The newly formed restoration advisory board for the Buxton Naval Facility Formerly Used Defense Site will meet for the first time Thursday, April 10, at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club in Buxton.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open the doors at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting is from 6:30-8 p.m. The last 15 minutes of the meeting have been reserved for questions. Officials encourage the public to submit questions before the meeting to Cesas-FUDS@usace.army.mil.
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The advisory group is expected to review and approve operating procedures, elect the community co-chair and receive an update on the current Buxton Naval Facility restoration projects.
While the stakeholder advisory group, which was selected March 25, does not make decisions, it allows community members to be part of the environmental restoration process and influence cleanup decisions.
The Buxton Naval Facility Formerly Used Defense Sites, or FUDS, property was used by the U.S. Navy as a submarine monitoring station under a special permit from the National Park Service from 1956 to 1982. The U.S. Coast Guard then used the property until 2010, when it was returned to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The National Park Service in September 2023 alerted the Corps that organic material with a petroleum odor had washed up on the beach during a storm surge related to Hurricane Idalia.
The following year, there were “reports of petroleum, sheen, and odors at the property were sporadic and limited to a three-tenths of a mile section of beach,” and in early 2024, remnants of military infrastructure was exposed after an erosion event, according to the Corps.
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The Army Corps said in a release this week that it is working to remove visible petroleum-impacted soil and sample soils along the beach and dunes that have exhibited odors and sheen. Future action includes soil and groundwater sampling within the project area to determine the nature and extent of petroleum contamination.
For more information, visit Buxton Naval Facility (army.mil), or email Cesas-FUDS@usace.army.mil.
