Cleanup to begin at Fort Detrick

Sen. Ben Cardin says a legally binding agreement has been signed between the Defense Department and the Environmental Protection Agency to govern cleanup of a contaminated site at Fort Detrick in Maryland.

The agreement announced Friday will allow work to begin on cleaning up the Superfund site.

Since 1991, ground water has been found to be contaminated beneath about 400 acres used as a disposal site at Fort Detrick. Test wells have detected the cancer-causing solvent trichloroethylene and the suspected carcinogen tetrachloroethylene.

The Army had resisted the EPA's proposal to add the site to the National Priorities List called Superfund, saying it was cooperating with federal and state agencies.

Cardin says addressing the contamination is overdue.