FUDS Restoration Advisory Board’s first meeting: Appreciation for work done, concerns over remaining contamination

Twelve of the 13 members of the Restoration Advisory Board for the Buxton Naval Facility Formerly Used Defense Site attend the board’s first meeting Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Buxton. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

By Corinne Saunders

BUXTON — The Restoration Advisory Board for the Buxton Naval Facility Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS), during the first of what will be quarterly meetings, expressed appreciation for the work done so far at the site and hopes that remaining contamination will be addressed.

The board met Thursday evening at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club, located at 47231 Light Plant Road in Buxton. Its next meeting is slated for July 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Board members agreed to invite the U.S. Coast Guard—which reportedly declined an offered seat on the board—to speak at the next meeting.

“That’s the big concern right now,” Brian Harris, a Buxton resident who was selected as board co-chair on Thursday, said after the meeting. “We need to know what their stance is.”

Sheridan Gayle Fajardo Garland, project manager at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Savannah District, is the other RAB co-chair and gave a presentation at the meeting about the restoration work the USACE FUDS Program has done and is planning.

She also said an archival study is underway to determine if the U.S. Navy was responsible for chemical contamination other than petroleum, which has been the sole focus of FUDS Program work to date.

“We’re waiting on the report back from the research that…[the USACE] St. Louis District conducted at the National Archives,” Garland said. “And what they were looking into specifically was whether or not the Department of Defense contributed to any possible PFAS contamination and PCP contamination.”

PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), often called “forever chemicals,” are widely used, long-lasting synthetic chemicals. PCP (pentachlorophenol) was formerly widely used as a pesticide and wood preservative and is considered toxic, according to National Institutes of Health information.

“There are PCPs, heavy metals, pesticides and PFAS at this site,” National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac said at the meeting.

“The U.S. Coast Guard has not denied that they may have come from them,” Hallac continued. “They performed the site investigation.”

In response to questions, Garland said she was not sure when the USACE historical report would be available or what its findings would be. USACE cannot do work outside the scope of a project open specifically for that work, and findings are required to open one, she explained.

The FUDS Program is responsible for cleaning up sites the Department of Defense used prior to 1986, she said.

Hallac said the Coast Guard, as part of the Department of Homeland Security, has its own unit and protocol for cleaning up its sites.

Sheridan Gayle Fajardo Garland (right), project manager at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Savannah District and FUDS Restoration Advisory Board co-chair, speaks Thursday, April 10, 2025, about the restoration work done to date. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Col. Ron Sturgeon, commander of USACE Savannah District, at the start of the meeting thanked the Buxton Civic Association, Dare County, the National Park Service and the RAB for their efforts in the cleanup process.

Sturgeon said his charge to the RAB “is to collaboratively work together to create a shared understanding and quickly establish a unity of effort to accomplish their shared goals—no pressure.”

Attendees and board members laughed, and he added, “I know they’re up to the task.”

Col. Ron Sturgeon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District commander, speaks at the RAB meeting at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club in Buxton on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

“Your presence at the events and the meetings…you actually physically being here means a lot to us,” Mary Ellon Ballance, a RAB member and Dare County commissioner for District 4, Hatteras Island, told Sturgeon at the end of the meeting.

“It means a lot to me to be here,” Sturgeon replied, noting the community’s commitment. “It is a priority…I said that one of the first times that I showed up.”

Public questions at the end of the meeting centered on when the beach would be fully restored and reopened, and the need for functioning jetties.

Sheila Davies, Dare County director of Health and Human Services and a member of the RAB, said there is a meeting next Wednesday to discuss the potential reopening of the beach.

Davies and several other RAB members noted that the jetties fall out of the scope of the RAB’s work, but that conversations are taking place elsewhere about those.

Hallac made a public comment of appreciation for the work that has been accomplished.

“In September of last year, this situation seemed like it was impossible, and everybody was upset about it, and it was a losing battle,” Hallac recalled. “This is incredible to be standing here, and we have a Restoration Advisory Board with really smart, interested members of the public; and there was a response action.”

He thanked USACE on behalf of the park service and the community.

“We’re on a really, really strong path to restoring the site, and they’re continuing to show commitment towards improving the conditions of the site,” Hallac said.

“They didn’t move mountains, but they moved the beach,” he said.

National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac gives a public comment of appreciation at the RAB meeting in Buxton on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)

Six of the 11 community RAB members identified themselves as Buxton residents during meeting introductions: Brett Barley, Michael “Mike” Gould, Betsy Gwin, Brian Harris, Stewart Nelson and Carla Reynolds.

One member, Lat Williams, was absent.

In addition to Ballance and Davies, community members also include Alyson Flynn of the North Carolina Coastal Federation and Meaghan Johnson of the National Park Service.

Jared Edwards represents the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality on the board.

For more information, visit the USACE Buxton FUDS webpage. Questions can be emailed to CESAS-FUDS@usace.army.mil.

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