BIEN HOA CITY, April 20, 2019 -- Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vietnam’s Air Defense Airforce Command (ADAFC) launched the dioxin remediation project at Bien Hoa Airbase, the largest remaining hotspot of dioxin contamination in Vietnam. The project will remediate high-risk areas over an estimated ten-year period using treatment and isolation methods similar to those used at Danang Airport.

U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Rob Portman (R-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) as well as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình, Vice Minister of National Defense Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chí Vịnh, and USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Michael Greene, joined the launch ceremony to highlight the importance of U.S.-Vietnam efforts to deepen our Comprehensive Partnership by addressing legacies of war.

In partnership with the Government of Vietnam, USAID completed an assessment in 2016 of dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Airbase, the primary dioxin storage and handling site during the U.S.-Vietnam War. The assessment identified almost 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin contaminated soil and sediment in need of remediation – almost four times the volume that was remediated at Danang Airport. Following the assessment, USAID signed agreements with the Ministry of National Defense in early 2018 for an initial five-year, $183 million commitment to the Dioxin Remediation at Bien Hoa Airbase Area Project.

As an important pillar of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, the United States and Vietnam continue to cooperate on the humanitarian mission of accounting for personnel still missing from the war, and resolve wartime legacy issues including the removal of unexploded ordnance, support for persons with disabilities, and the remediation of dioxin - including the November 2018 completion of the six-year, $110 million Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Danang Airport Project

To view photos of the event, visit: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmxs7MRA