Petroleum pipe left by a beach-side Navy base to be removed by Army Corps

BUXTON, N.C. (WAVY) — Plans are in the works to remove part of an old Navy base at Cape Hatteras Island, with the Army Corps of Engineers agreeing to sample some soil and remove the pipe that is reportedly leaking petroleum.

The site has been a source of pollution concerns for locals and vacationers.

Built in the 1950s, Naval Station Cape Hatteras is believed to be the first to detect a Soviet submarine. After being turned over to the National Park Service, their documents show the Army Corps agreed to remove all of what’s called Building 19. Those documents were shown at a recent Dare County Commission meeting. Decades of erosion after this mitigation project, it was revealed that parts of the foundation, cables and pipes are still there.

Even after the Corps removed thousands of tons of contaminated soil in the early 2000s, the petroleum persists today, according to the National Park Service.

On the same day of 10 On Your Side’s report about the pollution concerns, the Army Corps announced their plans to remove one of the pipes. They seek to definitively figure out if it is, in fact, the source of leaking petroleum. But they said they cannot take out the rest of the site.

“The infrastructure is not eligible under the FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Sites) program because it was not a risk when we turned it over to the NPS,” explained Sara Keisler, FUDS program manager with the Army Corps of Engineers. “It became a hazard after the fact. We’re responsible for removing hazards when we turn over the property, and it was not a hazard at that point.”

Keisler said the site was turned over in 1982. At that time, the Atlantic Ocean was much further away from Building 19. Much of the thick cables and foundational concrete, previously deemed not a hazard according to Keisler, are now exposed. The section of the beach is closed off for safety concerns.

So what is on the other side of the pipe? Keisler said they do not believe it’s a fuel tank, but rather, lines from a fuel distribution system. They did remove tanks from the site back when the contaminated soil was taken out.

“We are here to protect the human health and the environment,” Keisler said. “We have been working really hard with our partners such as the NPS and the regulators, and the Coast Guard who are all doing work at the site to find a way to make the site safe again.”

They expect to be awarded funds for the project by this September and hope to start work in late 2024 or early 2025.

Dave Hallac, Superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore for the National Park Service, told 10 On Your Side that getting the pipe removed is a good step forward. But he added, this is not the only source of suspected petroleum contamination. Further north along the beach, there are still patches of petroleum contaminated soil that need to be removed. He said simply removing the pipe would not make the site safe enough to reopen to the public. Hallac hopes the Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard and Navy continue to work together towards a solution.

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