San Diego : Tierrasanta Cleanup OKd

The U.S. Department of Defense has approved spending $16.2 million for a comprehensive program to clean up old munitions in an area of Tierrasanta that served as a military firing range.

“We may now have the funds to defuse the time bomb that has been ticking in the backyards of Tierrasanta residents since the area was developed,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), who announced the program Saturday.

The money was approved last week by the Army office of environmental policy and will come from the Pentagon’s environmental restoration fund, Lowery said.

Two children were killed nearly two years ago in Tierrasanta when an anti-tank shell they were playing with exploded. Since then, dozens of residents have called the San Diego Fire Department to retrieve various pieces of ammunition, including 81-millimeter mortar rounds, signal flares, a 75-millimeter projectile, .50-caliber armor-piercing rounds and a 25-pound practice bomb.

Tierrasanta, a 2,600-acre community, was built on part of Camp Elliott, a 43-square-mile Marine Corps training base and artillery range during World War II. The Navy has conducted annual sweeps of the region the last two years and recovered hundreds of pieces of ordnance, including some that are still explosive.

“It is gratifying to have this response from the Defense Department,” Lowery said in a prepared statement. “We must continue to educate and warn until we can free our children to enjoy the open space surrounding their homes in Tierrasanta.”

Lowery said the Army Corps of Engineers will form an advisory panel and hold community meetings to develop a plan to conduct the clean-up program. The process is expected to take one year. In the meantime, the Navy will continue its annual sweeps.