10 High, Medium Risk Hazardous DOD Sites In RI.: ProPublica

Rhode Island has 54 properties or installations currently or formerly owned by the Department of Defense that have at least one hazardous site, and 20 of these installations have at least one high- or medium-risk hazardous site, according to data released from the DOD that was acquired and published by ProPublica.

According to ProPublica, which has been documenting toxic pollution left behind by the military across the country, there are more than 40,000 such hazardous sites polluted by U.S. military operations.

Through its reporting, ProPublica found that many of these sites have extensive groundwater and soil pollution or present a risk of exploding bombs and munitions. Some of these sites are part of old facilities that may not be known locally even though a risk of exposure to contaminants may still be present. ProPublica also notes that contamination could affect an area much larger than the site itself.

According to ProPublica, past and estimated future costs of hazardous sites cleanup in Rhode Island is $462 million.

You can click here to see all Massachusetts installations with at least one hazardous site broken down by county.

The installations in Rhode Island with at least one high- or medium-risk site are:

• Newport NETC
• Quonset Point NAS
• Lincoln AMSA 68
• Gould Island NUSC
• Blue Beach
• Nike PR-79
• Naval Aux Landing Field
• Fort Nathaniel Greene
• Sachuest PT-Nport NCM
• Rose ISL

ProPublica explains in its methodology that it classified entire installations as high risk even if it contained one high risk site. A site is either assigned a relative risk of high, medium or low or a priority level of 1 through 8. ProPublica simplified that into one risk level and confirmed their assessment with the DOD.

Some sites are marked as "response complete," meaning the DOD cleanup actions are complete but that doesn't mean there is no longer a hazard. According to ProPublica, this may mean sites are simply fenced off to the public or the DOD determined no cleanup was required by law.