[CPEO-MEF] USA Today Investigates Base Closure

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Cleanup fights stall new uses for old bases

By Peter Eisler
USA TODAY
October 15, 2004

Redeveloping a military site can revitalize a community
-- but not if the site is polluted

ALAMEDA, Calif. - Taking in the million-dollar views of San Francisco 
Bay from the old Alameda Naval Air Station, it's easy to see why this 
city staked its future on redeveloping the abandoned base. Its thousands 
of feet of coastline are prime real estate in one of the nation's most 
expensive and congested markets.

But looking inland at a maze of empty airplane hangars and rusting 
warehouses, the promise fades.

The air station accounts for a third of the city's area. By now, more 
than a decade after the base's closure was announced, the site was 
supposed to be the thriving heart of a revitalized community, full of 
new homes, shopping areas, boat slips, and a luxury hotel and golf 
course. Instead, the redevelopment of the base is mired in a massive 
environmental cleanup. Groundwater is contaminated with solvents and 
other chemicals used in aircraft maintenance. The soil is fouled by 
dumped munitions and fuel spills.

"Every time you turn a spade of dirt, you're likely to find (more 
pollution) that will drive your cost to clean higher," says David 
Brandt, Alameda's assistant city attorney.

Alameda is among dozens of cities and towns nationwide where lingering 
pollution has upset plans to redevelop closed military bases, a USA 
TODAY investigation finds.

…

for the entire article, see
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041015/a_dodmainday2_15.art.htm

--
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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