This page is divided into three sections: 1. Fuel Spill, 2. Potential Cancer Cluster, and 3. Shelter Island Yacht Basin TMDL for Dissolved Copper.

Contact Information for access to the unpublished draft Fleet Industrial Supply Center (FISC) Environmental Assessment report which says according to John Adriany "the pathway has been completed," i.e., the jet fuel has reached San Diego Bay. Laurie A. Walsh, Water Resource Control Engineer, Site Mitigation and Cleanup Unit. 858-467-2970, LWalsh@waterboards.ca.gov. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region, 9174 Sky Park Court, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92123-4340. http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego.

Fleet Industrial Supply Center (FISC) & Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).

Point Loma Naval Complex FISC Fuel Farm - Fuel Annex Bldg 75 (SAN DIEGO) 199 Rosecrans St, San Diego, CA 92106 CASE STATUS: OPEN
Regional Board (Lead Agency) - Case #: 9UT2017 San Diego RWQCB (REGION 9) - (LAW) Contact: LAURIE A. WALSH - (858) 467-2952 Local Agency - CASE #: H80028-003 San Diego County LOP - (ALA) RB RECORD FILE #: 50-2017.05 Title of Report: SITE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE FUEL ANNEX AT FISC FUEL FARM, San Diego, CA User HAMIDE KAYACI (CONTRACTOR) TYPE GEO_REPORT SUBMITTED 1/22/2007 CONFIRMATION # 9591001749 RECEIVED1/26/2007. On January 28, 2007, this report is password protected, unlike any other public report on Geotracker. <https://eis.waterboards.ca.gov/geo_report/9591001749/T0607300792.pdf> NEW.

The following link shows maps of Quarters ‘A,’ the old Commanding Officer’s Quarters built in 1908 (Maps). Based on the map handing out during the last community meeting, the new tanks will be located above the present tanks and Quarters A will not be disturbed. On June 14, 2006 I went by Quarters A and saw restoration of the home including new hardwood floors and windows. I do not know why the house has to be destroyed if it is not in the footprint of the proposed new tanks. In SHADOWS OF THE PAST at Cabrillo National Monument, by Roger E. Kelly and Ronald V. May http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/cabr4/ Quarters A is described as follows: Quarters 'A', Naval Coal Depot, 1908. Colonial Revival. Recommended eligible for inclusion on the National Register under Criteria A because it is associated with Taft Board power system infrastructure at Fort Rosecrans and the naval defense of the Pacific Coast. http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/cabr4/chap5b.htm The home and landscaping has to be moved to make way for construction of the new fuel tanks. The home is available to the interested parties as long as they pay to move the home off the base. Please contact Katheryn Rhodes at 619-523-4350 for more information.

From a distance, the dirt filling a canyon at Point Loma Naval Base looks like typical topsoil. On closer examination, though, the piles of dirt contain chunks of upholstery, electrical insulation and rubber – the toxic leftovers of a 1970s car-salvage yard. At least 10,000 cubic yards of what environmental regulators call “auto shredder residue” lie on the hillside next to the headquarters of the Navy's Third Fleet, above a section of the Point Loma nature preserve and the Pacific Ocean. The residue is packed with high levels of potentially cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxin, PCBs and heavy metals, especially lead and chromium. On Dec. 20, a Navy contractor began hauling the first of an estimated 800 truckloads of the waste to a treatment facility in Nevada. The project is expected to cost $5 million and continue for at least a month. At its scheduled peak early this month, a loaded semi-trailer of waste will leave the site every eight minutes, said Jason Sturm, project manager for the Naval Facilities Command. “We want to get this done as quickly as we can,” Sturm said. The Navy identified the dump in 1986 as part of a militarywide survey of toxic-waste sites. About two dozen other Point Loma Naval Base locations that might contain hazardous waste are being evaluated, Sturm said. The car-salvage dump has been the most worrisome spot on the base since heavy winter rains two years ago loosened the dirt on the slope. Water flowed down the slope, cut deep channels into the hillside and exposed some of the auto-shredder debris. “That's why it became time-critical” to remove the dump's contents, said Isaac Hirbawi, project manager for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Hirbawi is monitoring the cleanup for the state. It's known that the residue was buried in the canyon in the late 1970s, covered with at least 100,000 cubic yards of fill dirt and construction debris. “The stuff has been there for 30 years,” said Emad Yemut, chief hazardous waste supervisor for federal facilities at the Department of Toxic Substances Control. “Back in the old days, they just covered it up.” It's not clear how the residue came to be buried on the base, because shredding cars isn't usually a Navy job. Sturm said some of the base's longtime employees do recall an auto-salvage yard in the area, and it may have been on property acquired by the military. Some of the dump was paved over to create a parking lot. Navy tests showed that nearly half of 58 soil borings under the lot and on the adjacent hillside have dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals and heavy metals. Yemut said the substances currently don't pose a threat to people working in nearby offices of the Third Fleet or the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, including those who have used the parking lot. “It's not like the people are in direct contact with the bad stuff,” he said. The biggest concern is preventing chemical runoff from flowing into a nature preserve, part of which is downhill from the site, and into the ocean below, Yemut said. In August, the Navy held a public hearing on the project, which Sturm said three people attended. A 30-day public comment period drew minimal response. “There's not a lot of conversation about it in the community,” said Patti Adams, chairwoman of the neighborhood's Point Loma Association. The consensus is that that Navy is handling the situation properly, Adams said. “I'm feeling pretty good about it,” she said. “I think they're doing the right thing.”

