This website provides background information on the Department of the Navy’s (Navy) Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) sites at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton. The overarching goal of the Navy’s ERP is to protect human health and the environment from past hazardous waste practices and releases at Navy Installation Restoration Program (IRP), Munition Response Program (MRP), and Underground Storage Tank (UST) sites. The Navy’s ERP at MCB Camp Pendleton is managed by the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest in San Diego, California.
There are currently thirteen IRP sites managed under the Navy’s ERP at MCB Camp Pendleton. Fifty-three additional IRP sites managed in the past under the Navy’s ERP are closed and require no further action.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 created the legal mechanism for the cleaning up abandoned or uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and was adopted by the Department of Defense (DoD) as a model for environmental cleanups by the military. It is the guiding process for environmental remediation efforts at MCB Camp Pendleton IRP sites.
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) amended the CERCLA legislation in 1986. Among other changes, SARA established the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP). The Secretary of Defense provides oversight of the DERP and has delegated responsibility the DERP’s implementation and the DoD’s lead agency status to individual military departments. The DERP cleans up hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, and military munitions remaining from past activities at active military installations, installations undergoing base realignment and closure, and formerly used defense sites. Because the DERP has a substantially larger scope than CERCLA, certain petroleum releases may be remediated using DERP funds, and sites do not need to be on the National Priorities List to be managed using DERP funds.
The Navy is the lead federal agency working with the USEPA, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) to collect and evaluate environmental data addressing issues related to ERP sites.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton History
MCB Camp Pendleton is located almost entirely in northern San Diego County, California, approximately halfway between the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego. Surrounding communities include San Clemente to the northwest, Oceanside to the south, and Fallbrook to the east. The Base is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and encompasses 17 miles of relatively undisturbed coastline. It occupies approximately 125,000 acres of land and is the Marine Corps’ primary amphibious training center.
Construction of MCB Camp Pendleton began in March 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the base in September 1942, and it was designated as a permanent base in October 1944. More than 38,000 service members are assigned to MCB Camp Pendleton, and nearly 70,000 personnel train at the base every year. The MCB Camp Pendleton mission is to operate a training base that promotes the combat readiness of the operating forces and the mission of other tenant commands by providing training opportunities, facilities, services and support responsive to the needs of marines, sailors, and their families.
Environmental Restoration Program Background
The purpose of the Navy’s ERP is to reduce the risk to human health and the environment from past contamination by moving identifying IRP and MRP sites, and moving them through the CERCLA process, from identification and investigation to cleanup and closure.
Environmental investigations and restoration activities began at MCB Camp Pendleton in the early 1980s. A CERCLA preliminary assessment across the entire installation lead to MCB Camp Pendleton being placed on the National Priority List of hazardous waste sites on November 15, 1989. Contamination at MCB Camp Pendleton was primarily the result of waste disposal practices occurring prior to the establishment of environmental regulatory guidance.
In 1990, the Navy entered into a Federal Facility Agreement for MCB Camp Pendleton with USEPA, DTSC, and RWQCB, establishing the working relationship between Navy and the agencies during the environmental restoration process. Since its inception, sixty-six IRP sites have been investigated under the ERP at MCBCP. Fifty-three sites have been closed with no further actions required while thirteen sites remain open and are in various stages of the CERCLA process. No MRP sites have been identified at MCB Camp Pendleton.
CLICK HERE for information on the Navy’s ERP.