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News Release
April 26, 2004

Open Detonations Affecting Neighborhood Buffer Zone

Camp Edwards, Mass. — Open detonations to destroy five military munitions items will be conducted on Thursday, April 29, at Camp Edwards on the Massachusetts Military Reservation.

All of the munitions are at least 1,500 feet from any residential areas and there is no risk to nearby residents. Three of the items are within the area that triggers school and neighborhood notification in the Forestdale area of Sandwich. Notices regarding the detonations are being sent to parents of Forestdale School students and residents of the Forestdale neighborhood today.

The notification is part of an agreement between the Impact Area Groundwater Study Program and Sandwich officials designed to keep parents and residents informed of any discovery of munitions or open detonations in the vicinity of a 500-foot school and neighborhood buffer zone within the base boundary.

The three munitions items affecting the buffer zone are all 81-millimeter mortar rounds. The other two items include another 81-millimeter mortar round and a 105-millimeter projectile. Appropriate safety controls, which include sandbag and plywood barriers and concrete barriers, will be used to contain the detonations near the school and neighborhood buffer zones.

The five munitions items were found during clearance activities in the former training and defense contractor testing area known as the J-1 Range.

The mortar rounds and projectile are being destroyed by open detonation because explosive experts have determined they may contain explosives and are unsafe to move. Safe-to-move items that potentially contain explosives are taken to a safe storage facility for destruction in a contained detonation chamber. Munitions items that do not contain explosives are recycled as scrap.

For further information on Groundwater Study Program activities, log on to www.groundwaterprogram.org.

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For more information, contact:
Pam Richardson, Groundwater Study Program, (508) 968-5630
Todd Borci, EPA New England Region 1, (617) 918-1358 or (888) 372-7341 ext. 81358
Ellie Grillo, MADEP Community Involvement Coordinator, (508) 946-2866

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