Former Military Bases, EPA Superfund Clean-Up Sites, PFAs + Water Pollution Lawsuits

One can hope this is just a coincidence, but there's one guy here in Mesa who has a work history at not one but two former military airfields that have been designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as
Superfund Clean-Up Sites for toxic chemicals left to percolate into underground aquifers around the now de-commissioned bases.
Both are now business parks and commerce ports. One in Portsmouth NH and one here in southeast Mesa: Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.  
Both are locations where J Brian O'Neill has a work history
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
The former Williams Field here in Mesa gets scant attention as an EPA Superfund Clean-Up Site.
Portsmouth NH has a much more active group of citizens.
Please see the post-script after the main body in this post. Just like the risks and hazards to public health from contaminated dirty dangerous air here in Mesa there are significant costs involved in our water resources where taxpayers bear the brunt to deal with consequences.
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ADDENDUM/UPDATE: Readers of this blog may like to note that the City of Mesa's  Economic Development Advisory Board - charged with the responsibility to act as the advisory board to the Mesa City Council on matters pertaining to economic development, including goal setting, strategic planning, marketing and business recruitment, retention and expansion - unanimously approved this motion at their June 4, 2019 meeting against residential development: 
". . . to direct a letter to the Planning & Zoning Board, the Mayor and City Council expressing this Board’s strong recommendation against any residential development anywhere near or within the “Elliot Road Tech Corridor”.
Specifically, the area that lies between Power Road and Signal Butte Road (West to East), and the power line corridor and Elliot Road (North to South), as well as anywhere directly adjacent to existing or planned employment uses. The motion was seconded by Deb Duval for the purpose of discussion.
After discussion by the Board, Brian Campbell moved to amend the motion to oppose the Hawes Crossing application as it doesn’t meet the goals stated in the Office of Economic Development’s Strategic Plan - including but not limited to
(a) the Application contemplates residential development between 80th Street and Hawes Road (between the existing power line and Elliot Road);
(b) the Application contemplates mixed use (and thus potential residential development) east of Loop 202 adjacent to the anticipated SRP 230kv transmission line;
(c) the Application contemplates residential use in the flightpaths of PHXMesa Gateway Airport and does not consider the anticipated increase of flights due to SkyBridge and other Airport expansion; and
(d) the Application fails to consider its contemplated residential uses’ impact on existing community services and neighboring communities (including the Gilbert School District).  The amended motion was agreed to by Mr. Adams and seconded by Deb Duval.
Upon tabulation of votes, it showed:   
AYES: Ovando-Karadsheh, Kasselmann, Adams, Campbell, Christensen, Duvall, Likens, Nickerson, Perry 
NAYS: None
Motion carried by unanimous vote     
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BLOGGER NOTE: A reference for some of the information presented in this post is from the following source > https://www.nhpr.org/term/pease-international-tradeport
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Superfund Site:

PEASE AIR FORCE BASE
PORTSMOUTH/NEWINGTON, NH

Announcements and Key Topics

www.epa.gov/superfund/pease

Emerging Contaminants
EPA and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services continue to aggressively address the challenging issue of “emerging contaminants” at Pease Air Force Base, Portsmouth, NH.  Historical firefighting and training activities conducted by the Air Force resulted in the contamination of public and private water supply wells by poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels above EPA’s Lifetime ...
Continue reading announcements and key topics »_________________________________________________________________________
Former Military Bases Find New Purpose Through E-Commerce
Real estate developers are looking at abandoned bases for large projects like warehouse and logistics centers, which are needed to sustain the growth in e-commerce

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona, formerly Williams Air Force Base, one of more than 300 military properties closed as part of a 1993 Defense Department program.

Image credit 

E. Ralph for The New York Times

By Christine Negroni June 18, 2019

"SkyBridge is the most recent addition to a complex project that has been developing over a quarter-century at the airport. . .  

When Williams closed, 3,800 local jobs were lost and the community suffered a $300 million annual economic hit in lost salaries, property and sales taxes and a consequent decline in associated business, said Mike Hutchinson, the assistant city manager in Mesa at the time. He was among many local leaders who tried unsuccessfully to keep the base open. He and others formed the East Valley Partnership to decide what to do with the real estate, infrastructure and transportation access they had inherited. Williams and other bases affected by the closure program turned out to be valuable assets.

Jeff Randolph, the managing director of Bluecup Ventures, a commercial real estate developer, is enthusiastic about the opportunities at former military bases.

“There’s significant value there that is only partially being realized,” he said. “They have the best infrastructure, roads, labor, power. It’s all there.”

. . .When Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, N.H., closed in 1991, it included an airfield with an 11,000-foot runway and a deepwater port. Both are used for international freight on an industrial size, including products like nuclear reactors and fiber optic cable spools, said Dave Mullen, executive director of the Pease Development Authority, a state agency. He adds that air cargo sometimes arrives by Antonov An-124 Ruslan, the largest military transport plane in the world.

The authority built an office park, the Pease Tradeport, on 19,000 acres of developable land, Mr. Mullen said. About 10,500 people work at the park, which also contributes to the employment of another 5,100 off site.

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Pease Agrees To Address Contaminated Stormwater Runoff In Settlement

By Annie Ropeik • Jan 14, 2019

Port City Air       

A major settlement signed Friday will require Pease International Tradeport to clean up water pollution from its stormwater runoff.

