Base Cleanup Debate
The Chairman of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) Technical Subcommittee takes issue with an LA Times reporter regarding the status of base cleanup. The RAB is the officially designated watchdog group overseeing cleanup at any closed military base.
3 September 2000To: Mr. David Reyes Times Staff Writer Los Angeles Times
Re: El Toro Article of 28 Aug. 00
Dear Mr. Reyes:
You do a major disservice to your readers and the community when you reproduce information supplied by the Department of the Navy (DoN) without adequate research on the quality of the information. It indicates that you either did not read or did not understand the source information (BRAC Business Plan, Feb. 2000) with which you were supplied (LA Times/ 28 Sept.). Permit me to attempt to clarify the misleading statements that you published by providing you with verifiable fact.
Beginning with the information box “Making El Toro Safe”:
Paragraph one:
1. Of the 4700 acres, 1000 acres is reputed to be transferred to another federal agency eventually. There is no public statement by any federal agency that they have accepted or will accept this parcel, at this time. The 1000 acres has significant pollution that is left unstated in the box. This area includes: a) 38 more acres of landfill beyond the 12 acres cited (Sites 2 and 17) that apparently contain radioactive debris, b) The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Area (Site 1, about 20 more acres), which may or may not contain unexploded ordnance, c) Seriously elevated perchlorate contamination on the soil and in the water ( > 20 times federal MCL), from a presently unknown DoN source, d) Radionuclides that exceed federal MCL’s, from presently unknown DoN sources, e) The area for the Alton extension that is presently being planned to be built on land that has been impacted by the runoff from the Site 2 landfill.
Thus, the LA Times has printed the fact “4700 acres”, when in fact the information pertains to only the 3500 acres that seem destined to Orange County and gives a false impression of significantly less base contamination remaining at El Toro than even the DoN knows is there.
Bullet 2:
1. Most of the 371 tanks already addressed were small, residential heating oil tanks (about 400 gallons each). The remaining 29 tanks include at least one gas station that leaked MtBE and the five 600,000 gallon jet fuel tanks in Tank Farm 555 that must all be removed and the soil underneath tested for possible tank leakage. That is, the largest and most serious, and the tanks most likely to have leaked have been “saved” to the last, and have not been addressed yet. According to LA Times news reports, some Orange County officials seem to have the mistaken impression that this 2.9 million gallon of tank capacity could be used for fuel storage. As of December 22, 1998, their use in their present condition became impossible under federal law.
2. There is no mention of the fuel distribution pipeline network on the base and whether it has ever been tested for leakage.
Thus, the LA Times implies the UST problems are more than 90% done (371/400), when in fact the biggest problems remain far from resolution.
Bullet 4.
There is no mention in the bullet about:
a. The site of the demolished Industrial Sewage Treatment Plant (Site 12, unit 4) for the presence of radionuclides and potential chlorinated solvent contamination,
b. The survey of several buildings (Bldg. 296, et al where evidence of radionuclides was already demonstrated in sewer pipes) and Site 8 (several units) for radionuclides,
c. Responding to concerns about perchlorate, MtBE, and other chlorinated solvents beside TCE and PCE (the pollutants that made El Toro a CERCLA, or Superfund site originally) that have been raised by the regulators and the community.
Thus, the LA Times accepts the DoN statements unchallenged.
Furthermore, in the article there is a statement “a radiological assessment because some aircraft carried radioactive equipment” that is particularly disingenuous. Yes, some aircraft did carry radioactive equipment, but the assessment is being performed for more than that seemingly innocuous statement. For example, the Bldg. 296 radioactive debris and the Sewage Treatment Plant demolition debris is missing. The DoN has informed the regulators and the public that they do not know where the debris ultimately went. The DoN believes it is likely that it was disposed of in landfills on base. It is the stated uncertainty of the DoN, as shown in this example, that caused the regulators to require a significantly more thorough assessment by the DoN of radioactivity problems. There are many more examples like the ones above in the Draft HRA, a document the editor should have read prior to publishing this article.
Whom do you serve by perpetuating myths?
If you should need further information, you may contact me at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Charles R. Bennett Ph. D.
Chairman, Technical Subcommittee
Restoration Advisory Board for the El Toro Base ClosureBL Associates
224 W. Jacaranda Place Fullerton, CA 92832
714-773-5525
LA Times, Monday, August 28, 2000
Irvine to Probe El Toro's Hazards
The Navy says most of the former base is now free
of pollution, but city officials fear that dangerous
solvents may be found in old sewers and ditches.
By DAVID REYES, Times Staff Writer
After spending more than $150 million on
environmental cleanup, the Navy is confident that most
of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is
unpolluted, but Irvine officials have expressed concern
over drainage ditches and an old sewer system used at
the base.
