The public can weigh in tonight on the U.S. Navy’s proposed plan to remediate Installation Restoration Site 17 and Building 503 Area of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

A public meeting tonight on Mare Island will give residents and other interested individuals the chance to comment on the Navy’s proposal.

After that, their observations may be sent by mail, email or fax until June 25, said Janet Lear, environmental coordinator, and Jesus Cruz, public participation specialist.

The Navy is responsible for remediating contamination of the area that came from its operations at Site 17 and the area of Building 503, they said. Investigation of the sites were completed to comply with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP).
Next, the Navy will make its final decision on a method of cleaning the area, the Final Remedial Action Plan (RAP) once the public comment period concludes, they said.

Those comments are important, Lear and Cruz said, because that information may lead the Navy to modify its remediation plans.

A draft of the RAP said the Navy looked at four alternatives before choosing one to remove and dispose of contaminated soil and monitor natural attenuation of contamination in soil gas in selected areas. The intended approach also calls for restricting specific land uses and activities at the sites.

The Base Realignment and Closure Cleanup Team (BCT), a multi-agency team representing the Navy, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Water Board and the Environmental protection Agency, has concurred with the Navy’s preferred remediation method.

Originally, Site 17 and Building 503 Area were part of a tidal marshland near the Mare Island Strait shoreline on the northwest area of the island. Dredge fill materials, mostly clay and silt, created the areas, but the land wasn’t developed until a paint manufacturing complex of four buildings, including 503, was constructed between 1938 and 1944.

Those paints and varnishes were used in ship construction and maintenance until the plant was closed in the mid-1950s.
Some of the soils already have been removed, while some places have been determined not to need further action.

Nor do solid waste management, storm sewer or sanitary sewer systems in the vicinity, since they showed no indications of contamination, according to a report within the plan.

However, investigations conducted in the area between 1992 and 2014 collected data and subjected soil, soil gas and groundwater to laboratory testing.

Among the primary contaminants associated with Naval activity there are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), coal tar distillates represented as total petroleum hydrocarbons, semi-volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as metals in the soil. VOCs also are in both groundwater and soil gas, the report said.

Most of the source areas were removed in 1998, 1999 and 2010, so the proposed plan focuses on contaminated soil and soil gas left after the previous soil removal, the report said.

The plan also addresses remedial activity and monitoring that is not considered time-critical.

The Navy evaluated the risk to humans and wildlife from exposure to site soil, soil gas and groundwater, looking at ways people can be exposed, from ingestion to skin contact and inhalation. In 2006, the Navy prepared an assessment that was updated in 2014.

Because the shallow groundwater at the site is too salty to meet California’s minimum water quality criteria for a domestic or municipal supply, the Water Board concurred it wouldn’t likely be drunk, so it wasn’t included in the assessment, the report said.

But in other areas, the Navy assessment looked at theoretical risks to humans, based on worst-case assumptions.

The assessment indicated risks were unacceptable levels at several areas within the affected sites, particularly from lead in the soil, for future commercial or industrial workers, but no unacceptable risks existed for construction workers.

Unacceptable risks to future residents of the area would come from lead and PCBs in the soil as well as contaminated soil gases. One portion of the site, called Subarea 3, had no unacceptable risks, although residents could face ambient cancer risks there.

No action was deemed necessary to protect ecological receptors in Site 17 or Building 503 areas, the report said. That’s because much of the site is covered by buildings, asphalt and concrete that aren’t suitable as ecological habitats.
Nor are anticipated future uses of the area likely to change that, the report said.

The Navy expects to prevent direct contact to any hazardous contamination by future commercial and industrial workers, residents, other sensitive people through excavation of the contaminated soils, which would be taken to an appropriate disposal plant. Gas monitoring would be performed for five years, or until soil gas concentrations are sufficiently reduced. Monitoring of the areas would take place for up to 30 years, and no use of groundwater would be allowed without proper authorization in some of those areas.

The proposed plan meets federal and state requirements, and would let the site be developed in ways that are consistent with Vallejo’s 2008 amended Mare Island Specific Plan, the report said.

Once the public comment period concludes, the Navy will address any concerns raised, and a final RAP will be made public afterwords.

Complete copies of the plan are available at John F. Kennedy Library, 505 Santa Clara St., Vallejo, and through the Navy Administrative Records File, of which Diane Silva is the command records manager. Its address is NAVFAC Southwest, 1220 Pacific Highway Code EV33, NSDB Building 3519, San Diego, CA 92132. The records file can be reached by phone at 619-556-1280, and Silva may be emailed for an appointment at diane.silva@navy.mil.

The documents associated with the plan also are available online at www.bracpmo.navy.mil. Click on the map for BRAC installations, and under “California,” choose “Mare Island NSY” from the list.

Those wanting to send comments may do so at the public meeting or by emailing, mailing or faxing written comments to Janet Lear, Navy BRAC Environmental Coordinator, Department of the Navy, BRAC Program Management Office West, 1455 Frazee Road Suite 900, San Diego CA 92108. She also can be reached by phone at 619-532-0976, by fax at 619-532-0780 or by email at janet.lear@navy.mil.

If You Go
The public comment meeting will take place at 7 p.m. May 28 in the Mare Island Conference Center, 375 G St., Vallejo.