[CPEO-MEF] Moffett wetlands plan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The emerging controversy at Moffett Field over wetlands cleanup is a new
wrinkle in the relationship between "reasonably anticipated future land
use" and cleanup remedies. The extent of cleanup, as well as the terms
of land use controls, may depend upon the future management of the
former Navy base's wetlands, now owned by NASA's Ames Research Center.

Lenny Siegel


DEGREE OF DECONTAMINATION AT ISSUE IN MOFFETT MARSH CLEANUP:
Conflicting standards favored by Navy, local advisory board 

By Justin Scheck
Mountain View Voice
May 18, 2001 

The Navy's Superfund cleanup at Moffett Field is again raising
questions, as a proposed plan to remove toxins from a marsh on the base
has set the stage for a conflict between naval spending and
environmental restoration concerns. 

The eastern diked marsh and a storm water retention pond at the
northwest end of the base are contaminated with an array of hazardous
materials, ranging from the pesticide DDT and highly toxic PCBs to
metals such as lead and zinc. 

If its preferred cleanup plan gets approved, the Navy will clean up the
marsh and retention pond by removing contaminated sediments, "restoring"
the area to a seasonal wetland where the only source of water would be
the rains that fall in the winter. In the summer the area would dry out. 

But local observers question whether this action would truly restore the
environment; they contend that the marsh, before it was separated from
the bay by a man-made dike, was a tidal wetland, an environment that
supports a greater diversity of wildlife-and requires a higher cleanup
standard-than a seasonal wetland. 

...

For the entire story, see
http://www.mv-voice.com/thisweek/2001_05_18.moff18.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org


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