Opinion ID: 696568
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Woodward-Clyde Soil Testing Report Dated July, 1987

Text: 11 In 1986, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) hired Woodward-Clyde Consultants (Woodward-Clyde) to perform soil testing at the former landfill to see whether any contamination existed there. This was done pursuant to the Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA), a program established under 10 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2701 et seq. (West 1983), to investigate and remedy environmental contamination at former Department of Defense sites. The testing was done in March of 1987 when the field was still being used by the Redland Soccer Club. 12 The parameters of the study were determined by the Corps. Woodward-Clyde installed three monitoring wells surrounding, but not on, the landfill. It dug five test pits: one in the cut area on the northern edge of the Park to obtain background soils, one in the area of the cyanide canister burial and the remaining three on the field itself. The test pits in the field were four to five feet in depth. Two samples were removed from each pit, one near the surface and one at mid-depth. Surface soil samples were also taken, but not from the soccer field area. Groundwater was sampled in the monitoring wells, surface water was sampled at two locations along the site's boundaries and samples were obtained from in or near the Creek. 13 The testing demonstrated a significant presence of contaminants in some areas of the Park and contamination in most of the soil and sediment samples. Test pit soil samples contained organic contaminants and all surface soils contained elevated levels of petroleum hydrocarbons. Groundwater samples contained elevated concentrations of metals. Woodward-Clyde recommended further testing, including testing of the surface soils from the playing fields and surrounding areas where fill is visible at the surface. Appellants' Appendix (App.) at 950a. Following receipt of the Woodward-Clyde report, the Army and the Township, by mutual agreement, closed the Park to further public use and the Army repossessed the land in order to conduct additional testing. 14