In just under a month and a half over 130 tons of materials and debris was removed from Cape Prince of Wales last summer. The former Naval station, most recently active in 1978, was about 100 miles northwest of Nome and was once the westernmost outpost in North America.
ChemTrack’s President Carrie Jokiel said that the community of Wales has been advocating for the cleanup for years.
"Very stoked when you have a village elder say that I thought I would never see this completed in my lifetime," Jokiel said.
The beach is located at the northern edge of the village of Wales and was littered with Navy structures and debris dating back to World War II. The buildings and structures were abandoned in 2000.
“And here we are in 2025, to be able to get the land back to look like its pristine condition and gorgeous environment that it was created to be, right?” Jokiel said.
The company said it removed more than 23 tons of lead-based paint and four tons of asbestos found in the buildings. Inhaled or ingested asbestos fibres can lead to mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer.
Jokiel said the effort to remove the asbestos has been ongoing for decades and that the most meaningful part about the cleanup has been connecting generations.
“Kids that have grown up hearing about how the land was before are getting to see with their own eyes what the elders were talking about,” Jokiel said.
In April, ChemTrack was awarded the 2025 Baldwin Group Build America Merit Award by the Associated General Contractors of America. ChemTrack said it completed the cleanup for just shy of five million dollars.
