The Air Force announced Monday that, after more than two decades and $138 million spent, it has successfully cleaned up many of the potentially hazardous waste sites at the former Griffiss AFB, N.Y., near Rome. It said this is prompting the EPA to consider the removal of more than 2,900 of 3,552 acres of land that was formerly a part of Griffiss from the agency’s national priorities list for remediation. The base has been on the NPL since 1987. “This moment marks a high point for the base, the community, and the Air Force,” said Bob Moore, director of the Air Force Real Property Agency. He continued, “The remediation process takes time, money, and intense effort by everyone involved. When we’re able to return 2,900 acres to the community without environmental concerns, it makes it all worthwhile.” Griffiss is a former Strategic Air Command B-52 bomber base that closed in the late 1990s after being identified for closure during a BRAC round in 1993. The Air Force has used parts of the former base since then at times as a forward training location for the E-3 AWACS air surveillance and command and control aircraft.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.