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  • New water treatment plant marks milestone in McClellan cleanup

    Air Force Civil Engineer Center environmental remediation efforts at the former McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California, entered a new phase of operations July 10 as officials unveiled a modernized multi-million-dollar groundwater treatment plant.

  • Tiny fish swims off the endangered species list

    A decades long partnership between the Department of the Air Force and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has brought one tiny Florida fish back from the brink of extinction.  The Okaloosa darter, a two-inch perch-like fish found only in the streams at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, was removed from

  • AFCEC plays vital role in Air Force climate plan initiatives

    AFCEC has a significant role in climate change initiatives intended to enhance resiliency at Air Force installations by addressing the risks severe weather poses to infrastructure, operational capabilities and readiness as outlined in the Department of the Air Force Climate Campaign Plan.

  • Where there’s smoke, there’s Wildland Fire Fighters

    Every year Florida experiences an average of 2,000 wildfires that burn 88,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. To mitigate the hazardous effects wildfires can have on the local environment and military installations, the Air Force created the Wildland Fire Branch, a part of

  • Record budget helps Air Force tackle environmental issues

    The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center is bringing this year’s “Invest in Our Planet” Earth Day theme to life as the center’s global environmental team continues to support innovative restoration projects driven by a record-high budget. Within AFIMSC’s Air Force Civil Engineer Center,

  • Air Force environmental restoration chief receives Trailblazer Award

    AFCEC Environmental Restoration Program Management Chief Kenny Johnson was recently awarded the Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award during the 2023 Black Engineer of the Year Awards Gala in National Harbor, Maryland. He was one of 23 Department of the Air Force members celebrated for their

  • Mission Monday: Environmental Regulatory Engagement

    TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – It’s Mission Monday. Lauren Dempsey is the water, natural and cultural resources regulatory media expert with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Environmental Directorate’s Legislative and Regulatory Engagement Division West Branch here.Dempsey reviews proposed

  • Mission Monday: Mission & Environmental Advocacy

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday. Amanda Sherman is a Department of Defense and Air Force Regional Environmental Coordinator with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Environmental Directorate. Based at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, Sherman works with local, state,

  • Sentinel agreement signed in historic ceremony

    More than 150 personnel who took part in drafting the LGM-35 Sentinel Programmatic Agreement participated in a historic signing event Dec 16, 2022, which simultaneously took place in 11 different locations. The Air Force Civil Engineer Center's environmental team played an important role in this

  • AFCEC’s partnership helps bring drinking water to Moose Creek 

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – A joint civilian-military project is providing drinking water to businesses and residences in Moose Creek, Alaska, where per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, impacted water wells at levels above Environmental Protection Agency advisories.   The Air

  • Newly restored Bailey Creek provides scenic views, recreation at JBLE-Eustis

    Bailey Creek is a hidden gem located northwest of Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. The tidal creek and marsh areas stretch approximately one and a half miles from the upper end to where it empties into Skiffe’s Creek and then the James River. But Bailey Creek was not always the beautiful area

  • AFCEC hosts former Pease AFB RAB tour

    PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- The Air Force Civil Engineer Center hosted a site tour Oct. 4 for the Pease Restoration Advisory Board of three water treatment plants installed by the Air Force since the discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in a municipal drinking well on the former Pease Air Force

  • AFCEC Wildland Fire Branch ignites new tribal partnership 

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – The Air Force Civil Engineer Center is leveraging the invaluable local knowledge of Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes members to build a better prescribed burn program at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.   “This is their turf,” said Nate Suida, Wildland Support

  • DAF commemorates National Water Quality Month

    The Department of the Air Force has been increasingly focused on the important role of water in the DAF’s ability to achieve the mission to fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace.

  • AFCEC awards contract for B-21 Stealth Bomber beddown at Ellsworth AFB

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, will receive a new mission facility to support the bed down of the B-21 Raider stealth bomber following the recent Air Force Civil Engineer Center-led contract award of the B-21 Formal Training Unit (FTU) project.The

  • AFIMSC set to begin Red Hawk beddown efforts at JBSA 

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center has the greenlight to move forward with major construction work to support the beddown of a new aircraft and training mission at JBSA-Randolph, Texas.The Air Force signed a record of decision (ROD)

  • AFIMSC team members win AF Civil Engineer awards

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – Eight Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center members recently earned 2021 Air Force Civil Engineer Award honors.“The winners, runners-up and nominees represent the best of the Civil Engineer community's incredible talent and dedication,” said Maj.

