Letterkenny Army Depot's Property Disposal Office Area sits five miles north of Chambersburg in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The Army has operated the 19,243-acre facility since 1942, using it for ammunition storage, vehicle and missile testing, chemical and petroleum storage, and ammunition demilitarization. Those decades of activity left soil, groundwater, sediment, and surface water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals, and pesticides. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List on March 22, 1989.
More than 80 contaminants of concern have been identified across the site. VOCs such as trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene show up in groundwater and soil. Heavy metals including lead, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, and beryllium are present in groundwater. PCBs have been found in fish tissue and sediment at Rocky Spring. Pesticides including chlordane and heptachlor, as well as benzene, toluene, and various metals, round out the contamination picture. Groundwater is the most widely affected medium, but soil, sediment, and surface water are also involved across the site's 13 operable units.
The Army leads cleanup under a 1989 Federal Facilities Agreement with EPA and Pennsylvania. Completed actions include groundwater and surface water work, PCB cleanup at Rocky Spring, landfill remediation, and work on Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) parcels. At the Oil Burn Pit area, chemical oxidation in the late 1990s cut VOC levels significantly but fell short of cleanup goals, leading to a 2019 remedy that adds thermal electrical resistance heating and land use controls. Rocky Spring has fishing bans, soil and sediment removals, and land use restrictions in place to limit exposure to PCB contamination. Work on PDO groundwater and lead soils is expected to finish between December 2026 and February 2027. An investigation into per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including PFOA and PFOS, began in April 2017 and has no decision document yet.
Current performance measures show that human exposure is under control. Groundwater migration, however, is not yet stabilized, and physical construction of the cleanup is not complete. The most recent five-year review was completed in March 2022, and the next review is scheduled for March 2027.
Community members can follow the cleanup through public comment periods advertised in the Chambersburg Public Opinion and Shippensburg News-Chronicle newspapers. The Administrative Record is available in person at 1 Overcash Avenue, Chambersburg, PA 17201, and the Army's Public Affairs Office can answer general questions. EPA also has a Community Involvement Coordinator available for residents who want to stay engaged.
