Green Remediation Focus
Footprint Assessment
Travis Air Force Base, CA
Superfund Cleanup
EPA Region 9 conducted a study to quantify the environmental footprints of four remedial alternatives for a Superfund cleanup at Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, CA. The cleanup addresses soil and groundwater contamination near an inactive battery and electric shop on the Base. Primary study parameters include the generation of greenhouse gas, criteria pollutants, and air toxics, and use of water during remedy construction, operations and maintenance, and long-term monitoring. The study explores the level of detail needed to make informed decisions that reduce the environmental footprint of implementing a typical remedy and uses new methods to:
- Identify or develop footprint conversion factors for energy, materials, and services involved in remedy implementation
- Estimate footprints of up to 18 environmental parameters for implementing the remedial alternatives
- Estimate the footprint contribution from onsite activities, transportation, and non-transportation offsite activities
- Identify components of the remedial alternatives that significantly affect the footprint and other components with negligible effects, and
- Conduct a sensitivity analysis for variations in remedy design, conversion factors, or other input values.
Remedial alternatives for Travis Air Force Base involved a bioreactor and dual phase extraction for source area remediation and a biobarrier and permeable reactive barrier for plume migration control. The study methodology, results, and additional details are provided in:
- Environmental Footprint Analysis of Four Potential Remedies: Site DP039, Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California (77 pp, 1.59MB), August 5, 2011. This file includes a 5-page executive summary and a 43-page report. Technical support information is included in three appendices:
- Appendix A (69 pp, 1.90MB): Remedy Inventory Sheets. This is a set of spreadsheet modules that document remedy parameters and calculate the level of effort and use of fuel, electricity, water, and materials for the remedy alternatives.
- Appendix B (104 pp, 1.08MB): Footprint Conversion Factors. This is a reference table with documentation for footprint conversions factors for energy, materials, and offsite services (such as waste management).
- Appendix C (76 pp, 3.79MB): Footprint Analysis Spreadsheet Output. This provides all data generated in the footprint analysis regarding onsite activities, transportation, and offsite activities for the remedy alternatives.
The Footprint Analysis at Travis AFB is the third and final Footprint Analysis conducted in EPA's Pilot Study for Green Remediation.
If you have thoughts or comments on this Study:
EPA is interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas about this Study. Comments or questions can be forwarded to:
Nadia Hollan Burke, EPA Region 9: burke.nadiahollan@epa.gov or 415-972-3187