Feinstein Tells Navy to Clean Up El Toro

Money raised from the sale of property at the closed El Toro Marine base should be used to cover the cost of environmental cleanup there, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week in a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England.

The Navy announced last month it would sell El Toro in accordance with voter passage in March of new zoning for the base, which calls for parkland, sports fields, a university campus, wholesale nurseries and two golf courses. The vote ended Orange County’s plans to build a commercial airport at the site. In its announcement, the Navy said its cleanup plan was sufficient for a park and other planned uses. But the Navy hasn’t determined the extent of soil contamination and Feinstein’s letter said it shouldn’t sell land at El Toro--designated in 1990 as one of the country’s most contaminated sites--until it does.”I find it disturbing that while the Navy first began its cleanup efforts at MCAS El Toro in the mid-1980s, it still has not tested” potentially contaminated sites, she wrote. Feinstein was referring to a study by Orange County environmental consultants that identified areas with “high probability for significant contamination” next to the base’s four runways and rail lines.

Although Feinstein has no authority to tell the Navy what to do, she sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where requests for government funding--including the Navy--are evaluated.

A Navy policy encourages proceeds from the sale of closed military land be used to bolster the defense budget. Environmental cleanup is the responsibility of the federal government and comes from money earmarked for that purpose. Federal law requires the Navy to clean up contamination but doesn’t impose a deadline. The Navy also could decide that some areas at El Toro cannot be cleaned and restrict their use.

Navy officials in Washington didn’t return calls Tuesday seeking comment. A Navy spokesman in California referred questions to the Washington office.

Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said Feinstein’s letter confirms the city’s expectations that the land will be cleaned--or that a cleanup plan will be in place--before it is sold. Last month, Orange County supervisors voted to allow Irvine to annex the property.

“We expect that the cleanup mandated under federal law will be undertaken in an expeditious manner,” Agran said.

Environmental attorney Greg Hurley, who chaired El Toro’s citizen cleanup panel for seven years, called Feinstein’s letter courageous. There are no other bases in the same situation, he said.

“That’s one of the best things I’ve heard in the 10 years I’ve been working on El Toro,” said Hurley, who drew the ire of airport opponents in December when he told county supervisors that developing a park at the Marine base would be risky because it would expose people to cancer-causing chemicals in the soil.

The Navy has authorized about $300 million for cleanup. The big problem could come when redevelopment starts at the base and unexpected contamination is uncovered, Hurley said.

“The Navy really has no grounds to object to using the money [from the sale] this way,” he said. “What you’re going to find is that the Navy has no confidence that what’s being transferred is clean.”

In December, Orange County officials asked the Navy to examine 56 areas of potential contamination at the former base, including testing soil. The spots, added to 929 existing “locations of concern,” included the base’s runways, which weren’t on the Navy’s list for examination.

The Navy’s cleanup plan addresses 880 of the 929 sites; the remainder were determined to be cleaned. Of the total number of sites, 643 required no further action, according to the county report. More analysis is needed for the rest, the report said, including 115 sites needing “soil management.”

El Toro is one of 30 California military bases closed since 1988. It ended operations in July 1999 with its sister base in Tustin.

The air station was used for aviation for almost 50 years. According to Navy documents, military activities at El Toro generated waste oil, paint residue, hydraulic fluid, used batteries and other wastes. Before the 1970s, environmental rules and regulations were few and material was simply discarded on the ground or in base landfills.

Soil and ground-water contamination identified at El Toro centered around aviation. For example, toxic solvents were used for degreasing aircraft. From 1943 to 1955, solid waste from several thousand houses at the base was buried there. Other early disposal activities included incineration.

Four base landfills received solid waste, paint residues, oily wastes, industrial solvents and incinerator ash from the burning of fuel. Two of the landfills were covered with several feet of dirt and will remain off limits.

Other wastes have been found since the base was closed, including previously undetected areas of radioactivity.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad, who cast the swing vote last month in favor of allowing Irvine to take over planning for the base, said the Navy should use its sale money for military salaries and munitions. She supports cleaning the base before the land is turned over for other uses.

“My initial feeling is that they should clean up the base through their [regular] budget,” she said.