[CPEO-MEF] Moffett Field - Hangar 1

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

I've posted messages before about Hangar 1, the huge blimp hangar at the 
former Moffett Naval Air Station. Moffett Field is in/adjacent to my 
community of Mountain View, California. Most of the former Navy property 
at Moffett is now owned and managed by NASA's Ames Research Center. 
Moffett has been on the "Superfund" National Priorities List since 1987. 
Hangar 1 is a protected historic landmark.

NASA's environmental team determined, a couple of years back, that 
Hangar 1 coatings and structural materials were a major source of the 
deposits of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Moffett wetlands. 
They actually traced to the hangar the unique PCB congeners found in the 
sediment. In addition, lead paint from the Hangar has also been found in 
Moffett run-off.

In response, the Navy acted quickly, implementing a challenging but 
effective time-critical removal action, coating the hangar to reduce 
releases. NASA closed off the building.

However, as it began its investigation of long-term remedies to halt 
releases of toxic substances from the Hangar 1 structure, the Navy 
asserted that the inside of Hangar 1 was not subject to regulatory 
oversight under CERCLA (the Superfund law).

The Defense Department has made similar assertions at other 
closed/closing military bases. In particular, it argues that it is not 
required to abate lead paint and intact asbestos in military housing 
before transferring that housing to non-federal parties. I don't accept 
that argument, but now, at Moffett, the Navy is going further.

Despite evidence that contaminants from the inside of Hangar 1 are 
migrating, through the stormwater management system at Moffett, into the 
Moffett wetlands, the Navy is asserting that the inside of the building 
is exempt. This claim appears to have no legal basis, and I believe the 
Navy should abandon the argument and instead work with NASA, regulators, 
and the local community to find a reasonable remedy for halting releases 
from both the inside and the outside of the historic structure.

This is a challenging site. I don't of anyone who has yet come up with a 
viable response. But we'll never know if the Navy continues to argue the 
inside, a large share of the problem, is exempted from the cleanup 
program that governs the rest of Moffett Field.

Lenny

--
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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