Community Relations Plan

Miami International Airport Community Relations Plan Preface .............................................................................................................. 1 Overview of the CRP ......................................................................................... 2 NCP Background ............................................................................................... 3 National Contingency Plan .............................................................................................................. 3 Government Oversight.................................................................................................................... 4 Site Description and History ............................................................................. 5 Site Description .............................................................................................................................. 5 Site History .................................................................................................................................... 5 Goals of the CRP ............................................................................................... 8 Community Relations Activities........................................................................ 9 Appendix A – Site Map .................................................................................... 10 Appendix B – Contact List............................................................................... 11 Federal Officials ........................................................................................................................... 11 State Officials............................................................................................................................... 12 State Senate ................................................................................................................................ 12 State House of Representatives..................................................................................................... 12 County Officials ............................................................................................................................ 13 MDAD Officials ............................................................................................................................. 13 Appendix C – Information Repositories ......................................................... 14 Appendix D – Current List of Responsible Parties.......................................... 18 MIA Community Relations Plan Ver. 2.0 – May 2001 Preface The Miami-Dade County Aviation Department (MDAD) has developed this Community Rela- tions Plan (CRP) for environmental response activities involving hazardous substance discharges at Miami International Airport (MIA). MDAD is conducting activities at this site under the requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 USC §§ 9601 et seq., and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR Part 300. The NCP was developed by the United States Envi- ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to CERCLA requirements. This CRP is designed to foster community involvement and facilitate communication between MDAD and interested community members. It reflects MDAD’s commitment to address the concerns of local residents, community groups, public officials, and other interested parties re- lated to the cleanup of hazardous substances at MIA. MIA Community Relations Plan Ver. 2.0 – May 2001 1 Overview of the CRP Throughout MIA’s history, military and industrial facilities at the airport have engaged in the cleaning, repair, maintenance and overhaul of airplanes, airplane parts and engines. Such opera- tions made use of a variety of chemicals including, but not limited to, chlorinated solvents, heavy metals, organic chemicals, acids and caustics, and petroleum products. Many of these materials are classified as hazardous substances under CERCLA. The use of these materials resulted in the generation of a variety of industrial wastes including, but not limited to, contaminated fuel and oil, spent solvents, paint stripping waste, etc. Unfortunately, some of these materials were acci- dentally released into the environment or, under accepted practices of the day, were discharged to the ground or to surface waters and ultimately made their way into the soil, groundwater and sediments at and around MIA. In cooperation with federal, state and local environmental authorities, MDAD has undertaken to clean up the portions of the environment affected by waste discharges at and around MIA. In so doing, MDAD has elected to conduct the cleanup of hazardous substances in accordance with the requirements of the NCP. One of the major requirements of the NCP is to provide an opportunity for community involvement in the cleanup process. This CRP will be used by MDAD as a guide to facilitate community involvement in the cleanup of MIA. MDAD recognizes that the community around MIA is diverse and may have a variety of concerns. The activities outlined in this CRP are intended to provide a mechanism for identi- fying and addressing those concerns. MDAD intends to keep community members informed about the progress of cleanup of hazardous substance discharges and to provide appropriate opportunity for public participation in the cleanup process. This CRP consists of five sections: • NCP Background: this section provides an overview of the NCP and the NCP cleanup process as well as the roles played by MDAD and state and county regulatory agencies. • Site Description and History: this section briefly describes the site and summarizes its history from 1938 through the present. • Goals of the CRP: this section lists the goals involving MDAD, residents, public officials and other interested parties. • Community Relations Activities: this section describes the activities that MDAD will conduct to achieve its community relations goals at MIA. • Appendices: Appendix A provides a map of the airport with the commonly used names of the different areas. Appendix B provides names, addresses and telephone numbers of federal, state and local officials and other interested parties. Appendix C provides addresses of the information repositories. Appendix D provides a current list of potentially responsible parties. This CRP draws on information from a variety of sources, including MDAD files, public meetings and community input. The Environmental Engineering Division of MDAD has lead respon- sibility for environmental response activities at MIA and will oversee the implementation of activities outlined in this CRP. MIA Community Relations Plan Ver. 2.0 – May 2001 2 NCP Background National Contingency Plan The National Contingency Plan (NCP) is a federal regulation that provides standards and proce- dures for responding to hazardous substance contamination. This regulation was enacted by EPA pursuant to CERCLA. Under CERCLA, if a party intends to seek recovery of the cost of cleaning up hazardous substance contamination from those parties actually responsible for the contamination (often referred to as “potentially responsible parties” [PRPs]), the cleanup must be performed in a manner that is “consistent” with the NCP. Cleanups will be considered to be consistent with the NCP if the actions are performed in “substantial compliance” with the NCP and result in “CERCLA-quality” cleanups. The NCP process involves several steps, which can be summarized as: assessment of the nature and extent of contamination; consideration of the potential risk that the contamination poses to human health or the environment; investigation of the alternatives available to address the contamination in a manner deemed acceptable by federal, state and local laws and regulations; se- lection of the most appropriate remedy; and implementation of the remedy. At various points along the way, the NCP requires that the party conducting the cleanup notify the community of, and offer the community an opportunity to comment on, the cleanup activities. The presence of numerous contamination locations at MIA complicates the process of managing the cleanup and providing information to interested members of the community. To help in this process, MDAD has developed this Community Relations Plan and has designated its Manager of Environmental Engineering, Mr. Pedro Hernandez, as its primary spokesperson. Among other things, Mr. Hernandez and his designees will be responsible for the following: • Responding to inquiries and providing information regarding releases at the site; • Informing the community of actions taken at the site; • Notifying immediately affected citizens, state and local officials, and, as appropriate, civil defense and emergency management officials of activities and releases at the site; • Conducting interviews with local officials, residents, public interest groups or other interested or affected parties, as appropriate, to determine their concerns, information needs, and how to involve them in the response process at MIA; • Revising, as necessary, the CRP based on the interviews and other relevant information; • Conducting public meetings, as necessary, to provide updates and to receive public input on significant response activities; • Maintaining a repository for documents and information pertinent to the response activities and providing for public access thereto; and • Utilizing the MDAD Environmental

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