Supervisors Seek Independent Study of El Toro Contamination

In what could become a costly showdown with the Department of the Navy, Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved open-ended contract negotiations with an environmental law firm and two engineering firms to conduct their own investigation of contamination at the closed El Toro Marine base.

The move comes as the county prepares to adopt a final plan in September to transform much of the base into a second commercial airport. County officials hope the Navy will turn over base property early next year.

While the debate rages over the airport, supervisors on both sides of the issue have become increasingly pointed about the need to know what contamination occurred at El Toro during its 56 years of military activity--regardless of what eventually is built there.

So far, the only environmental assessment has been done by the Navy on about 3,500 acres of land that the county hopes to obtain. The rest of the property is destined for the Department of Interior as wildlife habitat, including about 20 acres used as a disposal site for explosive ordnance.

“I don’t trust the Navy’s analysis,” Supervisor Todd Spitzer said. “Their interest is getting rid of this property, and our interest should be protecting ourselves from future liability. I want to make sure the defects are known.”

The federal government ultimately is responsible for cleaning up contamination at the base. But should costs exceed what has been budgeted--if unanticipated contamination is discovered, for example--it could drastically slow the cleanup process and leave the county in the position of having to front the money so the property can be used sooner.

Last year, the county signed a master lease with the Navy to take control of a small portion of the base, including the golf course and horse stables. The lease included a hard-fought provision sought by the county’s attorneys that allows the county to request independent soil testing for contaminants.

County attorneys issued a warning in 1997 that failure to conduct an independent environmental assessment of the base could leave the county liable for the cleanup of unexpected contamination.

Supervisors agreed Tuesday to hire GeoSyntec Consultants of Irvine, in association with Tait & Associates of Orange, to conduct the environmental analysis. The law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen of San Francisco will provide “advisory environmental law services” to the county.

The costs of both contracts haven’t been determined. McCutchen, Doyle, which will charge between $220 and $290 per hour of attorney time, already has been paid $1.1 million for its work in helping negotiate the El Toro master lease with the Navy.

The firms ultimately will be paid from John Wayne Airport revenue, which has been stretched thin in the past six years from covering El Toro planning costs. John Wayne Airport’s 2001 financial plan already warned that the drain on reserves could jeopardize its ability to repay debt early and could result in higher airport fees.

In another John Wayne Airport matter Tuesday, supervisors approved a one-year lease for Aloha Airlines to begin service on May 1 between Orange County and Hawaii. The lease had been held up by supervisors’ wrangling over the fate of El Toro.

So far, the Navy has committed $160 million toward the cleanup of El Toro, designated one of the nation’s most toxic sites. Navy officials have said that about two-thirds of the “locations of concern” on the base require no further action. Two landfills containing known hazardous waste will be capped.

Members of the Restoration Advisory Board, a panel required by base closure laws to study cleanup issues, have openly criticized the Navy’s contamination studies of El Toro. The documents are incomplete and don’t adequately address concerns about levels of trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chlorinated solvents used to clean aircraft, as well as radioactive debris, according to Charles Bennett of Fullerton, chairman of the board’s technical subcommittee.

Negotiations also have been slow over the Navy’s involvement in a $35-million plan to clean up a contaminated ground-water plume under Irvine. The ground water--which is not used for drinking--contains TCE and dissolved solids from agricultural use.

The plan calls for the Navy to pay $8 million of the cleanup costs, with two water districts paying the rest. An agreement appeared imminent last year, but the Navy insisted on language that would have absolved the federal government of future liability resulting from “unknown contaminants.”

A new agreement is close to approval, Ron Wildermuth, public information officer for the Orange County Water District, said Tuesday. It “makes sure the Navy honors its obligation to clean up” contamination, he said.