Navy raises curtain on polluted sites Navy raises curtain on polluted sites (May 06, 2005)

Tour will include Moffett Field clean-up areas

By Jon Wiener

Navy officials will shed some light on the progress of the Moffett Field clean-up effort at two events scheduled for next week.

With community activists gaining ground in their battle for full cleanups at the handful of remaining Superfund sites on the former base, the Navy is welcoming residents to an open house at City Hall on May 11 and a site tour the following day.

The open house, scheduled for Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m., will feature the Navy's plans to study clean-up options at a controversial polluted drainage pond and reveal the estimated cost of each option.

"It's primarily another opportunity for people to come up and talk to the team that's been working on it and ask questions," said Navy clean-up manager Rick Weisenborn.

The Navy agreed to study a full cleanup of the PCBs and pesticides at the 260-acre site after NASA, which now owns the property, sided with residents calling for full cleanup and wetlands restoration there.

The pond site will also be among those featured on the Thursday tour, the first time since October 2002 that the Navy has invited the public to see its polluted grounds.

The tour, which had a registration deadline of April 29, will also include several groundwater treatment projects and a polluted drainage channel that is home to a threatened species of turtle.

"We keep talking about work that's under way, so we thought it would be a good idea to look at it," said Weisenborn.

Weisenborn said the two events are part of the Navy's ongoing public participation effort. They are timed to coincide with the bimonthly meeting of the stakeholders group known as the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), scheduled for Thursday after the site tour.

The Navy has dealt with all but a few polluted sites on Moffett. NASA's decision to plan for partial restoration of its drainage pond will force the Navy to at least investigate a full cleanup there. And in late March, the Navy relented under pressure from regulators to catalog the pollution inside Hangar One.

Citizens groups and public agencies have accused of the Navy of ducking its responsibility at Moffett, pointing to the long-running disputes over the those sites and the Orion Park housing complex.

Felicia Borrego, policy analyst for Save The Bay, said the Navy has yet to come around to the community's wishes for wetlands restoration.

"After four years of public outcry about this, they still have on the table inadequate clean-up options," Borrego said. She added that her organization is encouraging members to come and tell the Navy that they want a full cleanup.

The open house is scheduled for Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. on the fourth floor of City Hall. The RAB meeting, abbreviated due to the site tour, will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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