St. Juliens Creek Annex (U.S. Navy)

Overview

St. Juliens Creek Annex is a 490-acre Navy facility in Chesapeake, Virginia, that has operated since 1849. Past activities included ordnance handling, degreasing, firefighter training, and chemical storage. Those operations left behind widespread contamination, and the site was added to the Superfund National Priorities List in July 2000. All ordnance activities have since stopped.

More than 100 chemical substances have been identified as contaminants of concern. The affected areas include two main landfill zones and a building location. Landfill B contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, and vinyl chloride in groundwater, surface water, soil, and sediment. Metals including lead, chromium, cadmium, copper, nickel, and zinc are also present there, along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pesticides such as DDT, dieldrin, and chlordane. Landfill D holds arsenic, iron, manganese, and chloroform. Site 21-Building 187 has groundwater contaminated with trichloroethene, vinyl chloride, and dichloroethene compounds. The Navy is also investigating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including PFOA and PFOS, linked to firefighting foam used at the site.

The Navy leads cleanup under a Federal Facilities Agreement signed in 2004 with the EPA and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The EPA has issued cleanup decisions for six areas. Three required no further action. The other three received active remedies including soil covers, excavation, chemical reduction, and groundwater monitoring. Landfill B involves the most complex work, with bioreactive walls, permeable reactive barriers, offsite disposal, and land-use restrictions. Physical construction across the site finished on July 7, 2016, and the site achieved sitewide ready for anticipated reuse status on September 21, 2016. The most recent five-year review was conducted on May 19, 2025. Three areas still require long-term groundwater monitoring, and groundwater migration control currently has insufficient data to confirm contaminant movement is fully in check. Human exposure is considered under control, with land-use restrictions preventing residential construction, daycares, schools, and playgrounds in restricted areas and blocking access to contaminated groundwater.

Community members can get involved through the site's Restoration Advisory Board (RAB). Site visits are held each May, and the annual RAB meeting takes place in November at Major Hilliard Library, 824 Old George Washington Highway North, Chesapeake, Virginia 23323. The RAB can be reached at 757-410-7078. The St. Juliens Creek Annex Community Involvement Plan from March 2020 provides further guidance. The Administrative Record for the site is available for public review at Major Hilliard Library or at the EPA Region III office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by appointment.