Loring Air Force Base Site, Maine

Formerly a 9,000-acre Air Force Base in the extreme northeast corner of the USA, specifically Aroostook County, Maine (a county is as large as Connecticut and Rhode Island combined). Before closing in 1994, the base was the home of a Strategic Air Command (later Air Combat Command) bomber wing. Among the remarkable remnants are aircraft hangars capable of holding six B-52s inside. The former nuclear weapons storage area, the North River Depot, remains off-limits to the public. Since its closing, a portion of the former base has been transformed into a mixed-use industrial park, called the Loring Commerce Centre. The Loring International Airport is also there now, as is a branch of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.  In 1990, Loring was declared a Superfund site, due to soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment contamination. Cleanup and monitoring efforts are ongoing.