Marines Blamed Others for TCE Plume

I don’t believe in ghosts. If I ran into one or two, maybe I’d change my mind. The stories of lights in the former El Toro control tower after the power was cut off decades ago may be just someone’s wild imagination or I guess if you believe in paranormal activity, maybe the ghosts of Marines who served on the base and returned to haunt the place.  If ghosts do exist, they couldn’t have picked a better place to haunt.    

 

 

 

In 1985, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) found two TCE contaminated agricultural wells off the base and one on the base; the one on the base was Irvine Company Well No. 55, just outside of the TCE’s plume footprint, northwest of Runway 7L. The two Irvine Company wells off base were located 7,000 and 2,000 feet west of the base. 

OCWD looked to El Toro as the source of the contamination. TCE had been used on the base for decades; the gradient from El Toro pointed to the base as the most likely source of the contamination. 

The Marine Corps noted for their valor in battle and grit to defend our country against all enemies did the unthinkable; they blinked, denied the obvious and blamed the contamination on the Irvine Company, the owner of the agricultural wells. We don’t know if pressure came from Headquarters Marine Corps but even if it did that should not have mattered.  To deny the obvious and then blame another party for something you did was definitely unworthy of the high moral standards ascribed to by the Corps.  The fight in Southern California went on for years until a lawsuit 16 years later forced the Navy to accept responsibility for the plume. The repercussions of this fight would cost the federal government millions in remediation cost, result in El Toro earning ignominious Superfund status, the transfer of the 3^rd Marine Aircraft Wing to Miramar, base closure in July 1999, and the sale of most of the base to a real estate joint venture in 2005. 

 

 

El Toro used huge quantities of TCE for decades without any environmental controls to protect contamination of the soil and groundwater in accordance with practices followed by many others.  TCE was used throughout the military services and industry; it was an excellent metal degreaser.  Much of TCE environmental contamination of soil and groundwater was done before the EPA (1970), the Safe Water Drinking Act (1974) and the Love Canal tragedy (1978).  U.S. production of TCE reached a peak of 600 million pounds per year in 1970, falling to 100 million pounds by 2000 and continues to fall today.

We don’t know the volume of TCE and other organic solvents usage at El Toro.  The EPA reported that El Toro kept no usage records on TCE. Engineers can argue over the volume, but there’s no doubt that based on several miles of the TCE plume spreading into Orange County, El Toro used a great deal of it over several decades. TCE and other chlorinated solvents such as PCE, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) were used in maintenance activities in Hangar 296 and 297 and elsewhere on the base.  Aircraft washing typically used detergents and PD-680 (Stoddard Solvent – a petroleum hydrocarbon distillate), according to the Navy. The Navy claimed aircraft washings used organic solvents but only on an exception basis. [i]  

PES Environmental, Inc. performed an independent technical evaluation in 2000 on behalf of the city of Irvine. The evaluation reported that greater quantities of organic solvents were used outside areas evaluated by the Navy and questioned the southwest quadrant of the base as the sole source of the regional groundwater contamination. The Navy disputed the PES Environmental study. There’s no dispute that a great deal of TCE and other organic solvents at El Toro went into the ground and over time seeped into the aquifer.[ii] But, El Toro fought state and local regulatory authorities for years over ownership of the TCE plume since the polluter had to pay millions for the remediation costs. 

In July 1987, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the Marine Corps to investigate the source of the contamination and clean-up the wells.  The reaction of the Marine Corps was to vehemently deny any responsibility for TCE contamination of wells.  Captain S. R. Holm replied to the order, "There does not seem to be any substantiation for the conclusion that the contamination does in fact come from this air station.” 

Demonstrating an incredible amount of hubris, Captain Holm told the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board that the Marine Corps would clean up the well on base property but the Irvine Company should bear the costs of "constructing wells to monitor the contamination [off-base] since virtually all of it is underneath the company's land." 

Frustrated over the Marine Corps’ refusal to accept responsibility for the TCE plume, state officials threaten to sue.  An Orange County Register news story of August 29, 1987, “State Water Officials Threaten to Sue Marines over Contaminated Wells,” quoted James Reilly, Director of Water Quality for OCWD, "They don't want to do anything until they study the thing to death. This isn't the first time that the water board has struggled with the Marines."

The primary source of the TCE plume was traced by the Navy and EPA to two huge maintenance hangars in the southwest quadrant of the base.  The two hangars were over 400,000 square feet in area.  The official reports from both the Navy and EPA state that El Toro stopped using TCE .in the mid-1970s.  Don’t believe it.

TCE was just too good of a degreaser.  Marine veterans reported to Salem-News that TCE continued to be used until the base closed in 1999 long after its use was no longer authorized.  Steps were taken hide its use from others. TCE drums were buried on the base to keep them from the eyes of the Marine Corps Inspector General.  The Navy was informed of this practice but no efforts were made to locate and remove the toxic chemicals rotting in their steel coffins.  Some of the Marines who used TCE without face masks and protective clothing would pay a terrible price in debilitating cancers and premature deaths.  The government’s response to the health effects of those who were exposed to this carcinogen was to close their eyes and look the other way.