Mopping Up : The local military is at the forefront of developing hazardous- materials cleanup techniques.

Recently, business sections and journals around the country have been carrying defense industry stories like the following: “With the easing of tensions between East and West, we have begun to beat our swords into environmental plowshares.” That’s a quote from Richard Golob, publisher of the newsletter “Hazardous Waste Intelligence Report.”

What, if any, of this martial environmentalism is going on at the big Navy installations in Ventura County?

The short answer is that they are cleaning up their act “every day, as part of the business” they are in, said Lt. Cmdr. Edward Payne, who is in charge of aircraft maintenance at the Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu.

I asked him about press reports of billions being allocated for the cleanup, and defense contractors lining up for the cash. The money, he said, was mostly for bases that had been closed. His own operation was very much up and running, and he was making sure his base was a clean-as-you-go operation.

At the nearby Naval Construction Battalion in Port Hueneme, they have an Installation Restoration Program, as does every Naval base nowadays, said spokeswoman Linda Wadley. They have begun to involve “old-timers,” men and women who have been working at the base “forever.” They’re being interviewed about locations where toxics might be left over from the bad old days before the country acquired an environmental conscience.

“Contracts have been started to begin collecting and removing, and in some cases recycling, what’s been found,” Wadley said.

Both in and out of the military, a movement is burgeoning. It is called “haz-mat” for hazardous materials handling. Payne defined “materials” thus: “Anything that has a chemical compound and is not biodegradable . . . and can’t be poured into the sewer system or watershed.”

Asked for examples, he ticked off “thinners, paints, battery acids, solvents, aircraft and vehicle soaps and any used or unused petroleum material.” By his definition, he has to look after the supply, transport, storage and safe disposal of 850 haz-mats.

At Point Mugu, Payne considers the naval air personnel to be “customers” for all the materials in his charge, and he tries to provide them with “the best and most complete service with the least amount of effort and paperwork on their part.”

Along the way, he’s done something environmentalists and taxpayers alike will applaud. By tight management of supplies, which ecologists call “source reduction,” he has cut waste and spillage by over 50%. His term for it is “reduced haz-mat generation.”

“It’s a cradle-to-grave type of program,” Payne says. “We watch it coming in, we do all the ordering, we follow it through the life cycle and we put it out (the other end) either as a recyclable or as a minimized waste product.” The Navy has made something of a local hero of Payne, sending him around to other bases to talk about his work. This guy is a toxic cop I’d like to have on the beat where I live and work.

When I began researching this column, I suspected there were haz-mat people in the military who had been handling munitions and such and, with retraining when they left the service, could make the transition to keeping a paint factory or refinery eco-clean.

Well, I got a jolt when it dawned on me that the military has already begun this work internally. They are even bringing in civilians to help. And I thought I was going to help demobilized sailors and soldiers find work by giving them a few numbers to call.

Maybe I shouldn’t be running the info in FYI today. I don’t want Payne and his crew to be lured off the base when they are doing such good work for the local environment.

* FYI

A newsletter called Environmental Opportunities, which lists nationwide job openings--many in “haz-mat” work--is available by calling (707) 444-6669.

A recent issue of the magazine Environmental Careers (whose number is (303) 229-0029) gave the following list of today’s top environmental careers (in no particular order):

* Industrial hygienists

* Project managers

* Hazardous waste/remediation engineers

* Water specialists and geologists/hydrogeologists

* Environmental risk assessors

* Analytical/laboratory professionals

* Air quality specialists

* Business development/marketing professionals