Study finds toxins hinder El Toro plans

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Any elaborate work at the closed El Toro Marine Corps

Air Station could create major delays for either an airport or a park, a

city-funded consultant said Monday.

Extensive digging would probably expose radioactive material, solvents

and other toxins at the base, said Gregory Hurley, an environmental

consultant hired by the Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group.

Hurley, the chairman of the El Toro Restoration Advisory Board, made

the comments during a press conference in which he unveiled a report

analyzing contamination at the base.

Hurley said a proposed Great Park -- being touted by South County

cities as an alternative to an airport -- would require a higher level of

cleanup than would an airport.

“We’re going to find unexpected contamination,” Hurley said. “There

are going to be delays [to construction]. The less evacuation we do, the

less expensive it would be.”

Hurley cited an Irvine study that placed the cost of cleanup at the

base at anywhere between $35 million and $350 million, depending on the

method used to remove decades of toxic waste caused by jet fuel and other

materials.

The working group dipped into a city grant of $3.67 million, handed

out earlier this year to bolster the case for an airport at the base, to

pay for the report on the base’s environmental issues.

El Toro was used as a Marine air base from 1943 to 1996, when it was

closed by the Department of Defense.

South County has proposed a park for the base, which would be possible

if voters approve the Orange County Central Park and Nature Preserve

Initiative on March 5.

South County leaders derided Hurley’s study, saying it actually

supported their claims.

County airport planners have said they would need to dig up the aging

runways at the base to bring them up to federal standards.

“The data seems to be more damning for the airport than for the park,”

said Meg Waters, the spokeswoman for the El Toro Reuse Planning

Authority. “There’s significantly more earth moving for an airport than

for a park.”

Airport Working Group spokesman Dave Ellis said he did not know the

cost of the study. The group is paying Hurley at his hourly rate, Ellis

said.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .