Two Former Defense Sites
| Submitted | May 23, 2018 |
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Communications
From: Lee O'Connor
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Reports, documents, or photos held by Grant County Health District related to abandoned Titan I missile bases in central Washington, including two bases in Grant County:
SITE "B" WARDEN
Known in the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP)- Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program as
Property Name: LARSON AFB TITAN MISSILE FACILITY S-2
Property Number: F10WA035000
Site Number: Unknown
City: Warden
County: Grant County
State: WA
Category: Unknown
Division: Unknown
District: Unknown
A site visit was made on July 24, 2008, by Todd Phillips of Grant County Health District.
SITE "C" ROYAL CITY
Known in the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP)- Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program as
Property Name: LARSON AFB TITAN I MISSILE FACILITY S-3
Property Number: F10WA0351
Site Number: 01
City: Royal City
County: Grant County
State: WA
Category: HTRW
Division: NWD
District: NWK
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Lee O'Connor
From: Grant County Health District
Attached is a Public Request form, Please fill out the form and return to us.
Mary Castro
Public Health Associate II
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 11 * mcastro@granthealth.org<mailto:mcastro@granthealth.org> * FAX: 509-766-6519 * granthealth.org [facebook1] <https://www.facebook.com/GCHD.WA> [Twitter1] <https://twitter.com/GCHD_WA>
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From: Lee O'Connor
Dear Ms. Castro,
Thank you for your message. I have filled out and electronically signed the Public Request form that you sent to me and I have attached it to this message. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to aid you in fulfilling my request for records related to the Titan I missile bases in central Washington.
Lee O'Connor
From: Grant County Health District
Good morning Lee,
We are diligently researching your request. Due to the scope of your request, it will take a bit longer than the 5 days normally allotted for a request. We should be able to complete your request by the end of this week.
Thank you for your understanding.
Jon Ness, RS
Environmental Public Health Manager
1038 W Ivy St
Moses Lake WA 98837
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 26 * jness@granthealth.org<mailto:email@granthealth.org> * FAX: 509-766-6519 * granthealth.org
[cid:image005.jpg@01D3FCA9.B9839FC0][standard-color.gif]Always working for a safer and healthier Grant County
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail message and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited and may be a violation of law. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this message to an intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
This e-mail may be considered subject to the Public Records Act and as such may be disclosed by Grant County Health District to a third-party requestor.
From: Grant County Health District
Good Morning,
Just wanted to let you know that I am working on your public request. I did find some information and I am looking at other files to see what we have as far as any complaints to this property. This request might take a little longer since it a big file. I will try to have it to you by today and if not maybe in the next day or 2.
Mary Castro
Public Health Associate II
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 11 * mcastro@granthealth.org<mailto:mcastro@granthealth.org> * FAX: 509-766-6519 * granthealth.org [facebook1] <https://www.facebook.com/GCHD.WA> [Twitter1] <https://twitter.com/GCHD_WA>
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From: Lee O'Connor
Good morning, Mary,
Thank you for your assistance. I am interested in learning about the history of the Titan missile bases in central Washington and I appreciate your help looking for records among your files that might help tell the story of the bases. I have researched the construction and operation of the bases and now I am looking for information about what has happened to the bases since the Air Force abandoned them.
Lee O'Connor
Lee O'Connor is author of Take Cover, Spokane: A History of Backyard Bunkers, Basement Hideaways, and Public Fallout Shelters of the Cold War available at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, and on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. He graduated from Sammamish High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in documentary filmmaking and history at the Evergreen State College, and completed a master’s degree in history at Washington State University. During his tenure as a cultural resources specialist with the King County, Washington, Historic Preservation Program he surveyed barns in May Valley and mid-century modern houses in Kenmore. In 2015, he worked with pioneering Spokane-area documentarian Robert L. Pryor to help preserve Pryor's four films of the 1960s and 1970s and share them on YouTube with the expertise of Jeff Tillotson at Lightpress in Seattle who transferred the 16mm films to a digital format. O'Connor currently lives in Seattle where he is writing a book about abandoned underground missile silos in the Columbia Basin, and working on a documentary film based on his book Take Cover, Spokane. His films on YouTube include Colman Pool: From Segregation to Integration, 1941-44 (3:46), Seattle In Time Lapse (3:35), and Snoqualmie Tunnel: A Hike Through Railroad History (2:31). The Washington State Historical Society published a chapter from Take Cover, Spokane, in the spring 2016 issue of their magazine Columbia available at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma and the historical society website.
From: Grant County Health District
Good afternoon,
Would you happen to have and address or parcel # for this location? The information I have found is very limited and I would like to see if I can find more information if I have an address or parcel #.
Mary Castro
Public Health Associate II
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 11 • mcastro@granthealth.org<mailto:mcastro@granthealth.org> • FAX: 509-766-6519 • granthealth.org [facebook1] <https://www.facebook.com/GCHD.WA> [Twitter1] <https://twitter.com/GCHD_WA>
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From: Lee O'Connor
Good afternoon, Mary,
Thank you for your help looking for information about these missile bases.
For the Warden site, the two parcels are 181116000 (the bulk of the property) and 181117001 (a smaller chunk out of the old missile base).
For the Royal City missile base, the parcel is 150894000.
Lee
From: Grant County Health District
Good Morning,
I found a file that talks about some of the history (Nitrate Level Study -1984), but I was looking at your request and you mentioned that there was a site visit made on July 24, 2008, by Todd Phillips. I have gone threw our records and cannot find anything on this visit. Would you happen to have something that can help me look into it?
Mary Castro
Public Health Associate II
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 11 • mcastro@granthealth.org<mailto:mcastro@granthealth.org> • FAX: 509-766-6519 • granthealth.org [facebook1] <https://www.facebook.com/GCHD.WA> [Twitter1] <https://twitter.com/GCHD_WA>
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From: Lee O'Connor
Hi Mary,
Thank you for digging. The Todd Phillips visit is mentioned in Washington State Department of Ecology, “Site Hazard Assessment, Recommendation for No Further Action, FUDS Larson Titan S2, 101 Rd 10 SE, Warden, Grant, WA 99201, Ecology Facility Site ID No. 78312864,” 14 August 2008.
Lee
From: Grant County Health District
Good morning,
This is what I was able to find on our files. Hope this helps in learning more about the site. If there is anything else I can do, please let me know.
Have a great day,
Mary Castro
Public Health Associate III
Phone: 509-766-7960 ext 11 • mcastro@granthealth.org<mailto:mcastro@granthealth.org> • FAX: 509-766-6519 • granthealth.org [facebook1] <https://www.facebook.com/GCHD.WA> [Twitter1] <https://twitter.com/GCHD_WA>
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From: Lee O'Connor
Hi Mary
Thanks so much for your help with this request! I appreciate your work putting together all of these pages. I will enjoy reading through them.
Sincerely,
Lee O'Connor
Files
pages