Assessment of Community Interest in Establishing a Restoration

Assessment of Community Interest in Establishing a Restoration Advisory Board for Former Nike CD-78 Launch Area Site The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is conducting environmental restoration activities at the former Nike CD-78 Launch Area Site, which is located in Butler County, Ohio. Currently, USACE is conducting a remedial action at the site. The Nike CD-78 Launch Area consisted of a former Nike Hercules missile battery site located in Butler County, Ohio, approximately four miles northwest of Oxford, Ohio. The Nike battery was formerly used by Department of Defense (DoD) to protect the Cincinnati area from possible hostile aircraft attack from 1959 through the 1970s. The site was developed with three underground missile magazines and various support buildings for use by the DoD. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in the Remedial Action Operation (RAO) phase of an environmental investigation at the former Nike CD-78 Launch Area. In response to the identification of the chlorinated solvent trichloroethene (TCE) and its daughter products in soil and groundwater at the site during the Site Investigation/Remedial Investigation, the Army has been conducting a remedial action since 2008. Low levels of the solvent above the drinking water standard remain in groundwater within a relatively small area. The remedy approved by the Army and Ohio EPA to address the dissolved TCE in groundwater is Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA) combined with land use controls to restrict the use of groundwater at the site. MNA relies on natural biological and physical processes to stabilize and gradually reduce the concentration of TCE remaining in groundwater to safe drinking water levels. For environmental restoration activities, the Department of Defense (DoD) encourages community involvement through Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs). A RAB is a stakeholder group that meets regularly to discuss, share information and participate in the environmental restoration process at a specific property. There is currently no RAB at the former Nike CD-78 Launch Area; therefore, the Louisville District periodically re-evaluates community interest in forming a RAB while environmental restoration activities are ongoing. USACE Louisville District welcomes public feedback regarding interest in establishing a RAB for the former Nike CD-78 Launch Area. Inquiries should be directed to Charles Delano, Louisville District Public Affairs Office, 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Place, Louisville, KY 40202, email fudslrlpubliccomments@usace.army.mil or phone (502) 315-6769 by 15 Feb 2023. If there is sufficient and sustained community interest, the Louisville District will consider forming a RAB at the former Nike CD-78 Launch Area. The information repository, which contains additional project documents, is housed at the Smith Library of Regional History, 441 South Locust Street, Oxford, Ohio 45056. 1-10/2023