A heavy haze enveloped downtown Naples, Italy, on Friday morning, an environmental concern that prompted city officials to enact its anti-smog countermeasure and limit vehicular traffic from the city center from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. U.S. Navy officials will conduct several environmental studies, including air, water and soil monitoring, to determine if living in Naples is hazardous to servicemembers, employees and their families. (Sandra Jontz/ Stars and Stripes)
NAPLES, Italy — Air-monitoring sensors promised to be up and running in February at the U.S. Navy base in Gricignano are weeks from arriving, officials said last week.
At a Feb. 8 “all hands” meeting, Rear Adm. Michael Groothousen told sailors to look for air-monitoring stations on the support site within seven to 10 days.
More than 20 days later, they’re still not there.
The Agenzia Regionale Protezione Ambientale Campania, the Italian equivalent to the Environmental Protection Agency, offered in early February to place a monitoring station on the base, but could not proceed without an official request from the Navy, said Guiseppe D’Antonio, the agency’s air quality director.
Agency officials had met in early February with U.S. Navy representatives, both from the Naples base and a specialized team of environmental experts visiting from the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center in Virginia. The team is conducting short- and long-term analyses, scrutinizing air, water, soil and food, to determine if military assignments to Naples jeopardize members’ health.
After hashing over logistics — such as whether the base could supply ARPAC with 220-volt power — the Navy faxed an official request Feb. 19, said Lt. Cmdr. Wendy Snyder, a spokeswoman with Navy Region Europe.
“The air-monitoring station planned with the Italians will be set up approximately two to three weeks from Feb. 19,” she said Thursday.
The one station, not multiple as previously reported by the Navy, is a network of sensors mounted to a van, so it can be mobile, if necessary, D’Antonio said. The station should be on the base for roughly a week, but the duration will depend on data collection, and if anything impedes that, such as foul weather, he said.
U.S. and Italian engineers plan a site visit on the Navy base at Gricignano to determine where the station will be placed, though tentatively, it could be set up near the hospital, Snyder said.
Environmental contractor to test health risks
NAPLES, Italy — U.S. Navy officials tapped a stateside environmental contractor to carry out environmental sampling to see if living in Naples is a health hazard.
On Thursday, the Navy added what it calls a “task order” to an existing contract held by the company Tetra Tech, said Ken Isaac, Navy Region Europe environmental manager. Under the long-term contract with Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Tetra Tech performs a number of remediation and containment jobs on bases in the States, Isaac said.
Tetra Tech NUS Inc., a subsidiary of Tetra Tech based in Pittsburgh, will perform the environmental testing, screening and some analysis work in the Naples area.
“They’re working to clean up sites where oil or fuel has been spilled, for example, or toxic chemicals released,” Isaac said.
According to the company’s Web site, Tetra Tech NUS’s expertise includes air quality, regulatory compliance, remediation, environmental analysis and planning, radioactive and hazardous waste management.
The task order is worth $2.9 million, Navy officials said.
“We wanted to award it in support of the health evaluation … and wanted to choose the best contractor based on capabilities to do the entire effort,” Isaac said.
On Feb. 13, Capt. Floyd Hehe, commander of Naval Support Activity Naples, told residents at a town hall meeting that the Navy would seek an independent contractor to conduct the surveys. Their work would complement a specialized team of environmental experts from the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, which is conducting short- and long-term analyses in Naples.
— Sandra Jontz
