BUXTON, N.C. — Fifteen months ago, the Buxton Beach access at Old Lighthouse Road was was closed due to the safety hazards presented by a former Navy submarine monitoring site.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been in charge of the project. Since September of this year, work on the project has rapidly progressed. Though the primary focus has been excavation of petroleum-impacted soil and water, with it has come the clean-up of numerous structures that the community had called for.
“You saw it and you heard it from us voicing all of our frustrations. How we went from no to almost done is really rewarding," said Wendi Munden, a member of the Buxton Civic Association.
Watch previous coverage: Major clean-up progress being made at Buxton formerly used defense site
To be exact, as of December 3, 3,426 cubic yards of petroleum-impacted soil, 61,526 gallons of petroleum-impacted water, 278,000 pounds of concrete, 1,153 feet of piping and 1,088 feet of debris/cables/wire have all been removed from the site.
“They have two little areas that they're finishing up the excavations. We're anticipating them to be off the site before Christmas," said Sara Keisler, project manager for the USACE, about the crew's work through the end of the year.
It was previously thought that a tank could potentially be a source of the petroleum leak, but it now looks like the presence of petroleum is just from the Navy's decades of operations. The soil and water samples are being sent to a facility in Alabama for testing and in the new year, the USACE will continue to identify the extent of the petroleum contamination.
“We have awarded the comprehensive sampling contract that will give us a true understanding of what's at the site, what remains at it, along with the risk associated with what petroleum contamination remains at the site," said Keisler.
Watch previous coverage: Clean-up efforts progressing at Buxton formerly used defense site
Another step that’s expected to come soon is the establishment of a restoration advisory board, after resounding results in a survey taken by the community.
"We're likely going to establish a RAB (restoration advisory board), but that's just preliminary results right now," said Keisler.
“We're really happy about that because it basically makes it to where they have to keep us in the loop," said Munden.
Though this project is progressing, it’s also shown the Buxton Civic Association that something needs to be done about the erosion in the area.
“The Buxton Civic Association now is moving to start pressing to get our jetties rebuilt. We wouldn't have known any of this if our beaches weren't eroding at the rate that they're eroding right now. The reason that this happened is because we don't have the jetties now, the Buxton oceanfront is washing away," said Munden, talking about the erosion exposing the naval site.
Watch previous coverage: Coast Guard releases investigations from former Buxton Beach facilities
Though the state of North Carolina doesn’t allow hardened structures, the jetties were placed there for the former Navy site and have been deteriorating for decades. Variances and a potential state of emergency are two ways having them rebuilt could happen.
The civic association will be working to have something ready to be assessed by the state legislature in January.
"We are hoping that we can formulate enough momentum behind us with Dare County to get them (the North Carolina State Legislature) to get this pushed through when they go back into session. So if we do that, then it gets put on the table for this year," said Munden.
