Navy Seeks Limits on Its Cleanup at El Toro

Despite repeated pledges to clean up all pollution at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the Navy now wants to be released from liability for any water contamination that might be discovered there in the future.

Under a proposed settlement signed by the Department of Justice this month, the Navy would pay $8 million of $35 million required to clean up a 3-mile-wide tainted ground-water plume “in exchange for not being held responsible for any future liability that could result from ‘unknown contaminants,’ ” according to a report from the state Regional Water Quality Control Board in Santa Ana.

The rest of the water cleanup would be funded by three area water districts, which want to bring the water up to drinking standards.

Several Navy officials declined to comment on the proposed settlement, directing inquiries to a Department of Justice attorney. Attempts to reach the lawyer after business hours were unsuccessful.

The regional board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control share oversight of cleanup of the site, which is on the federal Superfund list of toxic hot spots. The ground-water cleanup is in addition to more than $100 million being spent by the Navy on other contamination at the base. Plans to turn the base, which operated from 1943 to 1999, into a commercial airport have sharply divided the county.

The plume flowing from under the base into ground water beneath Irvine is tainted with decades-old contaminants. There are high levels of dissolved solids, which likely originate from early agricultural uses before the military took over the land. Trichloroethylene (TCE), a possible carcinogen, is also present from heavy use of a toxic solvent to degrease aircraft. The contamination plume, stretching one mile by three miles, is moving one foot per day, and is expected to contaminate local drinking water in 10 to 20 years if it is not cleaned up, said Ron Wildermuth, spokesman for the Orange County Water District.

The $35-million cleanup project includes a de-salter, which would reduce dissolved solids; and air stripping, which would force the TCE out into filters. Operation and maintenance of the de-salter and air stripping is projected to cost $2 million per year, with the Navy expected to pick up $450,000. The projects are expected to bring the water to drinking standards, Wildermuth said.

But, according to regional water officials, the water districts are reluctant to sign the agreement because of recent concerns that the water is also contaminated by radionuclides and MTBE, a so-called oxygenate that helps gasoline burn more completely.

Wildermuth said the water districts are negotiating with the Navy over the settlement and liability.

“That is a matter being looked at right now,” he said.

He said both the MTBE and radionuclides, which come from natural sources or landfills on the base, are probably treatable. “But we just want to make sure if something comes up, we can go to the table and discuss it,” he said.

Wildermuth declined to comment on what the water district would do if the Navy is unwilling to change its stance on future liability.

“We want to protect the public--it’s our primary concern,” he said.

However, liability is also a concern for county officials and taxpayers, who unexpectedly were forced to pay $4 million to clean decades-old ground-water contamination that was found during construction of a terminal that opened in 1991 at John Wayne Airport.

It remains unclear who would accept liability if the settlement is signed. County officials were either unreachable or declined to comment Monday night.

Environmental contamination has been a longtime headache at the base. In December, the State Lands Commission delayed turning over the facility to Orange County because of concerns about environmental cleanup.

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Times Staff Writer Jean O. Pasco contributed to this report.