  • Tribal partnerships help AF archaeologists understand surprising discovery  

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – An Air Force team conducting an archaeological inventory in the west Utah desert has emerged with a discovery poised to completely reframe experts’ understanding of human tobacco use in North America.   The groundbreaking find – 12,300-year-old tobacco seeds

  • AFIMSC helps Afghan civilians start new lives

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – On an early Friday morning in late August, three Air Force Civil Engineer Center project managers met in a conference room at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, to help 25,000 people start a new life. Wayland Patterson, chief of AFCEC’s Air Force Contract

  • Native Seed Program grows DAF readiness  

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – For Air Force Civil Engineer Center natural resource specialists helping installations build force readiness, their best tools are often no larger than a speck of dust.  The Department of the Air Force Native Seed Program, part of the National Seed Strategy,

  • APIMS celebrates 25th anniversary

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The Air Force Civil Engineer Center recently celebrated over two decades of improving air quality across the Department of Defense, as its Air Program Information Management System, APIMS, reached a milestone 25th anniversary.“Air quality professionals are

  • AFCEC biologist helps rehab hundreds of sea pups 

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – When it comes to rescuing seals and sea lions, Christine Rodriguez has learned to take things step by step. “It’s all baby steps,” said Rodriguez, an Air Force Civil Engineer Center environmental specialist and trained biologist. “From treating illnesses and

  • Air Force installs system to protect drinking water near Luke AFB

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center has completed installation and testing of a water filtration system that reduces Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate from drinking water near Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, to levels below the Environmental Protection Agency’s lifetime health

  • REPI Challenge yields more than $24M for AF installations

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – The Air Force Civil Engineer Center helped secure more than $24 million to protect mission readiness and the environment at three installations: White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; and Tyndall AFB,

  • USAFA Cadet Summer Program returns to Tyndall AFB

    TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- After a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Summer Program recently returned to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Readiness Laboratory here. The month-long annual research program that began in 2008 is an opportunity for second and

  • Air Force, USFWS partner to restore fish habitat

    JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Threatened fish at Beale Air Force Base, California, are reaping the benefits of a partnership between the Air Force and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Specialists from Beale, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center and the USFWS recently completed a dam

  • USFWS honors AFCEC SME with natural resources award

    USFWS honors Porteck with Regional Director’s Conservation AwardJOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is presenting Kevin Porteck, Air Force Civil Engineer Center natural resources subject matter expert, with a Regional Director’s Conservation Award next month

  • Community partners with SAFB for storm water management

    Storm water management is an ongoing initiative under Scott Air Force Base’s Community Partnership P4 (public-public, public-private) Program. Base subject matter experts with the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron and federal agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife meet regularly with leaders in the

  • Travis firefighters help community battle Solano wildfires

    Airmen from the 60th Civil Engineer Squadron responded to the LNU Lightning Complex Fire to support the Vacaville Fire Protection District’s firefighting effort, Aug. 19, 2020. A small team from AFCEC's Beale Wildland Support Module answered the call to help fight the wildland blaze.

  • Wildland Fire pros battle fire season despite COVID-19

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Wildland Fire Branch hasn’t let the COVID-19 pandemic stop it from protecting Airmen and their families as well as wildlife during this year’s severe fire season. Along with the pandemic, some installations have had to cope with the threat of wildfires damaging

  • AFCEC consolidates program to maximize lethality, readiness

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Installations Directorate is taking the Air Force’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program to new heights, preserving training areas to increase the lethality and readiness of our air and space forces.

