Brownfield to field of dreams

One of the major hurdles to a successful development at Alameda Point is the toxicity of the land thanks to the former largely industrial usage by the Navy.   Some folks would have the City do nothing at Alameda Point because of concerns about the toxic soil and the issues that it might have on future residents and workers out there.   But in Maine, a former Superfund site has been transformed from a toxic dumping ground to something much more useful.   This article dovetails nicely with the recent article in the Alameda Sun about the clean-up work slated to start at Alameda Point, highlights:

Clean-up of radioactive waste from the former Naval Air Station-Alameda will enter a more intensive phase in coming weeks as workers under the auspices of the U.S. Navy begin excavating and removing soil and storm drains contaminated by decades of sloppy disposal of cadmium, radium-226, PCBs and other toxic compounds. Work is expected to commence in mid June.

…

George Humphreys, another RAB member, said the group has urged Navy officials to better contain the two Navy dumpsites. Humphreys said that two years ago the Navy planned to cap the toxic site with two feet of soil. The amount was recently increased to three feet. Humphreys said he and others might have helped convince the Navy to add plastic sheeting below the contaminated soil to prevent burrowing animals like squirrels from reaching the waste.

“I still don’t think that is completely adequate without a lateral slurry wall … I’m not satisfied that they can design the thing to withstand an earthquake,” Humphreys said, citing likely liquefaction and so-called sand boils, where loose soil can shoot up in spouts during a quake.

“Later on, if, say, it gets turned into a golf course, [and a major quake happens] the city would be responsible for cleaning it up.”

At the very least we should be getting the same kind of soil treatment, if not better, than the Maine Project:

The contaminants beneath the hill were sealed with an impermeable sheet of rubber, which in turn is covered by up to 4 feet of clay, sand and soil. Pipes project from the hill to vent methane gas and numerous test wells allow city officials to test nearby groundwater. The $6 million project was funded with federal Superfund money and the city of Saco.

Other highlights from the article:

…The first set of playing fields is built on a site that never suffered the same level of pollution as the industrial dump. Hirsch said the garbage beneath the fields cannot be seen or smelled but that operating athletic fields on top of a retired landfill does require certain precautions.

…

The fields are the most visible recreational amenities that have been built on the old dump site to date. But the city plans to develop recreational facilities on each part of the site, with different uses depending on the level of contamination. Active uses such as the athletic fields are confined to areas of low contamination, while more heavily polluted sites are reserved for passive recreation such as bird-watching and walking…

While I’m not saying rec out the whole of Alameda Point, the Maine example is a good one of what can be done even on really contaminated land.  Although, all this talk about a retired landfill makes me wonder if the City has any future plans for Mt. Trashmore.