Lockheed needs to clean up its legacy

In the article “Airport to raise parking fees” on Dec. 18, we strongly disagree with Lockheed Martin Corporation statements that it had nothing to do with live-fire training of its firefighters at Bob Hope Airport after 1963 (when the airport was still called Lockheed Air Terminal). Thousands of San Fernando Valley residents remember the thick black clouds of smoke near the west end of the airport when these training drills were conducted.

Lockheed Martin is shirking its obligation to the residents of the San Fernando Valley to clean up its pollution legacy. And even though Lockheed moved out of Burbank in the early 1990s, it is still punishing the people who live, work and travel here.

The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority will vigorously fight this miscarriage of public policy, and hopes that the traveling public that is shouldering the burden of responding to Lockheed will understand why.

Dan Feger

Burbank

Editor’s note: Feger is executive director of Bob Hope Airport.