  • Pilot study aims to save money, protect environment with fewer oil changes

    A simple change in Air Force oil change procedures may save the Air Force over $1 million per year, while also helping protect the environment. Current regulatory drivers require installations to analyze the oil in small engines, including generators, annually and replace the oil completely at

  • PMO Engineers thrive with ‘once in a lifetime’ billion-dollar rebuild

    The $4.25 billion rebuild of Tyndall Air Force Base may seem like an overwhelming task to some, but for three Air Force civil engineer captains at the heart of the Program Management Office, the project presents a once in a lifetime opportunity. As project managers for the PMO, and as part of the

  • BRAC team earns U.S. EPA award for Myrtle Beach cleanup, redevelopment

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently presented the National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse award to the Air Force Civil Engineer Center Base Realignment and Closure Program Management Division for the environmental cleanup and redevelopment of the former Myrtle Beach Air

  • Air Force, USFWS partner to protect natural, cultural resources

    Air Force natural and cultural resources are now safer, thanks to a new conservation law enforcement partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. AFCEC and USFWS formed a joint Conservation Law Enforcement Partnership, or CLEP, this fall, placing six CLEOs across five Air Force

  • AF, city partner to improve infrastructure for Airmen, community

    The City of San Antonio and the Air Force broke ground Aug. 7 to launch a $175 million San Antonio Water System sewer pipeline project to improve service for more than 500,000 people, including Airmen and civilians working and living on JBSA-Lackland.

  • AFCEC summits promote whole-of-government response

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center, which provides environmental remediation support to Air Force headquarters, major commands and installations, reintroduced the annual summits - an eastern, western and central - in 2016. The goal was to strengthen relationships between the Air Force, state and

  • Environmental team aids Tyndall hurricane recovery

    An Air Force environmental recovery assistance team’s assessment of the environmental impact of Hurricane Michael on Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, is helping recovery and rebuilding efforts at the base.

  • Back to Bases: AFCEC revives environmental workshop

    Air Force senior leaders and environmental experts from around the globe tackled a variety of installation environmental issues during the 2018 Air Force Environmental Workshop Aug. 7 - 9 in downtown San Antonio.

  • AFCEC team earns DoD environmental restoration award

    An aggressive commitment to innovative, green and sustainable remediation techniques at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, earned an Air Force Civil Engineer Center team top honors in the 2018 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards program recently.

  • Travis using farm animals to control invasive plants

    With a b-l-e-e-e-a-t here and baaaaaa there, more than 300 sheep and about a dozen goats arrived at Travis Air Force Base, California, to begin grazing duties in the Castle Terrace Preserve area that serves as a habitat for federally listed endangered species.

  • AF Fire Emergency Services test fire trucks in extreme cold

    Air Force fire service professionals at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota, recently spent a week in the coldest weather the country has experienced this year to test the discharge systems of firefighting agents on Air Force fire trucks.The Air Force Civil Engineer Center conducted the tests

  • AFCEC director visits Kirtland

    KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Trent Simpler, Army Corps of Engineers project manager for the bulk fuels facility, presents tools used in the groundwater treatment facility to Edwin Oshiba, Air Force Civil Engineer Center director, at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., March 22. This was Oshiba’s

  • Renovated Dam and Recreational Lake Open to Community at Mather

    For the past 25 years Mather Lake has provided local residents a serene place perfect for fishing, picnicking and exploring.   Mather Lake is adjacent to Mather Regional Park and Mather Golf Course. Over the years the lake has become the centerpiece of the 1,434-acre park and serves as a

  • AFCEC helps students, “Be Ready”, to prepare them for disasters

    TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Representatives from the Air Force Civil Engineer Center Emergency Management Division and the 325th Fighter Wing from Tyndall AFB, Fla., visited several northwest Florida youngsters between Sept. 25 and Oct. 4, to prepare them for a potential disaster.The visits

  • AFCEC support sections empower Air Force mission

    Across the Air Force, environmental specialists from the Air Force Civil Engineer Center are working behind the scenes to ensure long-term suitability of environments for military operations. Their job may not be glamorous, but it is important and serves one purpose.

  • Environmental restoration summit enhances Air Force partnerships

    The Air Force Central Regional Environmental Restoration Summit, held May 17 and 18 in Dallas, clarified roles and responsibilities as regulators met with AFCEC leadership and discussed Air Force environmental restoration changing policies and procedures.

  • Air Force Wildland Fire Center responding to Avon Park AFR wildfire

    An Air Force Wildland Fire Center team is leveraging internal assets and interagency partnerships to contain the Echo Springs Wildfire, an 8,000-acre wildfire on the Avon Park Air Force Range in Florida. Avon Park serves as a bombing range and air ground training complex for the military. Currently

  • Travis earns DoD environmental restoration award

    Dedication to using green and sustainable remediation technologies and biological processes that breakdown contaminates in groundwater has earned Travis Air Force Base, California, its first Secretary of Defense Environmental Restoration Award for Installations.

