[CPEO-MEF] Longtime first-time. Working on a project about Westover air force, Chicopee MA

[Jon Gerhardson]

P.s. dear mod

Should you approve my email  can you please make the following copyedit
before sending it off:

"couple of services with the base environmental engineer."

Should be "couple of CONVERSATIONS with the base environmental engineer."

Typed on my phone and I missed that autocorrect

Thanks



On Fri, May 3, 2024, 9:17 PM Jon Gerhardson <jon.gerhardson at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi CPEO list recipients,
>
> My name is Jonathan Gerhardson. I'm working on a research project about
> the environmental impacts of Westover AFB/ARB/AFRB (they've switched it up
> a few times over the years). It's in western Massachusetts fairly close to
> Barnes airfield used by the Air National Guard.
>
> *Tldr* if you are familiar with Westover and have information you think
> might be useful to me or would just like to chat please reach out. My email
> is jon dot lastname at the email provider owned by Alphabet Inc, or
> alternatively the same email at proton.me if you prefer to communicate
> that way.
>
> ---
> Here's  short history of the base which largely predates my birth, and I
> am writing off the top of my head, so please don't cite any dates without
> fact checking first.
>
> Westover was opened in 1948, with construction begun in anticipation of
> WWII. Between the end of the war and 1978 it was the largest strategic air
> command on the east coast, complete with round the clock nuclear strike
> capability and a bunker [0] tunneled into the nearby Mt. Holyoke range,
> which is now used as facilities storage for the  5 Colleges" (Amherst, Mt.
> Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, UMass).
>
> Starting in 1978 it was primarily used by the 439th squadron who flew
> primarily cargo missions in C-130s. These were replaced by C-5s around
> 1989.
>
> Anyways, in cooperation with former local grassroots initiative that
> advocated for the cleanup of hazardous materials (whose work led to the
> formation of a RAG in I believe 1995 that is no longer active AFIK.[1]) I
> have been given access to a bunch of documents from their activities. Some
> of which I had no reason to think had not been otherwise lost forever,
> until Lenny Siegel helpfully pointed me towards [
> https://ar.afcec-cloud.af.mil/Search] a site which may be mundane to you
> all, but it was the first I've heard of it despite a FOIA and a couple of
> services with the base environmental engineer.
>
> I live very close to Westover, and  earlier today was taking a walk
> through the woods behind a nearby  park.
>
> These woods contain a stream informally called "Willamansett creek" and
> Westover has an NDPES permit that discharges into this body of water
> upstream from the park.
>
>  I noticed that some of the very sandy earth  there [2] had eroded
> exposing several concrete pipes. I do not know if it means anything or not.
> But maybe it does and one of you do. I've also attached a picture of a soon
> to bloom lady slipper orchid  (cypripedium *thepinkoneusiumen*) located a
> few hundred yards uphill from this pipe as an apology in case the pipe
> things a nothingburger and not worth investigating.
>
> 0.
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Attack_Command_and_Control_System_Facility,_Hadley
>
> 1. http://isis.hampshire.edu/mil/westover.html
>
> 2.
> https://www.masslive.com/living/2012/02/stephen_jendrysik_roberts_pond_floods_date_back_generations.html
>
> Thanks for reading!
>
> Best,
> Jonathan Gerhardson
>
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