County planners release El Toro report

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- By providing a series of worst-case scenarios for air

pollution, traffic congestion and other adverse effects of an airport at

the closed El Toro Marine base, Orange County airport planners hope they

have answered all of the questions.

In a bulky, two-volume supplement released Tuesday -- to be added to a

library shelf full of earlier volumes -- county officials said they have

filled in the gaps. In March 2000, a Superior Court judge deemed the

earlier review to be inadequate.

The newest report, which put a cap on Environmental Impact Report No.

573, adds a revamped air-quality analysis for a proposed airport at El

Toro, which would serve 18.8 million annual passengers by 2010.

The new report also measures the effects John Wayne Airport would have

in serving 3.9 million passengers at that same time. The airport now

serves 7.9 million passengers.

“Air quality is the key element of any public works program,” said

Dave Ellis, spokesman for the Airport Working Group. “You’ve got to get

it right. The county is starting to do so with this document.”

In the air-quality report, county consultants said they analyzed the

worst possible scenario for air pollution. Four widely recognized

pollutants, with federal and state permitted limits, were used, including

carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and respirable

particulate matter.

Concentrations of the pollutants were plugged into forecasting

programs to determine future pollution.

The supplement was completed as a result of legal challenges by South

County civic leaders who are pushing to stop the county’s airport plan.

Irvine and other communities south of the intersection of the Santa Ana

and San Diego freeways have floated a ballot measure to pave the way for

a central park at the base.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the full

environmental review in late September.

Far from reassuring anyone in South County, the air-quality report

confirms their fears, said Meg Waters, spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse

Planning Authority.

“It doesn’t cure anything,” Waters said. “It forces the county to

admit just how bad air quality will be for all of Orange County. They can

no longer maintain the charade that this airport is going to be

community-friendly.”

In fact, several of the forecasts for pollutants exceed maximum

allowable standards now in place.

For example, even though air traffic would significantly drop at John

Wayne, if the county’s plan goes forward, pollution would increase,

according to the report.

But consultants said the forecasts should be taken with a grain of

salt. For one thing, they use 1998 data. The air will be cleaner a decade

from now, consultant Robert Price said.

“It’s kind of artificial,” Price said. “The whole purpose of this

exercise is to disclose to the public” the negative effects of an

airport.

FYI

To submit comments to Orange County on the environmental report, call

the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Master Development Program at (714)

834-3000.