United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
FEDERAL FACILITIES RESTORATION AND REUSE OFFICE
Closed Defense Depot Transformed into Major Industrial
Park; Provides Jobs and Services for Area Community
Memphis Defense Depot, Memphis, TN
Entrance to Memphis Depot Business Park
For decades the Former Memphis Defense Depot was an integral part of the US military's logistics
network as well as a source of jobs for the greater southeast Memphis community. Today, the former
depot is a model of base closure and redevelopment as it has been redeveloped into an active and
successful industrial business park serving the surrounding community.
Building at the Memphis Depot Business Park
The Memphis Defense Depot (the Depot) is a
642-acre property just inside the Memphis City
limits in Shelby County, Tennessee. Constructed
in 1942, the Depot was an integral part of the
Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) whose job
was to provide material support to U.S. military
services. Logistics Depots support the military by
procuring, managing, storing, and distributing
almost every consumable item the military
needs to operate. In addition to providing
material support, the Depot collected and
stored a number of hazardous substances. Many
hazardous substances were stored at Dunn
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Field so that they would remain in a controlled
environment and under the supervision of the
DLA.
In 1989, local utility companies closed three
drinking wells due to contamination. This led to
a larger facility investigation in 1990 by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under
the auspices of the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA). Subsequently the
Depot was placed on the National Priorities List
(NPL) in 1992 and scheduled for cleanup under
the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). In
the initial testing, a number of contaminants
were found in soil on the property including,
pentachlorophenol, PCB's, heavy metals, and
disposed chemical warfare materials.
The Depot entered into a Federal Facilities
Agreement (FFA) with the Department of
Defense, EPA, and the Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation (TDEC) in March
1995. The three agencies worked together to
comply with CERCLA standards and ensure a
swift clean up process. By July of the same year,
the Depot was scheduled to be closed under
the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
Act. BRAC is a process by which former military
installations are closed and the property is then
transferred to the local municipality or private
enterprise. To oversee this process, the BRAC
Cleanup Team (BCT) was formed and included
representatives from the DLA, EPA, and TDEC.
Environmental remediation activities at the former Memphis Defense Depot facility
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At the beginning of the remediation process,
the Depot was divided into two work areas,
the Main Installation and Dunn Field. Dunn Field
was a 60-acre disposal site on the property
while the Main Installation included all other
buildings and property. Between 1998 and
2001, work was done on the Main Installation
to remove contaminated soil. As a result, the
Main Installation now only requires ground
water treatment for chlorinated volatile organic
compounds (CVOCs), monitored natural
attenuation (MNA) for low-concentration
plume areas, and land use controls. Dunn
Field, while much smaller, had higher levels
of contamination. To remediate the area,
contents of pits and burial trenches used to store
chemical warfare agents were disposed of off-
site, soil vapor extraction (SVE) was conducted
in unsaturated subsurface soils, and ground
water was treated with zero-valent iron (ZVI) to
address CVOC contamination. Throughout the
cleanup process, over 1,300 pounds of VOCs
were removed from Dunn Field. Like the Main
Installation, there will be ongoing monitoring of
ground water contamination at Dunn Field.
To engage the community and ensure
involvement with the remediation of the Depot,
a Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) made up
by members of the community was created.
Twice a year the RAB would meet to review
the progress and plans for redevelopment. In
addition, the remediation team published a
semiannual newsletter called EnviroNews to
share cleanup status and project progress with
the community. The RAB worked with the City of
Memphis and the Shelby County Government to
encourage economic growth and jobs.
The Depot is now home to distribution centers
for large international companies like FedEx and
United Parcel Service (UPS), providing over 1,300
jobs for local residents. Turpin Ballard from EPA
New buildings at the Memphis Depot
Business Park
Region 4 was the Remedial Project Manager
for the site and states, "The strategic location
near the interstate and airport make it a highly
desirable place to be. We are glad that the
combined environmental efforts of the State,
DoD, and EPA, along with the highly effective
way in which the Depot Redevelopment
Corporation upgraded the infrastructure and
marketed the Memphis Depot Business Park,
have ultimately replaced the jobs lost at the
time the facility closed." Over 400 acres of
the property were transferred to the Depot
Redevelopment Corporation (MDRC) who now
oversees the industrial park, the Memphis Depot
Business Park. The MDRC's mission is to attract
businesses to the Depot and create economic
growth in the area.
The Depot has attracted a great deal of
business due to economic incentives, over 5.5
million square feet of warehouse space, and its
proximity to interstates 240 and 55, rail yards, and
the Memphis International Airport. To encourage
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economic development, Shelby County, the
Tennessee Department of Economic and
Community Development, the City of Memphis,
the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the
Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division all offer
incentives to bring business to the former Depot.
Some of these programs include; franchise jobs
tax credits, gas and electric use discounts, and
Payment-ln-Lieu-Of-Tax (PILOT) programs.
The property has also been put to use by the City
of Memphis, who built a light rail maintenance
facility that will also help link the transit system
to the airport. The City of Memphis transferred
property and houses to Alpha Omega, a not
for profit organization that helps physically
disabled, mentally ill, and homeless veterans.
The new property provides housing to over 25
veterans and greatly increases the ability for
Alpha Omega to serve veterans. Before its close,
the Depot had a golf course that has now been
restored and is run by Memphis Athletic Ministries
and The First Tee of Memphis Organization. The
First Tee of Memphis is an organization run by the
Mid-South Junior Golf Association and strives to
teach young people the game of golf and the
importance of hard work, character, community
involvement, and self-esteem.
By uniting government organizations like the
DoD and EPA with smaller state and local
organizations like the City of Memphis and Alpha
Omega, the remediated Memphis Defense
Depot was able to provide jobs and services
to the citizens of Memphis. The Depot is still
developing and will serve the City of Memphis
for years to come.
Ongoing groundwater monitoring
For more information, call or write:
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Office of Solid Waste ar}d Emergency Response
Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Mail Code: 5106P
Washington, DC 20460-0001
Phone: (703) 603-0048
www.epa.gov/fedfac
Visit the FFRRO Web site for more information about federal facility cleanups, including success stories,
descriptions of new initiatives, policy and guidance documents, and our newsletter.
EPA-505-F-09-004 August 2009
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