Measure Would Urge Base Cleanup

Orange County voters could be faced with another November ballot measure involving El Toro, this one urging the Navy to remove toxic contamination before the former Marine base can be sold.

Supervisor Cynthia P. Coad will ask her colleagues Tuesday to place a measure regarding cleanup at the base on the ballot.

“This is an effort to protect the county and the county taxpayers from the cost of cleanup and to protect our citizens,” Coad said Thursday.

The Navy has certified as clean about 85% of the 4,700-acre base, which is designated as one of the most polluted sites in the country. Navy officials said they plan no further cleanup before the sale.

A nonbinding county measure would have no authority over the Navy, which plans to sell the base land in the coming months. But its passage could present political problems, given the military’s cleanup record at other bases.

Greg Hurley, an environmental attorney and past chairman of the local environmental review board for El Toro, applauded the advisory measure, even if it only sends a message to the Navy. Hurley has criticized the Navy for refusing to sample soil around the base to determine what contaminants might be uncovered during development.

“I’m ecstatic to hear that the board is considering this,” he said.

The proposed measure joins another suggested this week by Supervisor Chuck Smith that would require voter approval of any changes to a final redevelopment plan for El Toro. Voters in March grounded the county’s plans for a commercial airport and created new zoning for a large urban park. Irvine, which wants to annex the property, has modified that plan by adding 3,400 homes and 2.9 million square feet of office space.

Studies by Irvine and the county have suggested that the Navy’s search for toxic contamination at El Toro was inadequate. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has urged the Navy to use money from land sales to clean the base. The federal government must clean contamination, but there is no deadline.

Coad’s measure calls on the Navy to do a “thorough and complete” study of contamination at El Toro and to identify the costs of cleanup, including how the community would be reimbursed for “direct or consequential damages.”