Cox Vows Federal Cleanup at El Toro

IRVINE —  Rep. Christopher Cox said Wednesday that he intends to hold the military to its promise to clean up toxic contamination at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that could eventually pose a threat to drinking water.

“They contaminated the [water] basin, and they should pay,” said Cox (R-Newport Beach), adding that he will seek legislation to force the federal government to pay cleanup costs unless an agreement is reached quickly. “They made a commitment to the cleanup, and now they’re reversing their stand on this.”

The Navy Department, which oversees the Marine Corps, and local water districts had planned to co-finance a $34-million ground-water treatment plant in Irvine that would be used to clean up water contamination on and off the base, water district officials said.

But earlier this month federal officials told the water districts that they were considering a variety of options that could be less costly, including letting the contamination disperse on its own.

Federal officials, however, insisted Wednesday that they are not backing out of their commitment to protect the health of Orange County residents.

“We’re not turning our backs on Orange County,” said El Toro spokesman Master Sgt. Raymond Tademy. “We definitely do not want to leave behind any contamination. At this point, we’re just reviewing our options.”

Bonnie Arthur, Environmental Protection Agency project manager for El Toro, said that her agency last December asked the Navy to give higher priority to highly contaminated water and soil at the base, saying it wanted to prevent further movement of the contamination.

The Navy is expected later this year to select a cleanup option, which will then undergo public hearings, said Tom Huetteman, acting Navy section chief in the federal facilities cleanup branch at the EPA’s regional office in San Francisco.

County officials are concerned that the federal list of cleanup alternatives was recently expanded to include a process that would allow nature to take its course in cleansing the off-site ground water.

The options will be studied carefully, Huetteman said. He noted that the EPA has a legal obligation to ensure that “the selected alternative has to be protective of human health and the environment.”

There is no immediate threat to public health due to off-base contamination, officials said.

However, officials at the Orange County Water District and the Irvine Ranch Water District, which sell water to residents in the greater Irvine area, said that they have evidence that a toxic plume is flowing off the base underground, expanding at the rate of one to four feet per day.

And they said that the plume, made up of toxic chemicals used to clean engine parts, is headed toward drinking-water wells five to eight miles away in Tustin and Santa Ana.

“The plume is moving,” said William R. Mills Jr., general manager of the Orange County Water District, which manages area ground water.

Mills and others said they are concerned that the plume might ultimately contaminate drinking water.

Federal officials said the suspected health risks might be overblown.

The federal government is obligated to clean up the base contamination as the military prepares to abandon the 4,700-acre base by 1999. How much will be spent and what method will be used to clean up the contamination is being debated.

The dispute comes as the county is weighing a proposal to turn the base into an international commercial airport, an issue that has inflamed South County residents.

County water officials said they believed they were in agreement with the Navy over the co-financing of a water purification plant as a solution to the problem until late last year, when the EPA reviewed the costly plans.

The EPA said the one alternative that had not been considered was doing nothing and sent Navy officials back to the drawing board, Mills said. While EPA guidelines require review of all alternatives--including doing nothing--some fear that the federal government might be trying to avoid responsibility.

“We’re getting the feeling . . . that the no-action alternative is becoming an acceptable alternative,” said Ronald E. Young, general manager of the Irvine Ranch Water District. “And it’s not.”

If built, the plant is expected to purify the contaminated ground water. Cox and water officials said that a large portion of the cost of the plant is expected to be offset by water sales.