Malta Rocket Fuel Area
A Superfund site located in New York
History
The Malta Rocket Fuel Area superfund site's history begins with the World War II era when production began for materials that would be used for war.
The story begins in 1945, when engineers from General Electric Co.'s Schenectady plant built the first gantries to test rocket and jet fuel. They worked with German scientists captured at the close of World War II, and helped develop the liquid fuels for some of America's first intercontinental ballistic missiles and space rockets. - Times Union
An example of a gantry
After some time passed, some workers from the General Electric Co. Schenectady plant went on to form a group called Wright-Malta Corp. This group began doing tests at the site in the 1990s. Their tests centered around focusing on the most effective charges to use in weapons such as tank guns.
An example of a tank gun
The site had special buildings and structures in the middle of a major forest that acted as a buffer between the rural/residential areas and the testing area. The work at Malta helped NASA and the military advance various parts of the aerospace industry.
Under Project Hermes engineers worked on designing better rocket engines which ran on alcohol and oxidizer. Their goal was to develop long range guided missiles. Rocket engineers, control engineers, mechanical engineers and Gas Turbine division worked together on the site to advance technology including rocket guidance. Their work ended up benefiting aircraft and the space program later on.
An engineer working on the first stage of Vanguard engines at Malta.
Malta's town history website describes the superfund site: "During the 1940s and 1950s, this same area was home to the Malta Rocket Test Station, where the rocket engines that carried America to the moon were first tested."
This description is appealing to many but it is naive. Their description leaves out the fact that test station was a superfund site.
Danger
Though the research and testing seems interesting, it came with a cost. All of the research and testing was not environmentally friendly and led to lots of natural disruption.
Operations at the site involved the use of hazardous substances. Investigations of soil, sludge, surface water, and groundwater at the site indicated the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Toxic Sites goes on to say that the population within a 2-mile radius of the site is around 12,000 people, including the Luther Forest housing development. The resident's water is supplied through the public system, which draws ground water from wells located 6,000 feet from the site.
Because the remains of the testing and research at the Malta site were so toxic, the water supply in surrounding areas is then compromised. Water that people near the site are drinking could have been dangerous, which led to the Malta Rocket Fuel Area becoming a recognized superfund site.
The people the site impacts.
EPA Involvement
In the summer of 1987, the Malta Rocket Fuel area officially became a superfund site. It was added to the National Priorities List on July 22, 1987
Between 1991 and 1994, a comprehensive remedial investigation (RI) was performed to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site, during which two buried compressed gas cylinders were found, decommissioned and removed; hundreds of empty, buried and crushed drums were dug up and removed; and several septic tanks, catch basins and dry wells were cleaned out.
- Later, a feasibility study (FS) to identify and evaluate cleanup alternatives was conducted.
Air Stripping process
To repair the site, the groundwater at the site was treated by air stripping and used as a drinking water supply for the Test Station until 2010, when operation of the air stripper was discontinued and the technology campus (including the Test Station) was connected to the Saratoga County water supply, which uses the Hudson River as its source.
To keep track of the progress at the site, the EPA conducted five-year reviews at the Malta Rocket Fuel Area site in September 1999, September 2004, August 2009, July 2014, and May 2019. Each of these reviews concluded that response actions at the site are in accordance with the remedy selected by EPA and that the cleanup remedy continues to be protective of human health and the environment.
The next five year review will take place in May 2024.
