Komakuk Beach DEW Line site in the 1980s.
The Coastal Plain contains pockets of development related to past oil exploration and to military sites from the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), which was operated by the United States Air Force from 1957 to 1993.
These sites are being decomissioned and replaced by the scaled-down, Canadian-operated, North Warning System. Conditions at the three former DEW Line sites in the Yukon have been assessed and plans for cleanup of target debris, contaminated soil, landfills and excess infrastructure are being developed and implemented. Contaminants associated with these sites are petroleum products, PCBs and heavy metals.
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