The polluted sites The polluted sites (December 24, 2004)

Site 25

The 250-acre storm-water drainage pond is dry most of the year but the Navy is being urged to restore it to wetland. The soil is so contaminated with PCBs, DDT and lead from Hangar One that fish cannot live in the pond.

NASA's recent announcement that it wants the pond to support a fish-based ecosystem has led activists to declare a major victory. A Save the Bay campaign to demand a full cleanup at the site has produced hundreds of letters in support from the public, including from Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Anna Eshoo. This outcry, in combination with NASA's decision, has helped force the Navy to consider cleaning up the site up for it to return to being a tidal wetland.
Hangar One

The Navy acted quickly to close the building and paint over the outside after NASA discovered last summer that the hangar was the source of contaminated storm-water run-off. But now Navy officials are arguing that they should not have to do similar work on the inside of the building, despite evidence that the contaminants from the interior are migrating to the rest of the base.

The EPA, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, the city of Mountain View, NASA and the SpaceWorld Hangar One museum that wants to use the site have all taken official positions demanding the Navy take responsibility for the interior of the building.
Orion Park housing

A long-running spat over the source of ground-water contamination at this Army housing site has not been settled. But even those who say the Navy deserves credit for its efforts elsewhere have criticized their actions at the one Moffett site that might pose the most serious health risk.

The Navy has rejected the EPA's finding that it is responsible for the cleanup, saying that the pollution is coming from the opposite side of Highway 101. A recent proposal by NASA to pay for testing south of 101 fell through when the Navy refused to do additional testing at Orion Park.

Toxic gas seeping into the homes through vapor intrusion could pose a risk to public health. Sampling turned up potentially unsafe levels of TCE vapor in three of 22 homes tested, but the Navy downplayed the issue by saying that nobody lives in those homes.

At the November restoration board meeting, a Navy scientist's assertion that indoor air pollution was not significant met with ridicule from board members. One member, Lenny Siegel, pointed out that the Navy had tested only vacant units and called their reasoning "a sleight of hand."
-- Jon Wiener

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