Navy's Hangar One report nearly complete Navy's Hangar One report nearly complete (December 02, 2005)

By Jon Wiener

Navy scientists have completed the first draft of a report detailing 13 different plans for Hangar One, and are in the process of getting approval from senior officials and regulatory agencies before they release it to the public.

Moffett cleanup manager Rick Weissenborn told the audience at a Restoration Advisory Board meeting in mid-November that the Navy was aiming to complete the long-awaited report by late January or early February.

The Navy had originally planned to release the report in early September and begin work on the contaminated hangar this winter. But an outcry from the public convinced officials to slow down the process and examine all possible alternatives, not just demolition or replacing the hangar's siding.

"We still want to do the cleanup as rapidly as possible once the decision is made what to do," said Navy spokesperson Jill Votaw. She said the Navy wants to proceed quickly in order to move on to the cleanup at Site 25, a polluted wetlands area where PCBs from Hangar One have been found in the sediment.

Earlier this year, the Navy agreed to clean up the site to a level such that it can be restored from a drainage pond to wetlands.

Save the Bay policy director Felicia Madsen said that her organization, which led the campaign to restore the wetlands, also would like to see the cleanup done as soon as possible -- but, she said, she appreciates the Navy's effort to incorporate community input on Hangar One.

"The urgency [at Site 25] always was to make sure that the Navy took responsibility for the full cleanup before they left Moffett down the road, and we have that commitment from the Navy," Madsen said.

Weissenborn said the decision as to which alternatives to look at in the report -- known as the "engineering evaluation and cost analysis" -- was based on the feasibility and effectiveness of those options. He said the cost of the various alternatives would ultimately figure into which one the Navy recommends.

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