Navy eyes Moffett cleanup Navy eyes Moffett cleanup (October 22, 2004)

Officials still opposed to restoration of tidal marsh habitat

By Jon Wiener

Officials from the Navy and NASA are still fighting pressure to clean up toxic contamination at a Moffett Field drainage pond. But at an open house in Mountain View City Hall Oct. 14, the Navy unveiled plans to study the possibility of restoring it to tidal marsh habitat.

Members of Save the Bay, an environmental group that has been spearheading the effort to get the Navy to leave the site clean enough to support a marshland habitat, presented the Navy with a 2,000-signature petition demanding a full cleanup.

The pond, known as Site 25, drains storm water from the northern part of Moffett Field. Diked off from the bay and contaminated with chemicals like DDT and PCBs, the site is dry most of the year. In the rainy season, it is a stopping ground for migratory birds.

"It's kind of a beautiful thriving wetland," said Andrea Espinoza, a community relations director for the Navy.

"The ducks have begun to use those," said NASA's Sandy Olliges, referring to so-called "managed" ponds like Site 25 throughout the southern edge of the Bay. "They need a place to live, too."

Olliges said that the drainage pond fills a valuable purpose on Moffett Field and would be difficult to replace.

But environmentalists said the ecological value of the pond is not the issue.

"The bottom line is that this process is not to determine restoration. It's to determine the level of cleanup," said Felicia Borrego, policy director for Save the Bay.

If the Navy does not pay to clean up the site now, she added, it can't be held responsible when and if the time comes to return it to tidal marshland.

But, "this is their responsibility," Borrego said.

A USA Today investigative article published the same day as the open house chronicled efforts by the armed forces to resist and undermine environmental regulations that would force them to pay for cleanups at hundreds of sites around the country.

But advocates for a full cleanup, which include the Mountain View City Council, were pleased to see it on the list of preliminary alternatives to be included in the Navy's feasibility study over the next two years. Other options included cleaning up the site only partially and leaving the pond as is.

"It's evident that decisions are being made on the basis of good science," said Jane Turnbull of the League of Women Voters.

Turnbull's group was critical of the Navy's original decision several years ago to do only a limited cleanup of the site. According to officials on both sides of the issue, public pressure has been responsible for the Navy's reconsideration.

The feasibility study will require significant public input. A final decision on the level of cleanup is not due until January 2007.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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