Areas of Concern at Plant 1 that have been identified in, and following, the FFA, their status, and anticipated additional activities, where appropriate, may be found in the SMP.
The sixth statutory Five-Year Review for ABL Plant 1 was signed by the Navy on Sept. 20, 2023. The purpose of the Five-Year Review is to evaluate the effectiveness of remedies in place and ensure that these actions are providing adequate protection of human health and the environment. Remedies in place at Sites 1, 5, 10, 11, and 12 were reviewed, and the findings are presented in the Five-Year Review Report.