Re: [CPEO-MEF] LA Times-Warrior Past Clings to Ft. Ord

[dspehn@tomshepard.com]

"There is nowhere in the country we know of where a former range area is 
being used for residential [purposes]," said James Willison, 
environmental and natural resources director for the Presidio and the 
former base.

This quote from the LA Times is fascinating - considering that the LA 
Times covered the deaths of 2 eight year old boys in 1983 in the 
Tierrasanta community of San Diego, California. The former Camp Elliott 
is home to 10,000 families. The federal government has spent more than 
$20 million to clear unexploded ordnance from the residential area 
(Tierrasanta) and a major regional park (Mission Trails Regional Park). 
In fact, the Tierrasanta project was the first Formerly Used Defense 
Site (FUDS) project in the country. Working with the US Army Corps of 
Engineers the community completed
its 5 year review of the initial cleanup last year; the Mission Trails 
5year review is currently underway.

CPEO certainly knows about the Tierrasanta project - as does Congress 
since it appropriated the funds for the initial cleanup - and the Army 
Corps of Engineers. As the lead Tierrasanta community liaison for 
unexploded ordnance since December 1983 I have worked with  numerous 
officials at the federal and state level, including the ACOE - on the 
unique problems encountered in doing a major ordnance survey and cleanup 
while 30,000 people are living in the same community.

----- Original Message -----
From: "CPEO Moderator" <cpeo@cpeo.org>
To: <cpeo-military@igc.topica.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 8:38 AM
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] LA Times-Warrior Past Clings to Ft. Ord


> The following is from the LA Times Dec. 6th 2001. Below is a link for
> the full story.
>
> Warrior Past Clings to Ft. Ord
>  Conversion of the Army base has been complicated by lawsuits, housing
>  conflicts and tons of unexploded ordnance.
>
>   By BETTINA BOXALL, Times Staff Writer
>
>
> FT. ORD, Calif. -- This is a place in limbo, neither what it was nor
> what it
> will be.
>
>  Weedy ghost towns of World War II-era Army barracks and thousands of
> acres of target ranges riddled with live ammunition are reminders of its
> past. Raspberry-colored college dorms, hiking trails winding over
> coastal
> hills and piles of development blueprints offer a glimpse of its
> future.
>
>
>  The complete article can be viewed at:
> http://www.latimes.com/la-120601ord.story
>
>   Visit Latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com
>

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