Castle Air Force Base (CAFB) comprises 2,777 acres and is located in Atwater, California. Atwater is a city located in Merced County, California. ...

The installation originally was used as an aircrew training facility by the United States Army in 1941. The Strategic Air Command assumed responsibility for the base in 1946. Since the mid-1940s, aircraft maintenance, fuel management, and fire training activities on the base have generated wastes that consist primarily of waste fuels, oils, solvents, and cleaners. Base activities also have generated lesser amounts of paints and plating wastes. The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... The Strategic Air Command or SAC was the branch of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal, as well as the infrastructure necessary to support their operations (such as tanker aircraft to fuel the bombers and, until 1957...

The EPA currently has this base listed on their database due to the bulk wastes such as solvents, oils, fuels, and sludges which were disposed in pits at landfills around the base until 1977. Fuel and waste oils were incinerated by the Air Force during fire training exercises. The Air Force ceased disposal of hazardous waste on site in 1977, and the base was officially closed in 1995. The mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment: air, water, and land. ... Seal of the Air Force. ...

EPA Investigations have been completed or are proceeding at multiple areas of contamination including landfills, discharge areas, chemical disposal areas, fire training areas, fuel spill areas, and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) spill areas. Approximately 6,000 people obtain their drinking water from both municipal and private wells located near the site. The mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment: air, water, and land. ...

References

• US Environmental Protection Agency