For 95 years, Aberdeen Proving Ground has served as the center for the U.S. Army’s research, development and testing of numerous weapons, vehicles, and equipment. As a result, APG has many sites where hazardous materials have accumulated through production, storage, and disposal of munitions and chemical agents.
In 2012, after the discovery of chemical contamination in a building slab from a former production facility, APG began a comprehensive, detailed process, in direct collaboration with multiple agencies. The teams conducted extensive planning, environmental assessments, as well as a National Environmental Policy Act review. In a 2017 Report to Congress, APG estimated a cost of $507.1 million to decommission and demolish 63 mostly vacant contaminated facilities that posed the highest risk to the public.
“This was and is an enormously complex challenge, and requires our best planning, cooperation and collaboration across multiple organizations to prevent any impacts by the contaminated sites to human health and our surrounding environment,” said Joe Copeland, APG public works director.
The contamination challenges from the 63 sites included the threat to human health and the environment from the materials as well as the complexity of demolishing these contaminated structures – standard demolition practices would not suffice to safely manage the processes required to take down the structures and remove the contaminated materials.
APG holds more than 72,500 acres, half of which is water or marshy or wooded terrain and is on the northwestern shore of Chesapeake Bay, divided by the Bush River, which separates APG into the Aberdeen and Edgewood areas.
APG encountered other significant challenges, including a growing risk of building envelope failure in the window or roofing facilities of the aging structures, as well as potential failure of the required heating, ventilation, and air conditioning filtration systems in the buildings to contain the chemical contamination to the sites, and prevent migration of the chemical contaminants.
The possibility that structural collapse would cross-contaminate building debris causing significant increase to disposal cost as well as challenges in removal of debris had to be eliminated. The entire facility would have to be contained with engineering controls during removal and disposal. The personal protective equipment level would increase for workers as all material would be hazardous, presenting even more challenges.
APG also faced resource challenges, not only to prevent contamination threats from the existing buildings, but also in demolishing and cleaning the sites. For example, the costs for the continuous operations of negative pressure filtration systems were estimated at $2.4 million annually for the vacant structures identified as contaminated.
To address these and the numerous other challenges posed by the complex processes required to safely manage the demolition and decontamination of the sites, APG created and launched a comprehensive, multi-agency effort named the APG Contaminated Building Demolition Program, with each agency bringing specific expertise needed for the work. This program is led by a dedicated program management office to support coordination between the agencies and help provide solutions and priority of effort.
The Contaminated Building Demolition Program kicked off in 2018 with the award of the Group 1 contract (19 buildings and one slab). To date, all above grade structures from Group 1 have been demolished and foundation removal is underway, with an anticipated completion in June 2023.
The Group 2 contract was awarded in 2021 (eight buildings and 23 slabs). Demolition activities commenced in January 2023 and are currently underway.
The Group 3 portion of the project, which includes 11 buildings and one slab, has an anticipated contract award date of July2023.
Another significant accomplishment of the program is the recovery of 45 acres of developable plans in the heart of the Edgewood Research Corridor on APG, which has allowed for significant cost-savings and environmental protection measures.
“APG’s implementation of the Contaminated Building Demolition Program has been successful by employing accelerated and innovative strategies, forging strong multi-agency partnerships, reducing risks to human health and the environment, implementing complex demolition solutions through dynamic program management techniques, and revitalizing valuable real estate for redevelopment within Edgewood Area’s Research Corridor,” said Copeland.
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