RE: Experts discuss dispute over Hamilton plume

[slbaker@calpoly.edu]

I lived in a Hamiliton AFB housing unit for only a few months in 1982 
(as a former Navy wife) with my family. I felt then that the base was 
toxic, and wondered why Novato seemed eager to acquire the base land 
without seriously testing the soil and water. That this plume has 
materialized is just not surprising.
-sheila baker

cpeo wrote:
> 
> California
> MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL
> Experts discuss dispute over Hamilton plume
> By Jennifer Gollan, IJ reporter
> January 21, 2004
> 
> Concern about a toxic underground plume at Hamilton Field drew more than
> 60 people to a forum last night prompted by city assertions that the
> plume was within 100 feet of the Novato Charter School and the North Bay
> Children's Center.
> 
> A panel of officials from the Navy, state regulatory agencies, the
> Novato Unified School District and scientists hired by Novato took
> questions from parents and residents at a session in school offices.
> 
> The meeting followed a Jan. 4 Independent Journal report that detailed
> the recent detection of low levels of a suspected carcinogen, MTBE, or
> methyl tertiary butyl ether, within 100 feet of the school and day care
> center at the former Navy gas station at the corner of Main Gate Road
> and C Street.
> 
> City officials concurred with regulatory agencies and the Navy, which
> owns the former Navy gas station where the plume originated, that the
> area does not pose a health or environmental risk to the children or
> staff at the school.
> 
> Still, a deep fissure remains between Novato City Manager Rod Wood,
> absent from yesterday's meeting, and the Navy over whether the plume is
> moving toward the school and day care center. Diverging opinions on the
> movement of the plume are driven in part by differing interpretations of
> an August 2003 Navy report.
> 
> This article can be viewed at:
> http://www.marinij.com/Stories/0,1413,234~24407~1905219,00.html
> 
> 

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