El Toro Is Fouled, but Some See Park as Waste

Re “Toxins Mar Park Plan, Panel Says,” Dec. 11:

A park or airport use should have no bearing on the level of cleanup at the closed El Toro Marine base. Yet Greg Hurley’s report said it might be impossible to safely and economically convert it to a park. Does this then not hold true for the park areas that the county has told us will be part of the airport plan? What about the massive earth-moving required to build the airport? Hurley sits on the Restoration Advisory Board, which has met monthly for the last seven years. I have been to several meetings. Hurley has known about the levels of toxins and cleanup for years. The base must be cleaned up to the highest level possible regardless of whether it is used as a park or airport. Why now is he finding religion? It’s amazing what greed will do for you. This will backfire on the Airport Working Group just like its “objective” park financial analysis.

M. Chieffo

Lake Forest

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The latest Newport Beach-funded attack on the Great Park comes loaded with unintentional irony. While the pro-airport camp claims to have suddenly “discovered” toxic substances under the El Toro base, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority and Great Park supporters have for years been calling for a full investigation of the level of pollution associated with the Marines’ tenure. And while South County communities have demanded that the Navy be responsible for removing the toxins and restoring the base to its original condition, airport advocates have openly said they are willing to accept whatever poisons lie in the land as long as they can get the Navy to turn over ownership of the base quickly. Only now, when they face defeat at the polls with Measure W, do the pro-airport forces crank up the crocodile tears over pollution at the base.

The truth is that any park construction would cause far less disruption and pollution than the construction of an airport. The Times reported in August that the years of airport construction would cause tremendous air pollution countywide (“Building El Toro May Hurt Air Quality,” Aug 18). The airport plan calls for the largest excavation in the county’s history. The northeastern part of the base would be lowered by more than 40 feet and the southwestern part of the base would be raised by 60 feet, in an effort to level the runways.

This would require the excavation and relocation of more than 10 million cubic yards of dirt. And because the county wants to absolve the Navy of any responsibility for cleaning the soil, we can expect the clouds of dust kicked up by the bulldozers to be chock-full of carcinogens and toxins. The excavation required for the Great Park, on the other hand, is dwarfed by what would be required for airport construction. And what’s more, the park construction would occur only after the base has been properly cleaned. When the construction dust settles, we will be left with a pristine park, rather than a noxious, polluting airport.

Arnold Burke

Lake Forest

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For the last four years I have comfortably lived three miles from John Wayne Airport. I have flown from John Wayne many times, but I have also fought traffic to Ontario Airport and LAX.

I don’t think it’s right for all of Southern California to have only one international airport, LAX. I do believe that we in Orange County should shoulder our share of the burden.

No one complained when the Marines used El Toro for 50 years. Why are we fighting to keep from enjoying the economic and commercial growth an international airport would provide for Orange County? All airports produce a certain level of air and noise pollution. That will always be a fact of life.

In 2035, when South County is built out to accommodate some of the millions of people coming to California, we’ll be glad we made room for an international airport where it will relieve the congestion on the way to LAX.

But more importantly, since Sept. 11, while Orange County high-rise buildings and our San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant represent choice terrorist targets, I would feel more comfortable knowing that a half a dozen fighter jets were sharing the El Toro airport with the commercial airliners. We really don’t need another Chernobyl smothering all of Southern California like the atomic cloud that drifted across Europe.

Robert A. Felburg

Costa Mesa

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Opponents of the El Toro commercial airport’s solution is to push for airports in ABET (Anywhere But El Toro). Long Beach and John Wayne Airport are the nearest locations. Without El Toro, all airports in Southern California will have to absorb Orange County’s air traffic.

Long Beach Airport will have to increase its air traffic capacity. El Toro opponents say Long Beach Airport is underutilized and are basically asking it to handle passengers from Los Angeles and Orange counties.

To close El Toro and export air transportation to other cities, Irvine and other South County cities have introduced the Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve Initiative. Beware this phony initiative! It promises a “Central Park” but all it would do is raise taxes and cause an increase in air and surface traffic to west Orange County cities.

Larry Root

Newport Beach

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How can we trust anything coming from airport opponents? Their glossy brochures contained pictures and captions of what we could expect if we voted for their park plan, and they even said the price tag wouldn’t be the responsibility of taxpayers. However, we now know it is better classified as a “bait and switch” plan.

Forget those pretty pictures of a park they flaunted and read the fine print on your ballot information. All you are voting for is a rezoning project. Measure W does not include any of those wonderful projects because there is no money to provide them and there won’t be for a long, long time--if ever. Measure W stands for waste, because that is what will happen to that land. Don’t be fooled!

K.P. Mover

Newport Beach