PORT HUENEME : Navy to Dedicate New Laboratory

The Navy is scheduled to dedicate a new national laboratory at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme today that will develop and test new technologies to clean up toxic waste sites.

Sponsored by the U. S. departments of defense and energy and the Navy, the facility, to be known as the National Environmental Technology Demonstration Test Site, will be the first of its kind in the nation, officials said.

According to Rear Adm. David J. Nash, the Seabee base’s commanding officer, successful technologies developed at the site will be applied to contaminated federal lands and then will be made available to private industry for use on non-federal lands.

“This program supports President Clinton’s goal to use federal facilities to aid the development of innovative cleanup technologies, stimulate high-tech environmental job opportunities and speed cleanup of Department of Defense facilities,” Nash said.

Officials said the first demonstration at the site will involve special biological organisms that will be used to clean tainted soil excavated during removal of underground fuel tanks at the base.

Members of the public are invited to attend the dedication ceremonies, which will begin at 2 p.m. Those wishing to attend should enter the base through the Pleasant Valley gate at the intersection of Ventura and Pleasant Valley roads.