Victoria officials worry Corps is washing its hands of airport mess
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Jason Milewski
TO HELP
Anyone with information about potential environmental problems resulting from when the airport was a military base may contact airport officials.
Call the airport at 361-578-2704 or e-mail Jason Milewski at jmilewski@prautes.com.
The public is being asked to help airport officials find potential environmental problems at the Victoria Regional Airport stemming from when it was a military base.
They want to pass that information along to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been charged with cleaning up such contaminated sites.
"I want to wake them up and show them there's a lot more to do," said Jason Milewski with Prautes Corp., the airport management company. "We don't want them washing their hands of this airport yet because these issues are going to have to be cleaned up eventually."
While the Corps has done some work, Milewski said he received a survey on behalf of the Corps wanting to know if the community feels there are other concerns. He said in his opinion, when something like that happens, the Corps is preparing to close out the project.
But Milewski said he knows there are other problems and he wants them fixed by the Corps so the expense doesn't fall on the county.
One example is drums of chemicals that are buried at various sites at the airport.
"They're alleging that somebody, after the base closed, buried drums of military chemicals and left," he said. "Therefore, they're not responsible for cleaning it up."
The material is an engine de-greaser frequently used at the airport before the military decommissioned it in the 1950s, he said. The chemicals are in military barrels that are leaking.
The only evidence they have that it didn't belong to the military is their claim, and there is no documentation, he said.
County Commissioner Gary Burns said he thinks the Corps is neglecting its duty.
"They like to say airport activities after the base closed contributed to contamination, and they don't want to touch it," he said. "They're just trying to get out of it."
S.F. "Trey" Ruschhaupt, chairman of the airport commission, said the problem isn't going away and could affect development of the airport.
"It's their responsibility," he said. "They put it there."
Milewski said he wants such agencies as Keep Victoria Beautiful and the city of Victoria environmental department to fill out the surveys.
"I want them to get a barrage of these things saying there are people with environmental concerns here and it's not just the airport," he said. "If we don't hold their feet to the fire right now, then we're going to have to pay for it."
