Hangar One in limbo as report delayed Hangar One in limbo as report delayed (September 16, 2005)

By Jon Wiener

The Navy has once again pushed back its self-imposed deadline to make a preliminary recommendation on the fate of polluted Hangar One.

A draft report detailing the costs and feasibility of several clean-up options was originally supposed to come out Sept. 2, with a final recommendation by the end of October. But after submitting to public demands to consider all of 13 options, the Navy has repeatedly pushed back the release date, and will not release the draft report until regulators have had several weeks to comment on it, according to Navy spokesperson Jill Votaw.

"Because this is such a sensitive issue, we're going to take as long as we all need to reach concurrence," said Votaw. The regulatory agencies will receive copies of the draft report Monday.

The hangar's future has been cloudy ever since NASA scientists discovered in 2003 that the building was the source of toxic pollution at a nearby pond. An emergency coating of special paint is starting to wear thin, and the Navy has said it wants a permanent solution so that it can complete its work at Moffett Field.

After an outcry at a public meeting in July, the Navy backed off from an earlier statement that it would entertain only two options: either demolish the building entirely or take down its polluted siding and hand it over to NASA.

"We have slowed down the process to allow the public more time to comment or give proposals and also to allow NASA to develop plans for what to do with the hangar," said Votaw.

More and more, the hangar's future looks dependent on NASA's ability to find a solar power provider to replace the siding with a new wall and a 2-megawatt photovoltaic system. NASA, which took over the building from the Navy in 1994, is hoping to entice a solar power company to replace the wall. NASA will not put any money towards the project.

"It would preserve the building, it would be a great demonstration project, it would just be a way to create something that would be useful for the entire building," said NASA environmental chief Sandy Olliges.

Five companies -- Ecoenergies, Chevron Energy Solutions, Sempra Energy Services, Sharp Electronics and Atlantis Energy Systems -- sent representatives to a private tour of the site on Sept. 6. The city of Palo Alto's utilities division, which has expressed an interest in purchasing some of the power produced by such a system, also sent a representative.

Olliges said NASA is prepared to ask the Navy to knock the building down if no one steps forward with private money to rebuild the siding. He said NASA would like to see it restored, but is more concerned about the massive amounts of contaminants -- including PCBs, asbestos and lead -- contained in the hangar's siding.

"Why the public isn't focused on that is unclear to me," Olliges said. "It is a big concern; those are very high levels of PCBs that need to be remediated. That's our number one goal."

The Navy scheduled another public meeting for Thursday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of Mountain View City Hall. Agenda items included Hangar One's historical value, clean-up efforts at the drainage pond contaminated by the hangar and the search for the source of groundwater contamination at nearby military housing.

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

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