Unalaska, AK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is investigating two Aleutian Islands for contaminants left over from World War II. Tanaga and Ogliuga were both used as auxiliary airfields for the Navy from 1943 to 1945 because of their close proximity to Adak. They both had runways, housing, and other facilities. Formerly Used Defense Site project manager Richard Ragle said they are some of the best preserved WWII sites in the Aleutians and his crew will protect the sites while making the area safe.

The military "pretty much left the site as it was. There's a Quonset hut still on site that still has dishes on the table and the bunks are still in place. The wardrobes are still there. They left all their equipment behind. They left all their graters and dozers and dump trucks and their fuel trucks," he said.

The Corps is working with the environmental services company AECom to test the two islands for soil and water contaminated with petroleum, PCBs and other pollutants. They already removed most contained contaminants, like barrels, batteries, and PCB transformers in 2007 and 2008. Ragle said the $7.3 million project will help protect birds, marine mammals, and other wildlife from potential contaminants.

"Both Tanaga and Ogliuga are part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge which is managed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife and they're both bird sanctuaries."

The project was put off so long because of the cost of working in the Aleutians. They are spending $1.1 million on tug and barge services alone to move more than a million pounds of equipment. They'll use about 90,000 gallons of fuel as well for the 32 day long project with a 35- to 39-person team.

To prepare for the investigation, the Corps consulted old photos of the islands to show probable locations of munitions and contaminants.

"For these remote island sites out in the Aleutians where we want to limit the amount of time we spend and limit the amount of times we go back to an island, having that information in hand to start with helps save us time and money in our clean-ups," Ragle said.

They're also using new technologies to make the work go faster. They'll use electromagnetic rays to see where munitions are, so they can detonate them on site. Instead of digging holes to get soil samples to test for petroleum, they'll use a UV Optical Screening Tool. It uses a UV laser to take instantaneous readings of the soil. This technology has been in use for about three years.

Special plastic poles, called darts, will be driven into the ground and over a week or so they absorb any contaminants. Looking at them with black lights shows if petroleum is in the soil. Sending them to a lab can show PCBs and tell how far down they go. It's an easier way to get a larger, deeper sample of the area, Ragle said, "but that's innovative, it hasn't bee tried. We're just trying to make things simpler and more cost effective."

The environmental investigation of the islands will end in August. Clean-ups, if necessary, will take place when funding is available in 2010 or 2012.