EL TORO MARINE CORPS AIR STA
The El Toro Marine Corps Air Station covers approximately 4,700 acres. Commissioned in 1943, it supported the Fleet Marine Forces in the Pacific Ocean, serving as the major west coast jet fighter facility. The Station was decommissioned as an active base in 1999 under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. To date the golf course parcel has been transferred under the Department of the Interior's Land for Parks program and approximately 2800 acres have been sold through an auction and transferred in part to Heritage Fields LLC. Redevelopment efforts are on-going. A total of 25 potentially contaminated areas were identified on the Air Station, including four landfills suspected of containing both hazardous and solid waste, and other areas where polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), battery acids, leaded fuels, and other hazardous substances were suspected of being dumped or spilled. A Remedial Investigation conducted by El Toro identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily trichloroethene (TCE), in groundwater that migrated more than three miles off base. The primary source of the groundwater contamination was two large aircraft hangars. Land irrigated by wells is located within three miles of the site; however, none of these wells are drinking water sources. Surface water flows into the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve, located approximately eight miles from the base.
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