-PDBM/FXT
Sequestration poses problem for NASA toxic cleanup By Daniel DeBolt
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ntil budget problems are sorted out, NASA officials say they plan to simply put a fence around piles of contaminated soil that could harm wildlife in Moffett Field’s wetlands. On March 15 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered NASA to clean up piles of contaminated soil near the Bay Trail at Moffett Field which threaten to contaminate a former salt pond along the trail. The soil — excavated from other areas of Moffett — are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), zinc, lead, chromium, cadmium, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). According to the Environmental Protection Agency, erosion of the soil mounds into the adjacent ponds poses a threat to wildlife, including the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. NASA officials say a silt fence around the mounds — typically made of plastic — may
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chip manufacturers including Intel, Fairchild and Raytheon. “If they found high levels, especially in and around the house, my guess is we’d probably look to live somewhere else,” said resident Shannon Bell, who lives with his wife across the street from the highest concentrations of TCE. The EPA is ready to pay to install systems on the homes, if needed, that pull the vapors from underneath and vent them above the roof-line. Bell also expressed concern about begin able to eat from the orange tree in his backyard, though EPA officials have stressed that it’s safe to eat vegetables and fruit grown in TCE contaminated soil. Concentrations of TCE in groundwater were as high as 12,000 parts per billion (ppb) at the Leong Drive site, much lower than the 130,000 ppb hot spot found on Evandale late last year, where a large amount may have been dumped or found its way along a sewer line. The EPA’s groundwater cleanup goal is 5 ppb. Helen Esquivel said she had lived on the corner of Winston and Leong for 30 years, and
have to do for over a year until a “permanent remedy” can be developed. The nearby pond, known as site 25, was subjected last year to a $9.7 million toxic cleanup by the United States Navy, which handed over Moffett Field to NASA Ames Research Center in 1994. According the EPA, one course of contamination from the ponds was rainwater runoff from Hangar One, which recently underwent its own toxic cleanup of PCBs, asbestos and lead, also by the Navy. The Navy is still responsible for much of a widespread toxics cleanup effort at Moffett, which includes miles of petroleum lines and tanks that leaked and a massive groundwater plume of the carcinogenic solvent trichloroethylene (TCE). EPA spokesperson David Yogi said NASA has been cooperative with its portion of the ongoing toxics cleanup at Moffett, but a long-term Federal Facilities Agreement has yet to be negotiated. “NASA is on board” with efforts to get a long-term had only heard of the toxics at nearby Moffett Field. “I hadn’t heard about it,” she said, adding that she would be concerned “if it gets into the water.” EPA officials have also stressed that the area’s drinking water is safe from TCE contamination. The nearest public drinking well to the site is at Creekside Park on Easy Street, south of Middlefield Road, and is closed for maintenance, said Gregg Hosfeldt, assistant public works director in Mountain View. Esquivel said that the contaminated area across the street looks much the same as it did when she moved in. A gas station, hotel and restaurant building have been there ever since. It is certainly a busy time in Mountain View for the EPA, after discovering potentially unsafe levels of TCE vapors late last year in two homes on Evandale Avenue near Whisman Road and in two large Google office buildings at 369 and 379 Whisman Road. While they may be busy, local EPA officials took offense to being characterized as “overwhelmed,” as they were in a Voice editorial last week, suggesting that local Congressional representatives might have to help secure funds
agreement in place, Yogi said. The California State Regional Water Quality Control Board is also regulating cleanup work at Moffett. “We wanted to make sure we highlight this as a priority for immediate action,” Yogi said. “We have the Navy that’s already done work that’s close to this site.” NASA Ames deputy director Deb Feng issued a statement about the situation. “In response to the order — as an interim measure — NASA will install a silt fence barrier this summer around the fill area to prevent contaminated sediments being released to Site 25,” Feng said. “NASA will develop a permanent remedy for the fill area to replace the temporary silt fence barrier and expects to complete the project by the summer of 2014. NASA is still assessing the effects that budget sequestration might have on the cleanup project.”
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Email Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com for indoor air testing. “Our actions have demonstrated what we’re able to do,” Yogi said. “EPA does have emergency funding and other funding mechanisms.” He added, “This is not an emergency action.” EPA indoor air project manager Alana Lee said the indoor air of the hotel has already been sampled. TCE concentrations found were “very low,” Lee said, adding that the levels were lower than what was found in the outdoor air of the site. Lee added that the groundwater sampling results showed TCE levels “dropping off” at the western edge of Leong Drive, indicating that the homes may not be at risk. The EPA calls TCE a “carcinogen by all routes of exposure,” including breathing its vapors. Inhalation can cause “hepatic, renal, neurological, immunological, reproductive, and developmental effects,” the EPA reported in 2011 for its final health assessment of TCE. Pregnant women are particularly at risk from short termexposures that can cause fetal heart defects, EPA toxicologists say. V
Email Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com March 22, 2013 ■ Mountain View Voice ■ MountainViewOnline.com ■
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