The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, today is issuing for public review and comment a public health assessment (PHA) on the Fort Wainwright site in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The public comment period is from Aug. 13 through Sept. 15. The PHA is available for review at local repositories.

The purpose of this public health assessment is to evaluate potential sources of contamination associated with Fort Wainwright and to identify potential exposure pathways in the surrounding communities. The most common contaminants at the base are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and petroleum, oils and lubricants.

ATSDR's review of available information indicates that people residing near Fort Wainwright have not been, and are not currently being, exposed to site-related contaminants at levels that could result in adverse health effects.

After evaluating available environmental information, ATSDR has drawn the following conclusions:

• The majority of the on-post contaminated sites do not represent a public health hazard for on-post or local residents either because they are not easily accessible by the public, or they contain only low levels of contamination, or they have been remediated to remove the contaminants of concern. The Army, in coordination with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Environmental Protection Agency, has been remediating all known sources of on-site environmental contamination.
• Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from on-site drinking water wells poses no past or current public health hazard.
• Exposure to contaminants in groundwater from off-site municipal or private residential wells poses no past, current or apparent future public health hazard. Private wells used by the Shannon Park Baptist Church and the Church of Latter Day Saints' Steese Chapel Hall have been affected by site-related contaminants. However, ATSDR found no evidence of harmful exposure to church parishioners or workers. An off-site spill also occurred in a residential area; however, ATSDR found no evidence of harmful exposures to residents using private wells.
• Exposure to air emissions from the on-site coal-fired power plant was categorized an indeterminate public health hazard because of a lack of measurements during time periods when plant emissions could have reached concentrations in the ambient air that exceed current National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

The public health action plan for Fort Wainwright describes health actions completed or in operation by the U.S. Army:

• Removal of contaminated soil or buried drums from approximately 15 different sites,
• Operation of soil remediation systems to reduce contaminant levels in groundwater and subsurface soil,
• Installation of new air pollution control equipment on the coal-fired power plant.

Further actions and recommendations are available in the complete public health assessment.

The public health assessment may be reviewed from Aug. 13 through Sept. 15 at the following repositories:

EPA Region 10
Superfund Records Center
1200 6th Ave. ECL-076
Seattle, Wash.

Noel Wien Library (Selected Documents)
1215 Cowles St.
Fairbanks, Alaska

Fort Wainwright Directorate of Public Works (Administrative Records)
Building 3023
Fort Wainwright, Alaska

ATSDR welcomes comments about the public health assessment. Comments on the PHA must be made in writing. Mail comments to

Chief, Program Evaluation, Records and Information Services Branch
ATSDR
1600 Clifton Rd., NE (MS E-60)
Atlanta, GA 30333

Comments received during the public comment period will be logged in to ATSDR's administrative record for this PHA. Comments received, without the names of individuals who submitted them, and ATSDR's responses to the comments will appear in an appendix to the final PHA. Names of those who submit comments, however, will be subject to release for requests made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

Community members seeking information on the procedures or the content of the public health assessment may contact Environmental Health Scientist Sue Neurath or Health Communications Specialist Youlanda Outin, toll free, at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Karen Larson also may be contacted at 206-553-6978. When calling, please refer to the Fort Wainwright site in Fairbanks, Alaska.