The following press release was published by the US EPA on Oct. 14. It is reproduced in full below.
KEY WEST, Fla. (Oct. 14, 2021) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented 2021 national Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse Awards to the U.S. Navy, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), city of Key West, Charley Toppino & Sons, Inc. and MSE Group for their site reuse efforts at the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)-transferred properties at Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida.
“EPA is honored to present the National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse Award to the Naval Air Station Key West,” said Carlton Waterhouse, EPA OLEM Deputy Assistant Administrator. “This project clearly demonstrates that creating partnerships to address contaminated property in ways that align with the priorities of the Biden/Harris administration and the needs of the surrounding communities lead to successful outcomes for neighborhood revitalization and the environment.”
“EPA is honored to recognize the BRAC-transferred properties at Naval Air Station Key West with the National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse Award,” said EPA Acting Region 4 Administrator John Blevins. “This project is a successful demonstration of the success we can achieve by working cooperatively with our federal, state, and local partners to convert a contaminated site into an economic and community asset for Key West.”
"The Navy BRAC office is pleased to have led the partnership of federal, state and local agencies to cleanup and transfer property previously associated with NAS Key West that now benefits public reuse,” said Gregory Preston, Director BRAC East.
The BRAC-transferred properties at Naval Air Station Key West in Florida won the Non-National Priority List BRAC Award for excellence in re-use of a federal facility site. The portion of the Naval Air Station Key West closed as part of the BRAC Act, was redeveloped into a park that includes an interactive water feature and playground, turnaround and transit stops for public transportation, amphitheater, multipurpose field, dog park, pedestrian promenade, and horse stables for the Key West mounted police. In addition, formerly used Navy housing now provides 212 low-income, affordable housing units and 106 assisted living facility units to the area.
Background
EPA has ongoing cleanup and property transfer responsibilities at 174 federal facility NPL sites, which are some of the largest and most complex sites within the national Superfund program. The Agency also promotes innovative, cost-effective cleanups at other federal facilities by working with federal agencies, tribes, state and local governments, and community representatives to ensure that facilities meet environmental standards and undergo redevelopment for both public and private-sector reuse. To recognize outstanding collaborative outcomes at federal facility sites, EPA created the National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse award.
EPA established the awards to recognize the teams who have supported the reuse and restoration of federal facility sites through outstanding efforts to ensure that sites are remediated to promote continued property use or support a site reuse, as well as provide educational opportunities about how the awardees’ sites were remediated and reused to serve as examples to other site remediators.
The awards are divided into four categories: National Priorities List (NPL) Sites, Non-NPL Cleanup, NPL Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), and Non-NPL BRAC.
For more information about the 2021 awards, please visit www.epa.gov/fedfac/2021-national-federal-facility-excellence-site-reuse-awards
For more information about cleanups at federal facilities, please visit www.epa.gov/fedfac
Source: US EPA
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