[CPEO-IRF] Kelly Air Force Base (TX) contamination

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Bad news bearers

State, fed agencies seem unfazed by troubling Kelly reports

By Lisa Sorg
San Antonio Current (TX)
February 1, 2006

When you sift through the hundreds of pages of numbers and the long 
chemical names, the situation at Kelly Air Force Base boils down to 
this: The water, dirt, and fish in Leon Creek are contaminated with 
toxic chemicals. The Air Force's incomplete data is hampering an 
independent consultant's ability to evaluate how military contractors 
are cleaning up the former base and the residential neighborhood that 
abuts it. And, at this rate, a complete cleanup is decades away.

In January, biochemist Wilma Subra and civil engineer Patrick Lynch 
delivered sobering presentations about the ongoing cleanup of 
contamination at Kelly. [See related story, "Report bears little good 
news for Kelly cleanup," January 4-10, 2006.] The presentations were 
part of a meeting of the Kelly Air Force Restoration Advisory Board, 
which hired consultants Subra and Lynch to review the military's data. 
Members of the RAB, as it's known, include residents from the affected 
community, scientists, and an Air Force representative. Staff from the 
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental 
Protection Agency also attend the meetings.

Among the many issues the RAB faces are the chemicals found in Leon 
Creek, which are the same as were used at Kelly when it was a military 
base. While TCEQ's Mark Weeger said the fish could have been 
contaminated elsewhere and migrated to the creek, Subra noted that, 
"Kelly is the biggest elephant around."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16040398&BRD=2318&PAG=461&dept_id=484045&rfi=6

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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