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After five years, the U.S. Navy has reversed its long-standing position and agreed to community demands for a full cleanup of toxic Superfund Site 25 at Moffett Field in Mountain View.
In the Navy’s Draft Addendum to the Revised Final Station-Wide Feasibility Study for Site 25 for the first time recommends a cleanup alternative that would allow tidal marsh restoration without contamination of wildlife, notably to threatened and endangered species like the California clapper rail and the Alameda song sparrow.
The Navy’s decision comes nearly five years after Save The Bay and local community organizations offered a “Vision for Moffett Field,” a blueprint for cleanup and restoration of tidal marsh habitat at Site 25. A broad coalition of residents, local, state and federal elected officials campaigned strenuously for full cleanup, which was repeatedly rejected by both the Navy and the National Aeronautic and Atmospheric Administration (NASA), the current site tenant.
In 2001, the Navy released its inadequate draft plan for a partial cleanup of Moffett Field, ignoring public pleas for a full cleanup that would allow future tidal restoration of Site 25 wetlands. The Navy argued that contaminants such as PCBs should be left in place because Moffett is cut off from the Bay by levees. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District had already drafted a restoration plan for the 50-acre portion of the site that it owns. The intense community pressure persuaded NASA that it is possible and desirable to restore tidal marsh at Site 25 , and NASA withdrew its previous support for the Navy's inadequate cleanup plan.
Save The Bay’s Moffett campaign prompted more than 2,000 letters and emails to the Navy demanding a full cleanup, written requests from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo, and a letter from sixteen community organizations to the Navy. Save The Bay’s local advertising illustrated threats to endangered species posed by the Navy’s toxic legacy, and mobilized public rallies at Navy and NASA events to demand cleanup.
From Tidal Wetlands to Superfund Site 25
Moffett Field was once part of a continuous band of pristine tidal marshes along the South Bay shoreline and a critical part of the Bay’s ecology. During the Navy’s occupancy, it turned 260 acres of wetlands that had been diked and separated from the Bay into a catch basin for stormwater runoff loaded with DDT, PCBs, lead and zinc.
Site 25 was placed on the Superfund list in 1987. A 1990 Federal Facility agreement assigned the Navy responsibility for cleaning up Site 25, which it saturated with toxic chemicals while using Moffett Field as an air field for 75 years. The federal government closed the military base in 1994. After years of stalling, the Navy first proposed removing only some toxics, leaving fish and wildlife vulnerable to contamination.
Today, Moffett Field and Site 25 are managed by the NASA/Ames Research Center. A 50-acre portion of the site is owned by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Restoration of the Moffett wetlands would return them to their natural function as wildlife habitat, adjacent to the South Bay Salt Ponds - the largest wetland restoration project ever planned on the West Coast.
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