Cal Calgary News Sun
Bases at Camp Lejeune (N.C.) and former MCAS El Toro are classic examples of emerging science revealing the extent to which potable water (drinking, bathing, etc.) and aquifer soil can become contaminated beyond previous detection capabilities[10].
As Salem-News readers know, there are numerous, very vibrant working groups across the country beginning to bond on this issue. As they network and increase the pressure on Washington to stop the denial, they’re intent to get on with open admission regarding the health impacts.
Realistically, where do you haul thousands of cubic yards of highly contaminated soil from Superfund facilities, or where do you pump hundreds of thousands of gallons of the now useless water beneath it? How long can our landfills sustain this chemical assault, absorb this kind of water quality abuse? MCAS El Toro, which you’ve read a lot about in this news service for the past few years, is a poster child for this conundrum: Complex synthetic compounds in abundance to darken our beautiful spacious skies and nourish our amber waves of grain.
Adding insult to injury, older landfills relied on less efficient linings to halt or detain aquifer infiltration. Newly designed dumpsites are quite a bit better, but in places like Orange County many have been closed, prompting massive exportation of contaminated, hazardous waste. Odd as it sounds, exporting is cheaper than cleaning this insidious crap up.
Ironically, like the movie “Poltergeist,” developers often gobble up these abandoned parcels and build residential subdivisions over them. LENNAR CORPORATION (the slime de la slime of developers) is infamous for this tactic nationwide. Usually local governance, anxious for tax coffers to refill in a calamitous economy, rubber stamp eco-remediation, then perform the bare minimum necessary to get their projects approved. One tactic is to build over the old roadways and easements, turn the hazardous acreage into open space for native flora and fauna. This is paradoxically called “mitigation,” when it just ignores what lays below the surface like a bomb ticking, waiting for release into our environs.
They don’t worry, these developers and the political structure they prop up, they don’t live anywhere near these subdivisions and they’ll be long gone when the you-know-what hits the ecological fan.
If the subterranean aquifer beneath these abandoned and partially remediated former landfills is breached, the pollutants run amok, may discharge into creeks or rivers, obviously contaminating beyond repair any operating wells in the vicinity.
As for the ugly beasties removed offsite, first you have the outright inherent dangers of transporting by train or truck these National Toxic Rule (NTR)[11] constituents over public, common land. If the trains that remove them derail or the trucks carting them crash, whatever lucky community is adjacent to any of these scenarios gets to feel the love, as in “Love Canal.”
Second, the eventual long-term ecological impacts of contaminated waste are being shifted to desolate, difficult to reach places that are “out-of-sight, out of mind.” Good morning, Nevada! Guess what? You’re the proud parents, the honored depository of our wicked, cheapskate ways. Would you like some more of that electronic component waste (called e-waste)? Howsabout you, Arkansas, want our spent nuclear rods from the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant?
Here in California, we just find a money-hungry neighbor to fob it off onto, and as our beloved, computer-generated and celluloid hero dumbo, das groppenführer Uncle Arnie S. always mumbles, “No problemo.”
(To Be Continued in Part II)
FYI: If a project near you has some interesting enviro-aspect(s) you think is/are worthy of Salem-News.com coverage and our readers attention, feel free to contact Roger with a very brief synopsis.
[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptosporidiosis
[2] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia_lamblia
[3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium
[4] berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/02/02_household_pesticides.shtml
[5] epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/aqlife/cec.html
[6] cnn.com/2009/US/06/17/montana.asbestos/
[7] cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/748
[8] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit
[9] usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2403
[10] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound
[11] epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/tsca.html
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Launched in 2010, Odd Man Out is the creation of Roger von Bütow and his OMO columns are written exclusively for Salem-News-com. Born and raised in the LA Harbor area, son of a German immigrant father, he's been in Orange County for 45 years and is a 38-year resident of Laguna Beach, Ca. In 1998, he began his professional career in environmental review processes (CEQA, NEPA, MND, MND and EIR/EIS). He's a rare mix of cross-trained builder, writer and consultant as he brings his extensive construction experiences dating back to 1972 into his eco-endeavors. He has tremendous field and technical expertise in successful watershed restorations, plus wastewater, urban runoff, water quality monitoring/improvements and hydrologic mechanisms. He's built everything from commercial spas to award-winning private residences, and provided peer review and consultant analyses for single homes, subdivisions and upscale resorts.
View articles written by Roger Butow Read Roger's full biography on the Salem-News.com Staff Page
His resumé is extensive, try an online GOOGLE search of his personal journey and historical accomplishments. His consultation fees are reasonable and if you've got a major project that alarms you, that needs creative intervention, then he's your man. His credentials and "CV" can be provided upon request.
Contact him at his office: (949) 715.1912 or drop him an email: rogerbutow@cleanwaternow.com
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Home sales in the Coachella Valley rose 22 percent while the median price jumped 19 percent in January, proving the area to be more resilient as sales sputtered across California.
That was all good news compared to the state. California's 27,858 sales of new and resale homes and condominiums were down 5.4 percent compared to January 2009.
The valley's median home sales price was $215,000 for all homes and condominiums combined in January. That reflected a 19.4 percent gain compared to the 180,000 in January 2009.
One home in Palm Desert sold for $7.5 million.
In the Coachella Valley, MDA DataQuick reported 748 total sales.
Condominiums led the way, posting 152 percent sales gains in January over the same month last year with 197 sales at the median price of $236,000.
Resale home activity was up nearly 4 percent with 513 sales at a median price of $198,000, according to DataQuick, the nationwide real estate monitoring firm.
New home sales fell 5 percent, with just 38 sales closing escrow that month. The new home sales median was reported to be $259,750, nearly 14 percent less than the median in January 2009.
Greg Berkemer, executive vice president of California Desert Association of Realtors, said sales data collected from Multiple Listing Service sales shows that existing home and condo sales rose by 51 percent from a year ago.
But because the inventory has remained flat for the past three months hovering at 8,100 properties it appears that even with increased sales, a replacement supply of new listings are coming onto the market. The steady supply continues to put downward pressure on pricing, he said.
It suggests that distressed properties and low-cost inland homes, such as those in the Coachella Valley, are grabbing the attention of buyers.
DataQuick reported that 44 percent of the existing homes sold in January in Southern California had been foreclosed on during the past year.
That was up from 40.8 percent in December, but down from 58.2 percent in January a year ago.
Foreclosure resales peaked at 58.8 percent last February.
The January stats underscore just how atypical this market remains. A huge chunk of what's selling is still distressed,'' MDA DataQuick president John Walsh said in a statement.
Investors and first-time buyers continue to dominate many areas, while the move-up market has yet to kick in.
For Riverside County, MDA DataQuick reported a 4.8 percent drop in year-over- year sales, from 3,320 in January 2009 down to 3,162. The median remained at $195,000.
