Franz Reksid, DPL’s Brownfields project manager, said in an interview yesterday that recent questioning by some members of the community and Rep. Tina Sablan did not stop the Brownfields operation, which started in March.
Even when concerned residents brought the matter to the attention of the U.S. Environmental Agency and the CNMI Legislature, the Coastal Resource Management Office was able to answer all questions with regards to the project’s major siting permit, Reksid said.
DPL Secretary John Del Rosario said Ampro, the Guam firm contracted to do the job, has recovered over 6,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance, consisting of U.S. Army projectiles, mortars and hand grenades.
Over 90,000 pounds of scrap metal and components related to the unexploded ordnance were also cleaned up.
Rosario said the project site is the former U.S. Army ordnance depot that contained munitions stored in preparation for the invasion of Japan that was set for Nov. 1945.
Japan surrendered in Aug. 1945.
At the end of World War II, the site had approximately 9 million pounds of ordnance.
A fire in the late 1940s resulted in massive detonations of ordnance in the area, and the subsequent cleanup during the Trust Territory administration only managed to recover a portion of the unexploded ordnance.
With the use of modern magnetometry, Amrpo was able to locate more ordnance at the site.
The Brownfields project received $550,000 in federal funds.
DPL and Ampro said it will take three to four months to complete the recovery of the ordnance, while the re-vegetation and development of the historical trail in the area should be accomplished by the end of this year.
