AFSC News

Tinker achieves environmental milestone

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --   Tinker's Bldg. 9001 is the first facility in the U.S. Air Force to receive a Brownfields certificate on a former industrial site.

The environmental milestone was celebrated Oct. 16 in a ceremony held inside the building, which previously housed a General Motors automobile manufacturing plant. The observance was attended by Air Force officers, federal, state and county officials, and representatives of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

Steven A. Thompson, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, presented a "Certificate of No Action Necessary" to Col. Steven Bleymaier, 72nd Air Base Wing and Tinker installation commander, and to Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan.

The certificate releases the Air Force from liability for any potential residual contamination that might still exist at Bldg. 9001. The certificate acknowledges that "all liability issues have been addressed," Mr. Thompson said. "There are no liability concerns here anymore," echoed Amber Perry of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Division Six office in Dallas.

The 2.97 million square-foot building and its 430 acres of land were acquired by Oklahoma County and are leased to the Air Force through a public-private partnership, officials noted.

The property transfer almost fell through at the 11th hour when the issue of environmental liability for historical contamination was raised. The Oklahoma Brownfields Voluntary Redevelopment Program was identified as a way to resolve the liability issue. The Brownfields Certificate gives the Air Force and Oklahoma County a DEQ-authorized release of liability for historical contamination, and prohibits the EPA from pursuing Superfund actions on the property, as well.

"This certificate reflects the shared vision and teamwork between our local community, its leaders, the 72nd Air Base Wing Civil Engineering Directorate and the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex -- working hand-in-hand with state, federal and local agencies and government organizations to clean up, revitalize, and put this enormous industrial capacity back to work," Colonel Bleymaier said.

GM closed the plant in February 2006, creating a gaping hole in the regional economy until the Air Force signed for the facility more than two and one-half years later, in October 2008.

Today, about 1,600 employees work in Bldg. 9001. Approximately 60 percent of the building is occupied and more tenants are added regularly. In fact, "In just a few months, the space in which you are sitting will become an aircraft composite repair shop," Colonel Bleymaier told those attending the ceremony in the west wing of Bldg. 9001.
"Through the generosity of the people of Oklahoma, we were able to take an automobile plant and transform it into a state-of-the-art aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul facility," the colonel said. "What we're doing, step by step, is providing readiness for the warfighter."

In its new role, Bldg. 9001 now "helps provide for the common defense, which is the primary responsibility of our government," Mr. Thompson said.

Conversion of the former automobile plant into an aerospace facility has been so successful that an application will be submitted for an EPA Phoenix Award regarding the project, Mr. Thompson said.

Oklahoma County paid GM $55 million for the building and the land; Oklahoma County voters approved a $45 million bond issue in 2008 for the project, and the State of Oklahoma contributed the other $10 million, according to Gary Pence, a former Tinker employee who is senior manager of business development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. The Air Force bought a 10-year environmental insurance policy on the facility, and leases it from Oklahoma County for $1 per year, Mr. Pence said.
"Sometimes government just hits a home run," Mr. Thompson said.

At Tinker AFB, the Brownfields Certificate process started in December 2010 and was approved by the DEQ and the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners in June 2012.
Cleaning up and reinvesting in the property protects the environment, reduces economic blight, increases the local tax base, facilitates job growth, uses existing infrastructure and takes development pressure off undeveloped land.

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