Clark execs turn to EU for help on toxic wastes

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Amid the lack of response from the United States government, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) has turned to the European Union (EU) for financial aid to find out whether toxic wastes left by the US Air Force here have already seeped into underground water sources.

"Experience in other countries shows that contaminants from a landfill near Clark’s gate in Mabalacat might have already penetrated some 20 meters underground," said Juan Miguel Fuentes, chief of the CDC’s environment management department.

He said the landfill is known to be contaminated with "high levels" of toxic wastes, particularly chlordane which causes cancer.

Near the landfill is a pumping station of a local water firm which services thousands of households in Mabalacat and Angeles City.

Fuentes said a German group is now assisting the CDC in coordinating with the EU for a $350,000 grant for a thorough study of the extent of toxic contamination of underground water or aquifers.

The grant, he said, is expected to be approved by yearend.

Meanwhile, Fuentes allayed fears of contamination from 27 crates of cancer-causing asbestos materials which the Americans buried near the site of the mothballed Expo Pilipino.

"For as long as the crates are left alone, there is no danger of asbestos contamination," he said, adding that the crates were properly sealed in plastic-like sheets.

Rudy Gonzalez of the environmental group Earthwatch, echoed the same view, saying "the wastes were buried with proper sealing."

The CDC discovered the crates of asbestos after it obtained a map left by the US Air Force which abandoned Clark in the face of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991.

"The map showed mysterious dotted lines around an area where the Expo Pilipino was later built. We surveyed the area and uncovered the crates of asbestos wastes," he said.

Fuentes said that since underground water from Clark flows toward the east, contaminants from the landfill at the Mabalacat gate could affect aquifers in the entire Mabalacat town as well as in Balibago in Angeles City.

"Water firms in these areas have failed to conduct regular and adequate studies of samples from their wells," he said.

Since 1995, the People’s Task Force for Bases Clean-Up (PTFBC) has documented the mysterious deaths of at least 100 former occupants of an evacuation center near the landfill. The group blamed the deaths on toxic waste contamination.

Fuentes said many households near the landfill get their water from shallow wells which are only 20 feet deep. While the pipes of water firms are much deeper, he cited the need for a thorough study, saying contaminants from the landfill, whose soil is porous, could have possibly reached 20 meters underground.

Meanwhile, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has released P5 million for the proposed clean-up of toxic wastes at the former Wagner US aviation center and the Philippine area exchange here.

"But we cannot start work because we have been overtaken by the rainy season," Fuentes said.

At present, the CDC is examining the qualifications of firms, mostly multinationals, which are bidding for the clean-up project.

Fuentes identified some of the bidders as the Woodward and Clyde-Dames and Moore, TetraTech, Tonkin and Taylor, and Globecare.

The CDC has been lobbying for financial and technical help from the US government for the clean-up of the toxic wastes here, but Fuentes said no help has come so far.