Waste Permit
Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) is a remote military reservation operated by Hill Air Force Base as a practice bombing and gunnery range for military aircraft, propagation testing, rocket motor test firing, missile storage, and small arms and machine-gun firing ranges.
Staff in the Commercial and Federal Facilities Section is addressing compliance and permitting at UTTR. Staff in the Hazardous Waste Facilities Section is over sighting corrective action at the facility.
Permitting
The Air Force was issued an open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) permit in February of 2003. The existing Post-Closure Permit for the Landfill #5 was incorporated as a Module into the OB/OD permit.
Corrective Action
Corrective Action at the UTTR was initiated in 1995 with the submittal, by the Air Force, of an initial list of Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU). Over the next few years additional sites were identified to include on the SWMU list. In 2006 the Air Force and The DEQ signed an interagency agreement that split the 105 identified SWMUs into 61 older sites that would be managed under CERCLA and 44 newer sites that would be managed under RCRA. The Air Force has completed a Phase I RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI) for all the RCRA sites. Several of the SWMUs have also received Phase II investigations and corrective action operations. As of 2012, 13 sites have received No Further Action designation, 6 have been transferred to other regulatory authority. The remaining 25 sites are being incorporated into a Site Management Plan that is presently under review by the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control.
The most significant corrective action operation was conducted at four SWMUs in the CBU Valley in early 2006. During the effort, the Air Force removed 380,000 pounds of damaged 20 mil rounds from old disposal pits. The rounds were thermally treated in a mobile munitions incinerator. A Corrective Action Order was issued by the Executive Secretary of the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Control Board to the Air Force on February 2, 2007 authorizing the treatment activity. The Air Force successfully implemented the treatment and was able to sell 77,000 pounds of brass to a local metals recycler and the remainder of mixed steel, brass and aluminum was disposed of at the UTTR solid waste landfill at the Oasis complex.
The UTTR also contains a closed Hazardous Waste Landfill that is regulated under conditions listed in a Post-Closure Permit. Extensive site investigations and initial corrective action operations have been undertaken at Land Fill #5 over the past several years. Contamination has been identified in both the 400 foot thick vadose zone and the underlying semi-confined aquifer beneath the closed landfill. A CME was completed in 2000. This document includes descriptions of the regional and local geology, a detailed list of what was put in the landfill and well logs of all the groundwater monitoring wells in the area. There are also numerous more recent investigation and corrective action documents available in the Division’s files.
A Part B Permit (not the official copy) was reissued on September 27, 2013. The Post-Closure Permit was included in this Permit. The Air Force has submitted a Permit Renewal application for the both the OB/OD operations and the Post-Closure Permit. This application is under review by the Division.
The Compliance History for UTTR lists the violations identified during inspections and the resolution reached.
Utah Test and Training Range Environmental phone number is (801) 777-4325.
Comments or Questions
If you have any questions about the Part B Permit for the Utah Test and Training Range, please contact Gabby Marinick (gmarinick@utah.gov), (385) 499-0172. For questions about the post-closure permit please contact Paige Walton (pwalton@utah.gov), (385) 515-0086.