Marines at El Toro to Attack Toxic Waste Sites : Environment: The corps agrees to meet 1993 deadlines for determining the problem, laying final cleanup plans and paying for the work.

The Defense Department and top officials from federal and state environmental agencies reached a long-awaited agreement Wednesday to investigate and clean up toxic waste that was dumped in at least 22 locations at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

By signing the agreement, the Marine Corps vowed to meet 1993 deadlines for determining the extent of the contamination and developing final cleanup plans. It also pledged special military funds needed for the work, which, according to a preliminary estimate, could exceed $10 million.

“This is a very important first step. We really applaud it,” said John Kearns, head of the state Department of Health Service’s toxics control office. “It’s a commitment by the Marine Corps . . . and it sets up a schedule, enforceable with fines, for investigation and cleanup.”

Toxic troubles have plagued the El Toro air station for more than five years, and local and state water and health agencies have repeatedly prodded the Marines to start the work. The base has been on the federal Superfund list of the nation’s most dangerous toxic waste sites since February.

The Marine Corps and the federal Environmental Protection Agency also agreed on Wednesday to investigate pollution at two other bases in Southern California--Camp Pendleton just south of Orange County and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow. They also are on the nation’s Superfund list.

Assistant Navy Secretary Jacqueline Schafer said the agreements are “a declaration of our determination to work cooperatively.” The Navy oversees a special fund developed by Congress for cleaning up chemical waste at all military sites.

Schafer added, however, that “it won’t eliminate differences in judgment” that may arise, such as how the areas should be cleaned up.

For years, local water and health officials have been frustrated because, they said, they had no control over the waste at the military base, even though it lies in an urban area.

“It finally sets in concrete the schedule to do things out there, which has been a big problem in the past,” said William Mills, general manager of the Orange County Water District, which manages the underground water supply.

The El Toro base is considered by local and state health officials to be one of the worst dump sites in Orange County. Three agricultural water wells next to the base have been tainted with a toxic solvent that the Marines used to degrease aircraft.

However, much of the pollution comes from past practices that since have been outlawed and corrected at the base.

Jet fuel, spent motor oil, carcinogenic solvents and other toxic materials were dumped on the ground in at least 22 locations--and perhaps more than 50--on the sprawling, 5,200-acre base. Some of the spots are as large as 20 acres, containing a variety of toxic materials, including explosives, low-level radioactive waste, battery acids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and industrial solvents, EPA records show.

The chemicals pose a serious risk, but not an immediate threat, to Orange County’s ground water, a valuable source of drinking water, state officials said. Also, three streams flow through the base, so the toxics could eventually seep into them and ultimately into San Diego Creek and Newport Bay.

The agreement was reached after several months of intense negotiations between the military, the EPA, the state health department and the state’s water board. Most of the disputes were over technical and legal matters, such as the role of each agency.

“This is a blueprint for what we’re going to do. . . . Now, we know what’s expected of us,” said Lt. (j.g.) Michael Rehor, environmental director for the El Toro and Tustin bases.

Schafer and EPA regional director Daniel McGovern attended a signing ceremony at the El Toro base Wednesday morning, along with Kearns and several other state and local officials.

The Marines vowed to develop a final plan for cleaning up polluted ground water underneath the El Toro base by April, 1993. By October, 1993, they will have a plan for mitigating the 22 contaminated sites. Interim reports are required, beginning in 1992.

About 30 other sites on the base also might contain toxic waste, and the Marines have agreed to investigate them and design a cleanup method, if necessary, by September, 1994.

If the Marine base doesn’t comply with the deadlines, it faces federal fines of up to $10,000 per day under the agreement.

State officials said they were pleased by the deadlines, calling them aggressive.

“Considering the size of the bases and the complexity of the contamination problems, it’s an ambitious schedule,” said John Scandura, head of the state health department’s site mitigation branch.

McGovern said the agreement sets up a relationship between the Defense Department and the environmental agencies that “will be crucial to cleaning up these sites expeditiously and in a manner fully protective of public health and the environment.”

The agreement, however, fails to resolve one of the most heated and prolonged battles between the El Toro base and local officials. At issue is whether the Marines should pay to clean up chemicals that have tainted the three agricultural wells on Irvine Co. property just outside the base.

Mills said he is disappointed that the EPA didn’t require the Marines to pay for a cleanup system that the Orange County Water District has constructed. Water officials believe that trichlorethylene leaked from the base into the wells, forming a 3-mile-long underground spill.

The Marines, however, say they aren’t convinced that all the TCE, a solvent used for degreasing, came from their base. So far, the local water agency has spent $2.5 million to clean up the wells, and it believes that it should come from federal defense funds instead of local pockets.

Also on Wednesday, the El Toro base and the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin were presented the Defense Department’s annual award for environmental quality. The award recognizes environmental improvements at the base in 1989, including an expanded recycling program for toxic waste.