  • Air Force wins three DOD environmental awards

    The Department of Defense has selected an Air Force environmental engineer and two installations for top honors in the 2017 Secretary of Defense environmental awards program.  The awards, announced Friday, recognize outstanding achievements to improve DOD’s environmental performance, according to

  • AFCEC proactively pursuing environmental stewardship at Fairchild AFB

    The Air Force is taking proactive measures to reduce the risk of mission-related PFOS/PFOA contamination to installation and nearby communities’ drinking water sources by working to eliminate the use of PFOS-containing AFFF, and is also testing groundwater at a variety of locations to determine if

  • Travis environmental restoration program certified green and sustainable

    Saving money, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing green and sustainable remediation to clean up contaminated groundwater sites has earned Travis Air Force Base, California the honor of becoming the first Department of Defense installation to receive greener cleanup certification by

  • Largest military solar energy project in Northeast breaks ground on JB MDL

    The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy Miranda A.A. Ballentine and the Adjutant General of New Jersey Brig. Gen. Michael Cunniff helped break ground on a 98-acre solar farm here Dec. 20.The 16.5 megawatt solar energy project will be the largest military

  • Environmental stewards ensure safe, clean ground water

    Driving around base, Airmen might notice large equipment drilling into the ground and workers wearing personal protective equipment.This work is safe for the environment, personnel and the community, and is part of a base-wide effort to remediate soil and ground water contaminations at locations on

  • AF continues sampling, launches study at former Michigan base

    The Air Force is conducting further water sampling and launched a technological study at former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan. Both efforts are part of the Air Force-wide response to potential drinking water contamination related to the service’s fire-fighting activities.  Nearly 200 members of

  • Air Force moves forward to build treatment systems

    The Air Force has submitted remedial designs to the Environmental Protection Agency for two large-scale groundwater treatment systems to protect drinking water supply wells on and near the former Pease Air Force Base, New Hampshire, from exposure to perfluorooctanesulfonic and perfluorooctanoic

  • Partnerships key in new Air Force environmental initiatives

    Sustainable environmental goals require partnerships; one of the new initiatives the Air Force Civil Engineer Center is promoting to accomplish its mission.In a summit held in northern New Mexico, AFCEC's environmental directorate brought state, regional and federal environmental regulators together

  • Researchers use sound to destroy toxic firefighting chemical

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center, in partnership with researchers from the University of Arizona, is exploring an innovative way to dispose of the Air Force's toxic firefighting foam stockpiles -- using only sound waves.The project, funded by the AFCEC Broad Agency Announcement program,

  • AF wins three DOD environmental awards

    Three Air Force installations have been named winners in the 2016 Secretary of Defense environmental awards."Our men and women work hard to keep environmental stewardship a top priority while simultaneously advancing our National Defense Mission," said Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for

  • Air Force holds KC-46 public meeting

    TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Air Force officials held a KC-46A scoping meeting April 21 in Midwest City, Oklahoma, where the public and interested state and federal agencies were invited to ask questions and provide feedback regarding the process of choosing a Reserve-led KC-46A third main

  • RAB reestablished at former Pease AFB, first meeting set for April 19

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center, or AFCEC, has reestablished the Restoration Advisory Board at the former Pease Air Force Base, with the first meeting to be held April 19, 2016.  The Pease Restoration Advisory Board, or RAB, is a stakeholder group that will meet quarterly to discuss ongoing

  • AF announces annual engineering, environmental award winners

    Air Force officials recently announced the winners of the annual Gen. Thomas D. White Environmental Awards, Civil Engineer Awards and Professional Housing Management Association Service Awards."We had another year of strong competition for our annual awards," said Maj. Gen. Timothy Green, director

  • BAA seeks innovative solutions to environmental problems

    The Air Force Civil Engineer Center issued a broad agency announcement, or BAA, Feb. 3, seeking proposals that demonstrate innovative, sustainable and cost-effective technologies and methodologies to more efficiently address Air Force environmental restoration and compliance concerns.The BAA

  • Air Force, EPA work together to protect drinking water

    Through a cooperative effort with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Air Force has provided a statement of intent to EPA's Region I administrator to both assure the safety of the drinking water from wells on the former Pease Air Force Base and address environmental contamination from