Camp Hero Formerly Used Defense Site — Final Decision Document
In October 2022 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its Final Decision Document for the Camp Hero Formerly Used Defense Site at Montauk Point, New York. The Army Corps determined No Further Action was required, meaning contamination at the site did not present actionable risk to human health or the ecological environment under CERCLA standards.
The document formally confirms the existence of underground bunkers, specifically Battery 112, Battery 113, and Battery 216. Battery 113 held two 16-inch casemated guns. Battery 112 included a plotting room. The FPS-35 Radar Tower is confirmed as listed on the National Register of Historic Places and noted as sealed and restricted from park visitors.
Two areas of the site, designated Areas H and K, are explicitly excluded from this investigation. The document states they are military munitions sites that will undergo separate CERCLA investigation on a different timeline. Ordnance and explosive material was removed from Area H and part of Area K in 2003. The remainder of those areas remains under separate active investigation.
The document formally identifies: Battery 112 (underground bunker with plotting room), Battery 113 (underground bunker with two 16-inch casemated guns and ammunition storage), Battery 216 (two 6-inch shielded guns with mechanical power room and powder room), the FPS-35 Radar Tower and Antenna (Building 201, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sealed and restricted), and two buildings converted to active state park use.
The document confirms that buildings and bunkers on the site have been sealed. Some portions may be accessible to trespassers. Areas H and K are excluded from this investigation under separate CERCLA process. The No Further Action determination covers the 18 Decision Units investigated only.
DOCUMENT: Final Decision Document, Camp Hero Formerly Used Defense Site, Montauk, New York. FUDS Project Number C02NY002403.
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District. DATE: October 2022. SIGNED BY: Reinhard W. Koenig, P.E., SES, Programs Director, North Atlantic Division.
PUBLIC REPOSITORY: Montauk Public Library, 871 Montauk Highway, Montauk, NY 11954.
The Camp Hero Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS), also referred to as "The Site", is a 461-acre New York State Park (Camp Hero State Park) located at the eastern end of Long Island at Montauk Point, in Montauk, New York (NY). The Site is currently owned by NY State (NYS) and operated by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP).
The selected remedy for the Site is No Further Action (NFA) based on the results of the Remedial Investigation (RI) completed in 2019 and the subsequent RI Addendum completed in 2022, which determined that there was no actionable risk to human or ecological receptors.
Signed: REINHARD W. KOENIG, P.E., SES — Programs Director, North Atlantic Division
The Camp Hero FUDS is a 461-acre site located at the eastern end of Long Island at Montauk Point, in Montauk, NY. The Site is currently owned by NYS and operated as Camp Hero State Park by the NYSOPRHP. The Park is bound by Montauk Highway (Route 27) to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Montauk Point State Park to the east, and an undeveloped sanctuary area to the west.
It should be noted that this DD excludes Areas H and K of Camp Hero, which are military munitions sites that will undergo CERCLA investigation on a different timeline. The Camp Hero FUDS includes abandoned infrastructure from the FUDS activities, such as buildings, bunkers, water well enclosures, and a radio tower. Two FUDS buildings have been converted into active NYS Park infrastructure: vehicle maintenance and park officer residence buildings.
The former Camp Hero was established in early 1942 as a Coastal Defense Installation to defend the approaches to NY and was named in honor of Major General Andrew Hero. Three self-sufficient batteries (Battery 112, 113, and 216) and supporting facilities were constructed and included barracks, mess halls, hospital facilities, a motor repair shop, a recreation facility, sentry boxes, and water supply and sewage facilities. A total of 600 enlisted men and 37 officers were stationed at Camp Hero.
Battery 216 contained two 6-inch shielded guns, a mechanical power room, and powder room for storage of ammunition and powder charges. Battery 113 consisted of two 16-inch casemated guns, and battle allowances of ammunition and powder charges were stored within the battery.
Since 2000, the USACE has been conducting various OE investigations in Areas H and K, which are excluded from this DD. However, for reference, ordnance explosive and non-ordnance scrap was removed from Area H and part of Area K in 2003.
The conclusions of the RI Addendum were: (1) Metals with relatively high results are naturally occurring and non-hazardous CERCLA constituents. (2) The remaining constituents were detected at low concentrations with mostly spatial distribution throughout onsite and offsite wells. (3) Determining if the source of detected constituents is from DoD activities is difficult to determine due to 40 or more years of elapsed time since Camp Hero FUDS was operational. (4) None of the detected constituents presented actionable risk. Thus, the NFA determination remained appropriate for Camp Hero under CERCLA.
The former Camp Hero is located on the eastern tip of Long Island, known locally as the South Fork, within Suffolk County, NY, approximately 5 miles east of the village of Montauk. The Park currently contains hiking trails and roadways leading to former military buildings, picnic areas, and recreational areas. One former military building, the Fixed-Pulse Radar Surveillance (FPS)-35 Radar Tower and Antenna (Radar Tower), is listed under the NRHP. However, the FPS-35 Radar Tower is sealed and in a restricted area from park visitors. The Park property is fenced, and the inactive buildings and bunkers have been sealed; however, some portions of these areas may be accessible to trespassers.
Based on the results of the Remedial Investigation and RI Addendum, no unacceptable human health or ecological risks were identified at Camp Hero FUDS.
The selected remedy for the Camp Hero FUDS is No Further Action. This determination is based on the results of the RI completed in 2019 and the RI Addendum completed in 2022, which found no actionable risk to human health or ecological receptors from contamination attributable to former DoD activities at the site.
The Final Decision Document explicitly excludes Areas H and K from its No Further Action determination. These are identified as military munitions sites subject to separate CERCLA investigation. The nature and timeline of that separate investigation are not specified in this document.
The investigation noted that determining the source of detected contaminants is difficult because more than 40 years have elapsed since the site was operational. The document does not address what activities occurred at the site during its operational period beyond its roles as a coastal defense installation and radar station.
One commenter at the October 2019 public meeting stated that a development of 27 families in the vicinity had an abnormal rate of cancer. The Army Corps response addressed the technical findings of the human health risk assessment while noting that testing of private residential wells adjacent to the site was outside the scope of this investigation.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District. Final Decision Document, Camp Hero Formerly Used Defense Site, Montauk, New York. FUDS Project Number C02NY002403. October 2022. Signed by Reinhard W. Koenig, P.E., SES, Programs Director, North Atlantic Division.
Source PDF: NYSDEC — Final Signed Decision Document HW.152231 →
NOTE: This is a public record produced under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program. It is not classified.
Areas H and K are excluded from this investigation. The Army Corps document states they will undergo separate CERCLA investigation on a different timeline. That separate investigation has produced no public record. The Interference series is built on a recurring structural fact: the document that would answer the question is the one that does not exist. Camp Hero is one of several sites in the public record where the government has formally confirmed what it investigated and formally declined to address what it did not.
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The fiction begins exactly where the public record stops answering questions.
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