Contaminants and Innovative Technology

[ebley@thecity.sfsu.edu]

From: Erika Bley <ebley@thecity.sfsu.edu>
Subject: Contaminants and Innovative Technology

On behalf of the Bay Area Defense Conversion Action Team (BADCAT), I would
like to express how pleased we are by this innovative new direction taken
by CAL EPA to provide a clearer picture of military base contamination
problems by estimating volumes of contaminated media and mass of
contaminants at the states closing bases. The State of Californias
(Department of Toxic Substance Control, Office of Military Facilities,
California Environmental Protection Agency ) Contaminant Inventory Project
is making possible the part of our work that focuses on integrating new
technologies into base conversion. 

For the BADCAT Environmental Technology Partnership Project (BADCAT ETP), 
this new method of collecting data, and aggregating it for an entire 
region such as the Bay Area, enabled identification of a regional 
contamination problem for which the BADCAT ETP could then seek innovative 
and emerging environmental technologies to address that contamination 
problem. 

For those not yet familiar with the BADCAT ETP, a program managed by the 
Bay Area Economic Forum (BAEF), we are a public-private collaboration of 
BAEF, Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance (BARTA), California 
Environmental Protection Agency (CAL EPA), United States Environmental 
Protection Agency (US EPA), United States Navy, Chevron Research and 
Technology Corporation and other technical experts working to help 
expedite transfer of Bay Area closing bases through the application of 
emerging and innovative environmental technologies. The BADCAT ETP 
expects to expedite cleanup and transfer of properties at the regions 12 
closing and closed bases by complementing the on-going investigation and 
remediation process with new technologies that can be applied to multiple 
Bay Area sites. 

The BADCAT ETP currently being piloted is designed to test technologies 
on lower priority sites with similar contaminants as sites with high 
reuse potential. This strategy ensures the current clean-up process is 
not impeded and that successfully tested technologies address problems 
common to sites slated for clean-up in the near-term. Technology 
providers will self-fund the primary demonstration costs. 

As ours is a regional effort, data linking the Bay Areas bases together 
was essential to focus on those detection and remediation technologies 
that could address regional military base (and most likely private) 
clean-up problems. This will then optimize utilization of scare federal 
dollars once successfully tested technologies are implemented in current 
and future clean-ups. 

While BADCAT (and other groups) identified the benefits of matching new 
technologies to contaminants common to most of the regions bases, CAL EPA 
has made this effort possible by providing data to substantiate our 
regional strategy. 

Feel free to contact me for more information about the BADCAT ETP. 

Erika Bley 
ebley@thecity.sfsu.edu 
415-357-3100