Orange County Grand Jury Investigates Irvine's 'Great Park'

The controversial project would place a park and homes on deadly contaminated ground.

(IRVINE, Calif.) - We have been exploring the toxic mystery known as the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for two and a half years at Salem-News.com with a team of writers, mostly comprised of former El Toro Marines including myself.

The base was very active from the time it was built and commissioned during WWII, until its controversial closure in 1999. What we learned just prior to the summer of 2008 was that over the years, the disposal method for large amounts of carcinogenic chemicals was simply to pour them into the ground.

Over the years the chemicals increasingly infiltrated the groundwater aquifers, and today the deadly toxicity flows beneath Irvine City Hall, and entire neighborhoods like Woodbridge.

Today, the city of Irvine, Lennar Corp. and the Great Park Corporation, are attempting to build a public area on the ground that is heavily contaminated with the toxic aircraft degreasers TCE (trichloroethylene) and PCE (perchloroethylene) and several other dangerous and deadly substances.

Their efforts are being met by increasing public awareness, as groups like Salem-News.com, the OC Register and the OC Weekly have maintained and even increased coverage of the plans to build the Great Park and luxury homes on some of California's most dangerous ground.

This week in the OC Register, Investigative Reporter Tony Saavedra wrote about the Orange County Grand Jury's investigation of "lax financial oversight in the $1.4 billion Great Park project", according to documents obtained by The Watchdog^[1].

Former El Toro Marines Bob O'Dowd and John Uldrich, watch construction operators
tear up the most contaminated part of the base. Salem-News.com photo by Bonnie King

The article references a cursory audit by Diehl, Evans & Co. that found "sloppy accounting oversight" of the $11 million contract for a master plan.

Just weeks ago the backhoes and tractors were plowing the contaminated ground, sending huge clouds of "deadly dust" as Las Vegas Environmental Reporter Darcy Spears used to say, into the otherwise blue and clear Orange County air.

How has the group been using the funds so far? Well, they have managed to snag the attention of the developers with discrepancies in travel expenses, double-billing, (a serious criminal charge in some cases) not carrying insurance for contractors, (those are the guys on the front-end loaders with clouds of swirling TCE-laden dust filling their lungs), and also for changing orders without first seeking the proper approval from staff.

The OC Register article states that the auditors hoped to examine the records more closely, but lo and behold, the Irvine City Council, with some members closely associated with the Great Parks group - even sharing positions on boards - once again was able to halt the process.

The council may have grown a conscience; as at least one councilmember has been critical of the El Toro base redevelopment. They are divided over the current matter, with some reportedly saying that "it would be too costly" and that it would "generate more controversy".

They sure got that one right, only they seem to miss the fact that they are at the center of the controversy^[2].

It seems abundantly clear to this reporter that for the most part, the Irvine City Council is concerned with making money, not with the health or well-being of its citizens.

Many future inhabitants of the Great Park will be children; Irvine has blatantly denied and ignored the future illnesses and deaths it will cause by not halting the base park/housing project immediately.

Moving farther backwards, the Irvine City Council is insisting that all of the problems were "hammered out" in 2008, when the second phase of the project, with a price tag of $28 million, was approved.

Then critics learned that Irvine had shredded draft copies of the audit. It seems like the Irvine City Council operates in dangerous water, in more ways than one, and perhaps they do not realize that entire city councils and county commission boards have been convicted and incarcerated before over the shady governmental manipulation of taxpayer money.

Saavedra's article states that multiple complaints were heard by the civil grand jury. Those include a letter from 13 October, 2009 from Ivan Marks, of Huntington Beach. He wonders why, "Council members would reject a follow-up audit — unless they have something to hide."

Marks said during a recent interview, "I believe the way they are blowing through all that money, it will become a fiscal disaster to the county." Marks did receive a letter by the end of October advising that their panel does intend to investigate; they will issue a report by June.

The bright spot in Irvine is Councilwoman Christina Shea, who has been critical of the city’s management of the project. Unique in her position, she said she welcomed the grand jury probe.

“There are valid concerns, and we could be looking at fraudulent behavior,” Shea said.

The head of this pack, Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, who is also chair of the Orange County Great Park Corporation and an Irvine City councilman, was unavailable for comment^[3]. The Register also tried to contact city spokesman Craig Reem, whose job is to communicate with the media; he also could not be reached.

Many Marines who served at El Toro have died from illnesses connected, most likely, to the various toxic compounds that they encountered while serving here. Problems regarding the same pollutants is an ongoing daily occurrence in North Carolina, at Camp Lejeune. Men develop breast cancer, children are born with illnesses that can be attributed to TCE. They range from numerous types of cancer, to lower stomach issues and many other problems.

El Toro has another problem, one that came to the forefront several years ago; radiation contamination from U-235 Uranium. A doctor on a board overseeing the base after its closure said he had proof of this, and then he suddenly died. It's a real problem in these parts^[4].

The toxic wasteland that is MCAS El Toro is on a collision course with humanity, and the city of Irvine is driving.

Also, our writers have generated over 50 reports on the problems at MCAS El Toro and Camp Lejeune N.C.
They are listed chronologically at this link: Salem-News.com El Toro articles

=================================================

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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Environmental Chemist January 10, 2010 12:47 pm (Pacific time)

Start to get soil and air tests done. You'll see the same contaminants at all cleaners. But many air force bases contain huge contamination levels due to dumping. It will take a decade or more to clean up such a site. Because such compounds usually like to stick, for example, dichlorobenzene. Such ways to clean up can come as easy heat and water, but depths are important factor and become very expensive. But such cases will produce many opportunities for people in the environmental sector. Good luck to all of those involved in the project.

RJO January 9, 2010 5:33 pm (Pacific time)

Tim, good news story. I was stationed at El Toro in the 60s, too. If I lived in OC, I'd take a very close look at the ‘package of goods’ sold to the residents by the Navy, EPA, and city of Irvine. The Navy and EPA identified 25 contaminated sites at El Toro. The TCE plume originated from the Southwest quadrant of the base, the most industrialized portion of the base and the area designated to be part of the Great Park. The Navy found eleven contaminated sites in this area. Contaminants included VOCs, SVOCs, pesticides, PCBs, TPH, TRPH, herbicides, metals, and dioxins (from the former Crash Crew burn pits). This area includes Bldg. 296, a huge maintenance hangar and one of the sources for the TCE plume spreading for miles into OC. The state of California has yet to release Bldg. 296 from its restricted radiological classification. It seems that a Radium 226 paint room contaminated portions of the hangar. Ra 226 has a half life of 1,600 years. If any of the radium got into the soil, it will be there for a long time. The Navy asked the state to release the hangar for unrestricted radiological use in July 2002. It’s going on 8 years since the Navy submitted its request. Why the hold-up? Why did the Navy transfer over 1,000 acres in the Northeast quadrant of the base to the FAA and FBI before the public auction sale to Lennar. That’s over 20% of the base property. As a result of the transfer, the Navy avoided paying for any remediation. At the same time, neither the FAA nor the FBI has any responsibility for remediation. If I were a resident, I’d be really concerned about this one since the groundwater flows through this area.

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