El Toro Marines Rap Report on Water Pollution

Marine Corps officials said Friday that an Orange County Water District study showing extensive ground water pollution near and on the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station was “premature and unfortunate in that it drew conclusions and assigned responsibilities” without considering an extensive environmental report by the military.

The military study, which led to the installation of 13 ground water monitoring wells and seven soil boring wells on and near the El Toro station, is scheduled to be delivered to the water district on April 17, military officials said Friday.

Study Claims Pollution

A study released earlier this week by OCWD concluded that a cancer-causing chemical has polluted a vast pool of underground water that has migrated more than 3 miles from the western edge of the El Toro base into the Woodbridge area of Irvine.

While the plume of contaminated ground water poses no immediate threat to domestic wells, the OCWD board of directors voted Wednesday night to begin negotiations with the Irvine Co. and the Irvine Ranch Water District to starting pumping the contaminated water out of the underground aquifer.

The contamination by trichloroethylene, also known as TCE, covered 2,900 acres, the yearlong, $1-million district study showed.

Blame in the report clearly rested with the military, the OCWD concluded. The report noted that the Marines have routinely disposed of toxic materials, including TCE, on the air station grounds for nearly 4 decades before the practice was halted in the early 1980s.

On Wednesday, military officials pointed to the now closed Irvine Raceway as a possible source of the contamination.

But on Friday, military officials decried the OCWD conclusions and indicated that the air station was moving ahead to determine the extent of the problem and a solution, according to a press release issued by 1st Lt. Gene C. Browne.

“Presentation of the Orange County Water District report on the results of its study at its April 5 board of director’s meeting was premature and unfortunate in that it drew conclusions and assigned responsibility, without regard to, or the benefit of, the professional analysis and final recommendations of the extensive United States Marine Corps study,” Browne said in the release. He is a public affairs officer for the air station.

Will Start Cleanup

He said the results of the Marine Corps’ own study would be delivered to the OCWD on April 17, and that air station officials then will begin to determine what contamination was caused by past activities of the base and begin a cleanup program.

But Browne said the Marine Corps endorses the OCWD board’s action to authorize pumping of the contaminated water as a way of reducing and eventually eliminating any public health threat.

“Marine Corps Air Station El Toro remains committed to the protection of the ground water supply in Orange County and will continue to work with all concerned parties toward that end,” Browne said.