"The city believes that a substantial amount of
solvents used on the base could have been put down
the sewer system, which was built in the 1940s using
old technology," said Michael S. Brown, Irvine's
environmental consultant. "We believe there are many
leaks."
The ditches and sewer system were among the
environmental concerns expressed last week after
county supervisors approved a five-year lease with the
Navy for El Toro.
The county will lease a small portion of the
4,700-acre former base that has passed environmental
inspection. The lease allows recreational activities such
as RV parking, golf and use of El Toro's horse stables,
among others, to continue while the county arranges
leases for another 43 buildings it plans to sublease as
warehouse space to generate revenue.
"The key in the lease is that now the county can
conduct its own separate study of [Navy] documents so
that we can identify if any gaps exist and what the Navy
proposes to do," said Rob Richardson, interim executive
director of the county's El Toro planning office. "The
master lease also allows us to find out what's in the
ground."
Most of the cleanup has occurred over a 17 year
period, but surrounding cities like Irvine remain critical
of the Navy's remaining cleanup plans.
The contaminated property includes 12 acres
containing landfills, a wide plume of tainted ground
water and underground tanks where the military once
stored jet fuel and oils. Dealing with contaminated
ground water could be the toughest environmental
project on the former base.
Brown said El Toro's southwest corner is especially
troublesome because it includes drainage ditches that
solvents were washed down after being used to
degrease engines and engine parts until 1975.
"Lots of solvents were used for cleaning airplanes
after they flew and for cleaning parts and degreasing
tanks and vehicles," Brown said. "They've found
[cancer-causing] trichloroethene in the plume, and
research shows this was used throughout the base and
not just in the southwest corner."
According to the Navy, considerable environmental
progress has been made, especially in the last two
years. Of the 880 so-called "locations of concern" more
than 600 require no further action, the Navy says.
Of 400 underground storage tanks, 371 have been
removed and more are scheduled to be removed.
Projects the Navy has scheduled for completion this
year include an agreement with the Orange County and
Irvine Ranch Water Districts to address ground-water
contamination. Work on capping four landfills will
continue.
In addition, all of the base's old electrical
transformers have been removed and require no further
action. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs--a chemical
widely used as a coolant in older electrical
transformers--has been linked to cancer and birth
defects.
In addition, the Navy is now conducting a
radiological assessment because some aircraft carried
radioactive equipment.
The Navy still must clean up the base's former burn
pits, landfills, silver recovery units and storage areas for
pesticides. Under base closure law, the Navy is
responsible for cleanup, county officials have said.
"The Navy believes that they've identified all the
major contaminated sites on the base," Brown said.
"But we don't believe that and neither does the Orange
County district attorney."
* * *
The district attorney has threatened a lawsuit over
five underground fuel tanks that must be closed,
upgraded or removed. He says the Navy never received
the proper permits to operate the tanks, never upgraded
them as required by law and now has failed to submit
adequate closure plans.
Larry Agran, an Irvine council member and
outspoken critic of the county's plans for an
international airport at El Toro, said he senses that the
county "in its zeal" to grab El Toro property will
basically "sell out the health and safety interests" of
county residents rather than fight to ensure that the base
is cleaned up.
Agran supports the Millennium Plan, an airport
alternative that would convert the base into a large park,
a college campus and museums.
"From the very beginning, airport proponents have
peddled a ludicrous argument that the airport is more
suitable for the base because we won't have to clean it
up as much as for residential use," Agran said.
But Board of Supervisors Chairman Chuck Smith,
an airport supporter, said Agran's position was
ridiculous.
"We're going to force the Navy to clean it up to the
standards set by the [U.S.] Environmental Protection
Agency. For him to expect to clean it up to something
greater than that is ridiculous."
Smith said that attempting to transform the land to
the way it was before the base was built is unrealistic.
"For [Agran] to expect to clean it up to the way it
was before the base was there is impossible because we
have landfills out there used for years and it's well
known the Navy isn't going to clean it up for residential
use," he said.
Info Box (Accompanying the above article)
Making El Toro SafeThe Navy has made progress cleaning up environmental hazards at the 4,700-acre former el Toro Marine Corps Air Station. the remaining contamination occupies 12 acres and includes landfills, a wide plume of tainted ground water and underground tanks where the military once stored jet fuels and oils. In addition: Of the Navy's 880 so-called "concern areas," more than 600 require no further action.
* All 124 electrical transformers at the base that posed a cancer risk because they were cooled by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, have been removed.
* Of 400 underground storage tanks that contained jet fuel or oil, 371 have been removed and more have been scheduled for removal.
* Of 25 above-ground storage tanks, 9 need no further action, and 16 are scheduled for cleanup.
* Further work remains at two burn pits, at landfills, two pesticide storage areas, and three silver recovery units.
Source: Navy's Base Realignment and Closure Business Plan, February 2000.