Countywide : Waste Sites Cleanup Termed No Threat

Col. Guido Portante, commander of the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center, assured residents this week that the cleanup of potential waste sites inside the base does not pose a health threat.

Portante said that a preliminary study has identified 12 sites where soil contamination exists, but hazardous substances have not been found and there is no contamination of drinking water.

About 35 residents living around the 1,300-acre base attended Wednesday’s meeting at Los Alamitos High School to hear Portante and other base officials discuss the cleanup plans.

Portante said that federal law requires military installations across the country to comply with environmental guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“It seems like good housekeeping,” said Shirley Baily, president of the 1,200-member Rossmoor Homeowners Assn. The base “is trying to provide better pollution management, and we’re supportive of what they’re doing,” Baily said.

In a report mailed to residents of Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Seal Beach, Garden Grove, Cypress and Westminster, environmental planner Troy Hardin said the cleanup sites include buildings and landfills that have not been used for some time. Among them are underground storage tanks, a waste water treatment plant closed in the 1960s, a rifle and pistol range and an area near the airfields used for aircraft maintenance, washing and fuel storage.

Hardin said a consulting firm, Clayton Environmental of Cypress, has been hired to investigate the waste sites. The investigation may take a year to complete, he said.

“This is a slow and complicated process,” Hardin said. “We want to be thorough because we don’t want the EPA to order us to do it all over again.”

Capt. Michael Wells, the project manager, said that preliminary studies have cost $300,000 so far, but he could not say how much the cleanup will cost. He said costs will depend upon the extent of the contamination, which won’t be known until after the investigation.

In the meantime, Wells said, there is no indication of leaks from the contaminated sites.

The base was used for 30 years as a naval air station, providing training for fighter and bomber units. In 1972, it became the Armed Forces Reserve Center, operated by the California Army National Guard.

It houses the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, which responds to natural disasters, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Medfly Project.