Pursuant to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, Myrtle Beach AFB closed in March 1993. This EIS was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act to analyze the potential environmental consequences of the disposal of the base. Although disposal will create few direct impacts, reuse by others will create indirect impacts. The EIS analyzes the effects a range of reasonable foreseeable alternative reuses may have on the local community; including land use and aesthetics, transportation, utilities, hazardous materials/wastes, geology and soils, water resources, air quality, noise, biological resources, and cultural resources. Preservation covenants within the disposal document could eliminate or reduce any negative environmental effects to a non-adverse level. Because the Air Force is disposing of the property, some of the mitigation measures are beyond Air Force control. Remediation of Installation Restoration Program sites will continue to be the responsibility of the Air Force. jg.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) was promulgated to regulate the generation, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes. Simultaneous to the passage of RCRA, the Department of Defense (DOD) devised a Comprehensive Installation Restoration Program (IRP) to identify, report and correct potential environmental deficiencies that could result in ground-water contamination and probable migration of contaminants beyond DOD installation boundaries. The IRP has been developed as a three phase program: Phase I - Problem Identification/Records Search; Phase II - Problem Confirmation and Quantification; and Phase III - Corrective Action. Engineering-Science (ES) was contracted to conduct Phase I of the IRP for Myrtle Beach Air Force Base (AFB). The on-site portion of Phase I was performed at Myrtle Beach AFB June 29 through July 2, 1981. During this period formal interviews were conducted with key base personnel familiar with past waste disposal practices, and file searches were performed for identified facilities which have generated, handled, transported, and disposed of waste materials. (Author).