Tyndall Air Force Base

Tyndall Air Force Base
EPA ID: FL1570024124
Location: Panama City, Bay County, FL
Congressional District: 02
NPL Status: Proposed: 06/17/96; Final 04/01/97
Project Manager

• Site Profile
• Administrative Order, EPA Docket Number RCRA-04-2007-4011 (PDF: 44pp, 19MB)
• Administrative Order, Appendix A Revised May 7, 2008
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Tyndall Air Force Base (TAFB) is located approximately one mile southeast of Panama City, Bay County, Florida.  TAFB, a peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico, covers approximately 28,823 acres.  The base was activated in 1941 as a flexible gunnery school for the Army Air Corps and sponsored an air tactical training school in 1946.  In 1950, the base began training all-weather jet interceptor pilots and aircraft controllers.  Home to the 325th Fighter Wing, the current mission of TAFB includes pilot training and maintenance training for the F-15 Eagle and F-22 Raptor squadrons, weapons system controllers training, and Southeast Air Defense Sector activities.
Shoal Point Bayou (also known as Fred Bayou) is a north-south oriented tidal creek and is used as a waterway for barges and small ships to deliver petroleum, oil, and lubricant products and building supplies.   In October 1985, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) conducted sediment sampling throughout St. Andrew Bay, including Shoal Point Bayou.  Sediment analyses identified the presence of DDT and DDT metabolites.  In 1990, DDT and its metabolites were detected in fish, soil and sediment throughout the Bayou.  In 1997, EPA designated TAFB a “Superfund Site” based on the risks posed by pesticide contamination in Shoal Point Bayou.  Subsequent investigations through 2007 have documented a wider scope and magnitude of pesticide contamination in the Bayou than previously known, requiring cleanup to protect human health and ecological resources. 
Cleanup Challenges: 
Waste areas at TAFB include the flight line and aircraft maintenance areas, oil/water separators, landfills, fire training pits, petroleum release sites, and munitions testing, disposal and burial areas.  Contaminants in soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater include DDT, chlordane, trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, petroleum and jet fuels, lead, benzene, arsenic, chromium, barium, and munitions constituents.  Cleanup challenges at TAFB include: groundwater that is highly susceptible to contamination and is used as a drinking water source on-base; protection of extensive wetlands and bayous; protection of over 40 species of threatened and endangered plant and animal species; and control of civilian, military, visitor, and trespasser access to areas of contamination.
The Department of Defense has established a target date of 2012 to have all remedial actions in place at TAFB.  Once all remedial actions are in place at TAFB, selected remediation implementation, environmental monitoring and land use restrictions will continue, with EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) oversight, to ensure the protectiveness of the cleanup for base residents and personnel, visitors, and ecological resources at this facility.
Cleanup Progress: Studies Underway
The Air Force initiated an Installation Restoration Program (IRP) at TAFB in 1981.  Investigation activities have occurred under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in the absence of a CERCLA Section 120 Interagency Agreement (IAG) with EPA and the FDEP.  Such IAGs or “Federal Facility Agreements” ensure coordination of all stakeholders’ schedules and priorities and establishes enforceable milestones for Air Force cleanup activities. 
Absent progress with the Air Force in achieving a Federal Facility Agreement at TAFB and given the failure of the Air Force to achieve any Records of Decision for cleanup of the contamination at TAFB that are consistent with CERCLA and the National Contingency Plan, EPA Region 4 issued an Administrative Order under Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in November of 2007 to compel the Air Force to clean up TAFB.  The Order, which holds the Air Force to enforceable cleanup milestones, was finalized by EPA in May of 2008.  Moving forward, study and cleanup of TAFB environmental contamination is proceeding under the RCRA 7003 Order and is augmented by a partnering initiative between EPA, TAFB, FDEP, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Compliance Status
Tyndall Air Force Base is currently out of compliance with the deadlines, and scope of work requirements, defined in the EPA RCRA 7003 Order.