You will want to take the pedestrian bridge over the train tracks and stay at the top of the stairs to get the best view. You’ll be looking at a Superfund Site and learning about how the area’s natural resources have been affected and the clean up process as a model for tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of sites both big and small across the nation with that are undergoing similar processes.
The following information was compiled from the sources listed at the end of the cache.
The former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station covers approximately 4,700 acres. The Air Station was opened in 1943 and decommissioned in 1999. From the coordinates you can see the air strips to the north, abandoned buildings and hangers to the northwest, and agricultural fields to the east and southeast. On the surface there does not seem to be a problem at the site. There are no big signs with a skull and cross bones; no strange murky pools of bubbling liquid. What makes this a Superfund Site?
The superfund program was initiated in 1980 to begin to cleanup hazardous materials in the environment when no responsible party can be identified, or the identified party can not afford to pay for the clean up. The responsibility for the cleanup fell back on the federal government. In this case, the Air Station was a government facility, so the government is responsible for the cleanup. Such sites are cleaned up under Superfund.
The threat here lies primarily to the groundwater in the area. Although you can’t see it, groundwater is a vital resource throughout the country, especially in the west due to our lack of surface water and minimal precipitation. The EPA reports that no drinking water wells are located close to the Air Station, but approximately 1,100 acres of land are irrigated by wells located close by. Additionally, surface water drains to the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve located approximately eight miles to the west.
The cleanup process begins with identifying and describing the environmental issues. Typically this is done in a step by step, phased, manner. This phased process is designed to identify all the potential environmental issues and then gets progressively more detailed and focused. Usually this process takes years if not decades and ends up being more complex than described below, but the following is a good outline of the general process. In this case, the Air Station was first proposed to be cleaned up under Superfund in 1988.
The first step in the process is to review all the historical documents describing the activities at a site and interview people that actually worked here. These documents include building plans, historical aerial photos, procedure manuals, maintenance logs, inventory logs, any paperwork that might give a clue about what chemicals were used, where they were used, how they were used, and how they were gotten rid of. Talking to the people that actually worked here may reveal actual work practices that were not in manuals or changes to storage and disposal of chemicals that were not in the documentation. At the end of this process, the investigators have a good idea about where to go looking for potential contamination.
Based on this review, a total of 25 potentially contaminated areas were identified on the Air Station. This included four land fills and numerous buildings and storage locations. They anticipated finding polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), battery acids, leaded fuels, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are all industrial chemicals that are commonly used aircraft maintenance. These chemicals have various affects on humans and plant and animal life, including neurological, reproductive and developmental disorders, cancers, and in enough concentration death.
Once these potential sites are identified, the second step in the process was to go out to the various locations and collect soil and groundwater samples to find out what actually is out there, and how much of it is there, and where it is. It was determined that the two large aircraft hangers were the primary source of VOC contamination. Various other contaminated areas were also located including underground storage tanks, storage yards, fire fighting training pits, and landfills. The primary VOC found was trichloroethene (TCE). This chemical is a common degreaser (remover of oils) in aircraft maintenance. TCE affects the central nervous system (the brain) and heavy exposure can damage the liver and kidneys. TCE causes cancer in mice and may cause cancer in humans. TCE was found in the soil and groundwater as far away as 3 miles off the base. The four landfills were found to have been inactive from 25 years to more than 50 years. While some groundwater contamination was detected adjacent to the landfills, the contaminant plumes appear to be stable and are not migrating.
Once this initial investigation was completed, each of the contaminated areas of the Air Station were divided up to plan the most appropriate clean-up procedure for each location. Within each of these lactations, the actual risk each of chemicals posed to humans and plant and animal life was determined. Through a series of mathematical calculations (typically provided by the EPA), that took into account the amount of the chemicals present, where they are located (deep in the ground or on the surface), the properties of the chemical (floating in the are, easily dissolved into water, etc), and the likely future use of the location, the relative need to cleanup the area was determined.
Once the need for cleanup is determined, each chemical is best cleaned up by certain procedures. Some chemicals that volatilize (become a gasses, like gasoline) can be sucked out of the ground by large vacuums, some chemicals that are still liquids on the groundwater can be pumped out, some are just watched as natural processes broke them down, while others that are still in the soil with no easy way to remove them are dug up and trucked off to a hazardous waste dump. Groundwater can be cleaned up by pumping it out and cleaning it dumping the clean water in the drain, blowing bubbles in the groundwater to volatilize it, or just watching it as natural processes break it down. Cleanup technologies are constantly improving and changing as new innovations are made. All of these processes take time and are still on-going as of 2005.
Since investigations began at the Air Station, the methods of investigation, the accuracy of chemical analysis, and the clean-up technologies as well as the laws regulating the contamination has changed. In a way, the goal for final clean-up of the site is a moving target. Recent scientific studies at other sites have identified another harmful contaminant, perchlorate, that is often found at military sites. New studies are now (early 2005) being conducted to identify where and how much perchlorate is in the soils and groundwater of the Air Station. Initial findings have identified a perchlorate plume beneath a former explosive ordnance disposal range that was used at the Air Station.
This general cleanup process is occurring at large and small sites across the country and world. For those of you that think you are far away from a site that has accidentally relased hazardous chemicals into the environment, I challenge you to have a look around the gas stations you regularly visit. The underground storage tanks of just about every gas station have leaked at one time or another. It will likely have a number of groundwater monitoring wells (typically 1 foot diameter round metal plates in the ground that look like mini-manholes) or a fenced off area in the corner with some water tanks or a chimney coming out of it. In California, there is a website (http://geotracker.swrcb.ca.gov/) that maps the location of all the sites that are currently being investigated following an accidental release from their underground storage tanks. This website includes the location of the groundwater monitoring wells and the concentrations of the chemicals in the groundwater. Other superfund sites can be found at http://cfpub.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/srchsites.cfm.
At the time, all the actions that accidentally released chemicals into the soil and groundwater at the Air Station and most of the other sites across the nation seemed perfectly reasonable and normal. They also did not seem to have any adverse effect at the time. However, decades later, we are trying to come to terms with all the negative effects that have been done to the resources in the area.
Logging requirements:
Send me a note with :
- The text "GC1BJ40 Former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station" on the first line
- The number of people in your group.
- Provide your explanation of how the land can be redeveloped even as they attempt to clean up the ground water.
The following sources were used to generate this cache.
- http://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/overview.nsf/0/f086047196d7ba6b8825660b007ee64c?OpenDocument
- http://www.efdsw.navfac.navy.mil/environmental/pdf/eltfs7.pdf