Nearly 150 residents filled a town hall meeting Monday, Feb. 20 to learn more about a fuel leak on the Naval Base Point Loma that has created a massive plume along the water table 50 feet below the ground on federal property.
Knowledge of the plume, which may contain as much as 1.5 million gallons of fuel, was taken public on Feb. 7 by the Navy after it discovered the spill had inched its way north toward the base’s property line with private homes in the La Playa neighborhood.
Monday’s meeting at the Portuguese S.E.S. Hall in Point Loma was organized by U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego), the Navy and Dist. 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer.
“It’s a federal issue, obviously, but it’s also a neighborhood issue,” Faulconer said. “This is a top concern of ours.”
The fuel leak began in 1999, but wasn’t discovered until a year later. Two more leaks were found in 2002 and 2003. At least 500,000 gallons of fuel are known to have leaked from three decrepit tanks, while computer models estimate the spill to be up to 1.5 million gallons.
Capt. Mark Patton, the base’s commanding officer, sought to dispel any fears the public may have had about the plume’s effect on the base’s surrounding neighborhoods.
“We don’t think the plume represents a risk to anyone right now,” he told the audience, adding the Navy had no evidence that the plume had moved beyond the federal property line.
But Laurie Walsh, an engineer for the California Regional Water Quality Control Board overseeing the Navy’s clean-up efforts, said there was no way to fully know how far the plume has spread until geophysical mapping data becomes available in a few weeks. The Navy will use that data to determine the appropriate location for wells to be drilled on private property just north of the base in order to confirm the plume’s reach.
“Until we get those wells on the other side of the federal property line, we can’t tell you we have our arms around it,” Walsh said.
So far, the Navy has drilled dozens of wells on the base to track the plume’s progress, which moves about three inches per day. Patton said the wells cost about $10,000 to drill and thousands more to maintain.
A representative for Davis said the congresswoman was working to more quickly secure the $125 million needed to completely overhaul and replace the aging fuel storage tanks built between 1932 and 1937.
Davis was unable to attend the meeting due to a last minute injury.
The money’s release is scheduled for 2008 and will replace the base’s 50 storage tanks with 10 mega tanks above ground. Patton said the Navy plans to begin the project in October 2007.
In the meantime, Patton said he was confident the Navy had stopped all further leaks on the base and that their combination of pumping, drilling and mapping the plume, while expensive, would keep the plume from spreading.
“It’s more expensive, it’s more difficult, but it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Rudy Vanberg, a toxicologist for Shaw Environmental contracted by the Navy to monitor the environmental effects of the plume, assured the crowd that preliminary tests in the immediate area had found no cause for concern.
According to Vanberg, those tests had revealed toxicity levels in the soil to be 10-fold below standards acceptable to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“I think that there’s no significant risk whatsoever,” he said.
A question and answer period with the audience revealed widespread concern over the plume’s movement toward private property and what the Navy would do should it breach the property line.
In response to a question about how the Navy would get permission to drill on private property, Patton said they would ask “very nicely,” adding that he hoped the public would be eager to assist in the effort.
There were also concerns about the size and aesthetics of the new mega tanks. Patton responded to those concerns with a promise that the public would have a chance to weigh in on the process during the project’s public environmental review.
Faulconer said a second meeting will be scheduled for the next 30 to 45 days in order to update the community on the Navy’s progress and geophysical findings.
For the long term, Patton said the entire project could take several years to complete, but that the process was moving as quickly as possible.
“We really couldn’t work any faster, even if we wanted to,” he said.