Corps of Engineers outlines current efforts to remediate Buxton Beach at public meeting

Community members heard an update on the efforts to remediate environmental hazards, (and specifically petroleum contamination), on a roughly 500-yard section of Buxton Beach at a public meeting held on March 14.

Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, the Dare County Board of Commissioners, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Buxton Civic Association were all in attendance at the Tuesday evening assembly.

The meeting included an update from Col. Ron Sturgeon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District commander, as well as a public comment period where community members could voice concerns and ask questions.

A three-tenths-of-a-mile section of Buxton shoreline has been an area of frustration since two offshore hurricanes uncovered abandoned infrastructure and petroleum smells in September 2023.

The area where these issues surfaced is the site of a military base, which was used by the Navy from 1956 to 1982, and by the U.S. Coast Guard from 1984 to 2010. The debris and potential contaminants are the remnants of these military facilities, and primarily the Navy base, although some of the leftover wastewater facilities are linked to the Coast Guard as they used these amenities as well.

The issues accelerated after a series of winter storms caused additional erosion. Two days after a coastal storm impacted the Outer Banks in early February, local surfers reported an unusual sheen on the waters at Old Lighthouse Beach, and they came out of the ocean reeking of fuel, which started a new wave of community attention on the issue.

In 1998, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) approved the Buxton Beach area as a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) which allowed the Corps to address environmental liabilities that resulted from military activities that occurred prior to Oct. 17, 1986.

More than 4,000 tons of petroleum-contaminated soils (PCS) were excavated and removed by the Corps in the early 2000s, and groundwater monitoring by the Corps was routinely conducted in the years that followed, due to detections of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination that exceeded N.C. Department of Environmental Quality standards.

“I’ve sent a team out here in September, October, November, December [and] February, continuing to sample, but also [to respond to] reports of sheens on the water as well as a strong odor recorded by the National Park Service, as well as other concerned citizens within the area,” said Col. Sturgeon at the meeting.

“Sometimes, we would see things that, a day later, would be covered up with additional sand, so it is truly a complex site, and a very, very unique situation down here.”

On May 3, the Corps awarded a $525,000 contract to remove an exposed pipe that appeared to be a potential source of some of the petroleum smells and sheens. The 70-80 foot long pipe, which was not attached to any additional underground structures, was removed this past week.

“We chased the pipe, and it did have petroleum residue, or what looked to be petroleum residue, inside the pipe. We removed it, and we’re looking to remediate and remove the sand in and around where we found that overall pipe,” said Col. Sturgeon. “Additional testing in and around that pipe, and where we were excavating, also [occurred.] Those tests have not come back yet, but we will keep the public informed on the results.”

Col. Sturgeon also touched on the future of the Buxton Beach remediation efforts.

“Where do we go from here? I have a third-party independent review team coming into the area… and they’re coming in to look at all remediation efforts that have occurred since the 1980s,” said Col. Sturgeon. “They are currently in their investigation phase, and that report will come back, and it will really clue us in on the way ahead.

“The bottom line is that we know additional sampling will need to occur within the area, and if those samplings come back as contaminated, it’s going back to our managers at headquarters to request additional funding to remediate that part of the beach.

“I acknowledge the overall frustration and the concerns here in Buxton, and that’s why we’re here.”

Corps representatives also touched on the definition of the FUDS program and its limitations when it came to the removal of the exposed structures on the shoreline.

Per the Corps, while the FUDS program can address environmental hazards like petroleum smells and sheens, it cannot be used to excavate and remove the leftover remnants of the military site, like the foundation of the Terminal Building that was clearly visible during the height of a March 27 storm.

After the Corps’ update, community members were able to make comments and ask questions.

“In the Special Use Permit dated February 9, 1956, paragraph 11 says ‘The permittee shall remove all structures, foundations, and pavements, and clean up and restore the site prior to or immediately following the termination of use,’” said Dare County Commissioner Candidate Aida Havel. “To my knowledge, this Special Use Permit has never been canceled, or rescinded.”

“Our understanding is that the permit essentially expired in May 1982, which is when the Navy departed the site,” said National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent, David Hallac. “The expectations that the conditions of the permit would be upheld, meaning all of the things that you read out loud, remain [in effect.]”

“If someone was supposed to restore the site and completely return it to its natural state, who would that be?” asked Buxton Civic Association Board Member Heather Jennette.

“The U.S. Corps of Engineers would need to receive direct funding from Congress to remove that, because we’re not the landowner of Buxton Beach,” said Col. Sturgeon. “But the U.S. Corps of Engineers would have a hand in removing that, in the event that funding would be available for the landowner… If it’s not an environmental hazard or contamination, under the FUDS program itself, we cannot remove the infrastructure if it’s not contaminated.”

“I think the most important thing is we’re not going to stop working until we get all the debris off of Buxton Beach,” said Hallac. “What’s been interesting about this process is that there are a lot of things in the ground that we were not aware of. What you see on the beach, which is the prior Building 19, also known as the Terminal Building, is not everything. We recognize that some of that building’s foundation and a lot of other infrastructure is in the dunes, further back, and has yet to be exposed. So, the take-home message is there’s a lot of debris that needs to be removed.”

“What I can tell you is the responsibility, from our perspective, is the Navy,” added Hallac. “It sounds like the Army Corps of Engineers does not have the responsibility or authority perhaps to remove that, yet, unless it’s potentially associated with contamination.”

North Carolina Bach Buggy Association President Al Adam also touched on the recent pipe removal, noting that it likely represented the “tip of the iceberg.”

“I believe, like a lot of folks here believe, that the pipe probably went into a soil level – maybe peat moss-type soil – that probably represents a sponge for old petroleum.”

Resident Lou Browning stated that he was present when the former Navy buildings – and particularly the Terminal Building – were removed in the 1980s, and he saw, firsthand, the poor quality of the demolition work involved.

“It was a pretty shoddy crew that had a contract on that,” said Browning. “They would leave on Friday afternoons with all the copper on-site in their personal cars, and take it to sell, which I don’t think was part of the contract.

“When it came to a lot of the underground structures, I remember one of the excavator operators telling me, ‘Well, we’re just going to take out the floor, and leave the footers because nobody is ever going to see that again’… so it was a pretty shoddy job.”

There were additional questions from attendees about how the community could stay involved in the remediation process, and more important, move the process along.

In response, Col. Sturgeon announced that a Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) would be formed to foster future communication. “It’s going to be a forum for people to talk and voice their opinion,” stated Col. Sturgeon. “It’s not a fast process, it’s a very formal process, and we have to go through the steps… I hope we will have an RAB contract in place by the end of the year.”

Another theme in the public comments was a request for a more precise timeframe on when full remediation could occur, as well as trepidation about how long remediation efforts had taken since the issues first surfaced in September 2023.

“I hear your words [but] what exactly is the timeline?” asked advocate and letter-writing campaign initiator, Susan Sigmon. “If we find contamination – or when, not if – what exactly is the next step?”

“The process could have been faster,” said Col. Sturgeon. “But once we found that contamination [near the exposed pipe], within 24 hours, we had a contractor, and within three days, we had that contractor on site.

“Further sampling will occur…. If there is additional contamination out there, we will follow that data, and there is a process associated with that.”

Buxton Civic Association Board Member Jason Hall was one of the last commenters at the meeting, and he summed up a number of primary concerns that were made during the roughly 60-minute public comment period.

“First, let me state what I think the community wants to say… Full remediation. Absolute clean-up of the entire site. That’s what we expect, and only that. What I need to hear, and what I don’t feel like I’ve heard, is do we have that commitment from everybody sitting at the table? Because you’re the people we’re looking to get this done for us.

“Whatever it takes to make sure that beach is safe for our children, our pets, our families, our friends – whatever it takes to get it cleaned up, do we have a commitment of everyone [here]?

All stakeholders responded yes, including Capt. Timothy List, Sector Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard, Hallac, Col. Sturgeon, and Dare County Commissioner Chairman Bob Woodard.

“There’s not one organization that’s solely responsible for this… [But] yes, you have full a commitment for FUDS remediation,” said Col. Sturgeon. “Now, can I commit to say that money is going to drop out of the sky for the Corps of Engineers to do the rest of it? I’m not convinced that I can say that. And I can’t say that, because I don’t control that. What I do control is my piece of the pie right now, and like I said when I got up here, I’m all in.”

“We’re going to push every button we can, talk to every legislator we can, and every group that we can,” said Chairman Woodard.

“You’ve got my commitment that while I’m doing this job, I’m not going to stop working on this until it’s cleaned up,” said Hallac. “It’s not easy. There are other agencies involved in this that did contaminate the site historically, and I feel like they are clearly at the table. They’re here, and working with us, and we’re going to keep working until it’s cleaned up.”

Tuesday evening’s meeting was recorded by Dare Conty and the full video will be available soon on Dare County’s YouTube Channel.