The Pease Development Authority was sued more than two years ago by the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation for federal Clean Water Act violations

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A story two days ago on National Public Radio

Pease International Tradeport

N.H.'s Pending PFAS Rules Spark Budget Fears For Local Water Systems

By Annie Ropeik • Jul 16, 2019

"In 2015, Andrea Amico found out her kids and husband had been drinking highly contaminated water for years at a former Air Force base-turned-business park in Portsmouth. The water came from a well beneath her husband's office and her toddler's daycare. It was full of PFAS chemicals from firefighting foam that the military used for decades.
ANDREA AMICO: My radar kind of went up, like, oh, jeez, what are these chemicals? I've never heard of them. . .
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EPA Will Update Superfund Clean-Up Plans At Pease, 3 Southern N.H. Sites In 2019

By Annie Ropeik • Feb 25, 2019

EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will review the safety of four New Hampshire Superfund sites in 2019.

This year's reviews, which happen every five years at federally managed toxic waste sites, will include the former Pease Air Force Base and three old industrial sites and dumps in southern New Hampshire.

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State, Military Seek To Study How Chemical Use At Pease Drove Disease Rates

By Annie Ropeik • Dec 9, 2018

         Annie Ropeik / NHPR News

Veterans and families who lived and worked at the former Pease Air Force Base want the government to begin collecting data about their disease rates and possible ties to chemical exposures on the installation.   

At a forum in an aircraft hangar Friday, dozens of people stood at a microphone and told an Air National Guard colonel about their health problems and their experiences at the base

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Just like here at the former Williams Field Air Base, now the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport,

FAA Doles Out Infrastructure Improvement Grants To N.H. Airports

By Annie Ropeik • Jul 9, 2019        

The airports in Manchester and Portsmouth will receive a combined $18 million in federal funding for infrastructure improvements.

Most of that money will go to Pease International Tradeport for reconstruction of the airport’s two-mile-long main runway. That project has been in the works for years 

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POST SCRIPT FOLLOW-UP

. . . The City is investing over $150 million to construct the Signal Butte Water Treatment Plant, which will add an additional 24 million gallons per day (MGD) of pumping capacity to the area by Summer 2018.
In addition, a $200 million expansion of the existing Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant will also enhance wastewater capacity in the area by 14 MGD, bringing the total plant capacity to 30 MGD.
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Blogger Note: Please see farther on in this post for related content, including a report from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
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Readers might want to take note that water is a precious resource here in the desert and the East Valley.
On top of the $150,000,000 for SBWTP and the $200,000,000 for the GWTP, take a look>
As you can see in the infographic to the right, the taxpayer burden for costs in the City of Mesa's FY17/18 Wastewater Treatment Bond Projects in this fiscal year's budget amount to $45,3000,000 > 23.9%.
Together with the costs of water at $80,9000,000 (42.5%) they consume 2/3 or 66.3% of the entire Budget Pie.
Wastewater costs more than 2X as much as the total amount spent on Parks and 5x as much as money spent on Electric.
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Abundant Water and Waste Water Capacity – The City of Mesa maintains a substantial water and wastewater infrastructure network in the Zone, and is continuing to expand to accommodate for future industry growth.
The City is investing over $150 million to construct the Signal Butte Water Treatment Plant, which will add an additional 24 million gallons per day (MGD) of pumping capacity to the area by Summer 2018.
In addition, a $200 million expansion of the existing Greenfield Water Reclamation Plant will also enhance wastewater capacity in the area by 14 MGD, bringing the total plant capacity to 30 MGD.. . . two manufacturing operations were cited as sources of possible contaminants discharged into the city's wastewater treatment pipeline - both the Signal Butte Water Treatment Plant and the Greenfield Water Treatment Plant, in the southeast and northeast quadrants of Mesa are in close proximity to former military bases where the discharge of contaminants have been issues for remediation. ADEQ the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, has the responsibility for both clean air and water.
Major Employers

• Bridgestone Americas – R&D facility conducting research and developing manufacturing process to produce rubber from the Guayule plant
• CMC Steel – Micro steel mill producing rebar from recycled steel
• CRM Rubber – Producer and supplier of crumb rubber to the asphalt industry. Largest crumb rubber producer in the western U.S.
• FUJIFILM – Manufacturer of chemicals for the semiconductor industry
• Matheson TriGas – Producer and supplier of industrial gasses used in manufacturing industries such as steel, fabrication, medical, water treatment, semiconductors, chemicals and food freezing
• Metso – Provider of industrial equipment repair and field services for the mining, aggregates, and process industries
• Mitsubishi Gas Chemical – manufacturer of chemicals for the semiconductor industry
• TRW Vehicle Safety Systems – Manufacturer of airbag components



The two companies that are mentioned in response to Councilmember Freeman's question are included in the map image here:

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The response included why the city put the ordinance on the agenda: actions about monitoring, measuring and reporting toxic emissions taken by ADEQ

RELATED CONTENT:

Keeping Industrial Pollutants Out of the Nation's Waters - EPA

https://www.epa.gov/.../national-enforcement-initiative-keeping-industrial-pollutants-o...

Feb 6, 2018 - ... these sectors are complying with their permit limits and conditions. Working with authorized states, EPA's focus on facilities in these industrial sectors, driven by water pollution data, will build compliance with Clean Water Act discharge permits and cut illegal pollution discharges, that impact water quality

2.8 million Arizonans live within vulnerable zones from toxic chemical leaks
[Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series of stories in which the ABC15 Investigators and the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting collaborated to explore how Arizona regulates the storage and transportation of hazardous chemicals across the state.]
By Brandon Quester, AZCIR | Lauren Gilger and Maria Tomasch, ABC15 
The EPA is tasked with collecting and maintaining these records, but a patchwork of state and federal regulations make it unclear whether the plans are effective in protecting surrounding communities,READ MORE > https://azcir.org/az-risk-management-plans-epa/