A decommissioned military base in California has been honored for its transformation into a city park, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced.
The former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Irvine, Calif., was named a winner in the EPA’s fifth-annual National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse awards (ESR), the EPA announced Oct. 12. Representatives from the U.S Navy, California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the City of Irvine joined the EPA in the award determination, the announcement reports.
ESR awards are chosen from four classifications of toxic land at federal properties: Superfund sites; Superfund Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) sites; non-Superfund BRAC sites; and non-Superfund sites. El Toro won the Superfund BRAC category, the EPA reports; the base was decommissioned in 1999 under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act.
Carlton Waterhouse, EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management, offered his congratulations to former base for its achievement.
“These awards highlight the hard work and tremendous partnerships needed to address contaminated federal facilities," Waterhouse said in the report, "and implement locally driven reuse strategies to safeguard communities and protect the environment.”
El Toro was activated in 1943 and served as the main fighter-jet facility on the west coast. The 4,700-acre property has 25 areas identified as contaminated, the EPA reports. Thorough remediation efforts have transformed approximately 1,300 acres into the Great Park, the EPA states, "a recreational destination that includes parks and open space, hiking trails, multi-use sport facilities, an art complex, an amphitheater, a water park, and an ice rink."
The City of Irvine's plans for future expansion at the park include a botanical garden, veterans memorial, permanent amphitheater, cultural-use space and museums, according to the report.
“The Great Park demonstrates what we can achieve when all levels of government work together,” Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said in the announcement. “As we continue working to bring even more amenities to the Great Park, we recognize that none of this would be possible without the collaboration and commitment of the agencies that have helped us restore this site.”
