OUTER BANKS, N.C. — A section of beach along North Carolina’s Outer Banks has been closed to swimming due to a petroleum leak believed to originate from a Cold War defense site, The Charlotte Observer reported.
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The National Park Service has issued a warning for visitors to avoid swimming or wading in the water at Cape Hatteras National Seashore from Old Lighthouse Beach to the northern boundary of Ramp 43.
This precaution follows the detection of a strong odor and a sheen on the ocean, which are suspected to be caused by petroleum leaking from the remnants of a defense site that was closed and dismantled over a decade ago.
“As a precaution, visitors should not swim or wade in the water at Cape Hatteras National Seashore from Old Lighthouse Beach to the northern boundary of Ramp 43,” the park wrote in an Aug. 3 news release.
Signs of petroleum along the affected stretch of beach have been an ongoing issue, attributed to erosion that has exposed potentially hazardous infrastructure linked to a former 50-acre Department of Defense site.
The Army Corps of Engineers previously conducted a cleanup operation, removing 4,599 cubic yards of petroleum-impacted soil, 278,000 pounds of concrete, and 1,153 feet of pipe.Despite these efforts, recent erosion is believed to have uncovered additional hazardous materials that were missed during the initial cleanup.
The infrastructure includes old fuel tanks and septic systems from the site, which was used by the U.S. Navy and later the U.S. Coast Guard from 1956 until 2010.
The National Park Service reports that the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to return in 2025 to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the soil and groundwater to determine the extent of any remaining petroleum contamination.
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