Residents Invited to Comment on Plans to Remove 70-Year-Old Dump Site

Fort Meade announced it plans to open a 30-day public comment period on Nov. 1 for residents to discuss what to do with a 10-acre dump site that has existed on base since 1940.

Known as the Manor View Dump Site, the land has about one acre that contains degradable waste that produces methane, a potentially flammable gas under certain circumstances.

“The rest of the nine acres is made up of concrete and stuff that’s not going to decompose,” said Mary Doyle, a public affairs worker at Fort Meade.

By opening up a public comment period, officials at the military installation hope to give residents a chance to voice their concerns and to evaluate the proposed remedial actions to address the methane-generating waste, according to a release.

Doyle said the base has conducted environmental investigations and determined that the best way to remove the methane production is to simply pick up the degradable materials and move them off base.

“We’ve been engaged in the remediation efforts in that location for awhile now. They dug trenches and used methods to extract methane in a safe way,” Doyle said. “We were finally able to convince [The EPA] that digging it up and taking it away was the best method.”

The Fort Meade Restoration Advisory board, which includes officials from the base and members of the public, has been monitoring the cleanup of several contaminated sites on base, including th Manor View dump.

Those seeking to give their input during the public comment period are invited to visit the Installation Restoration website, and attending an open meeting on Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Manor View Elementary School.