Environmental Assessment in Compliance with 22 CFR 216 - FINAL

On September 29, 2013, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a contract to CDM International, Inc. (CDM Smith) to carry out the project, "Environmental Assessment of Dioxin Contamination at Bien Hoa Airbase." The purpose of the project is to complete an Environmental Assessment (EA) at the Bien Hoa Airbase (referred herein as the Airbase) that meets the requirements of Title 22 of the United States (U.S.) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 216. The Airbase is a key dioxin contamination hotspot due to past usage, storage, and handling of Agent Orange and other herbicides during the U.S.-Vietnam War. The overall objective of the EA at Bien Hoa Airbase (Study) is to inform potential future actions on the Airbase to address dioxin-related contamination.

An Environmental Scoping Statement (ESS), prepared as the first step in the development of the EA and approved by the USAID Asia Bureau Environment Officer (BEO) in October 2014, defined the scope of the EA. The scope of work for the EA at the Airbase included addressing significant potential adverse health-related, environmental, and social issues associated with implementing activities for remediation of dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment to Government of Vietnam (GVN) standards and enhancing beneficial use of the Airbase. The ESS determined that the EA would need to document stakeholder engagement discussions and consultations, applicable GVN standards for remediation, supplemental investigation sampling and analyses, the site conceptual model, evaluations of remediation alternatives, affected environment and environmental consequences of implementing remediation, consequences to social resources if they are indirectly affected through changes in the physical and natural environment from implementing remediation, approaches for environmental mitigation and monitoring, and resettlement.