By JO3 S. C. Irwin - Fleet Public Affairs Center, Pacific

POINT LOMA, Calif.- Navy officials participated in a town hall meeting March 20 to inform Point Loma residents how the Navy plans to cleanup 500,000 to 1.5 million gallons of fuel that seeped into the ground beneath a fuel depot.
Since 1999, a significant amount of JP-5 and marine diesel fuel has seeped from three steel tanks at Naval Base Point Loma (NBPL), forming a plume on top of the water table nearly 50 feet underground.
The tanks are located aboveground in an area of the base designated as the Defense Fuel Support Point, which provides Defense Energy Support Center fuel to all local and surrounding military bases via pipeline networks, tankers and vessels.
The fuel leaked through small holes that developed in the bottom of tanks that are over 70 years old.
"From the beginning, we have worked with city, county and state officials on how to address this problem," said Naval Base Point Loma Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Patton. "Once we learned that a section of the fuel plume had moved towards the government property line area, we felt it necessary to inform the public directly."
More than 200 Point Loma residents gathered at the Point Loma Portuguese S.E.S. Hall to hear assessments of the fuel leakage and mitigation efforts from Navy, city and county representatives. Patton answered a variety of questions from the audience concerning the plume's effect on Point Loma residents and NBPL employees, as well as possible impacts on the property values of Point Loma's multimillion-dollar homes.
"As soon as we learned of the leak, we alerted all of the necessary leadership and started recovery of underground fuel product," Patton said. "Our first concern has always been for the people who work on base and the people who live in the surrounding area."
A toxicologist on the town hall meeting panel, Dr. Rudy Von Burg, assured Point Loma residents and those who live and work on the base that they are not in danger of water contamination or other health risks.
Point Loma homeowner Rose Avila expressed her dissatisfaction with the Navy's six-year delay organizing the town meeting, but also said some of her main concerns were laid to rest by the information presented.
"I am somewhat comforted by the information I heard. It was a good effort to hold this meeting, but I would have like to have known about this right after it happened," said Avila. "It was the hearsay and the rumors started from newspaper articles that have bothered me until this point. I hope the Navy follows through with their promises and finishes the assessment and the cleanup, no matter what the cost."
Patton could not provide an official date for the end of the cleanup due to the complexity of the project. However, he did say a military construction project that will replace all of the tanks should begin within the next two years. He also said updates will be given on a frequent basis and a follow-up town meeting will be held in the near future.
"We will do everything and anything to ensure that we recover the fuel and remediate the site, although that will take years," said Patton.

We would like to thank our new District 2 representative, Kevin Faulconer for organizing the public community forum for those concerned about the 1.5 million gallon fuel leak at the Point Loma Submarine Base at the end of Rosecrans Street adjacent the historic neighborhood of La Playa. According to the announcement (http://genesis.sannet.gov/infospc/templates/cd2/pdf/navy_fuel_leak.pdf) the public forum to will be held on Monday, March 20, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. at the Portuguese SES Hall, 2828 Avenida de Portugal in Point Loma. In attendance with will Kevin Faulconer, Susan Davis, Captain Mark Patton the Commanding Officer for the Point Loma Naval Base, and representative from Senator Diane Feinstein’s office, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the County Department of Environmental Health.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060222-9999-1n22leak.html

Navy struggles with storage-tank plume. By Steve Liewer. UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER. February 22, 2006.

RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune

Tank No. 57 was one of several storage containers at Point Loma Naval Station found to be leaking fuel. The Navy estimates up to 1.5 million gallons may have seeped into the ground, but says the plume poses no health risks

Fifty feet beneath the scenic hills of Point Loma, a stinking lake of fuel sloshes atop the groundwater. Since 1999, diesel and aircraft fuel have trickled through the floor of at least three above-ground storage tanks at Point Loma Naval Station. Despite a $53 million effort to stop the leaks and repair the 70-year-old tanks, the fuel has seeped into the groundwater. Now the plume, up to 6 feet deep, has moved east within 340 yards of San Diego Bay and north under the base's boundary with the pricey La Playa neighborhood. No one is sure how quickly the plume is spreading. It's also nearly impossible to tell exactly how much fuel has leaked, Navy officials said, because it's difficult to look deep beneath the ground. But their computer models estimate that it could be as much as 1.5 million gallons, said Capt. Mark Patton, the base commander. That's enough to fully load the tanks of 26 Boeing 747-400 jets. “We're aggressively taking steps to recover that (fuel),” Patton said. “We are doing everything we can to manage this problem.”

Graphic:

Affected area

Still, some La Playa residents and real estate agents said the expanding plume is giving them the jitters. A bay-view condo in the historic neighborhood can sell for more than $1 million and an elegant, Spanish-style villa can fetch several times that much, according to real estate Web sites. “It's the most affluent part of Point Loma,” said Patty Adams, a real estate agent and chairwoman of the Point Loma Community Association. Some property owners are worried about the ability to sell their houses, said Kathy Kemp, a real estate broker. “It's a big negative on the value of that property,” Kemp said. “The last thing people want to hear is that there's fuel leaking.” Aside from Old Town, La Playa is San Diego's oldest neighborhood. It was mapped in 1849, said Katheryn Rhodes, an engineer working to document La Playa history. Although the military and environmental regulators have known about the fuel leak for years, the Navy didn't tell neighboring property owners until two weeks ago. Naval officials broke the news Feb. 7 at a hastily convened public meeting. Eight civilians attended the session, which the Navy took as a sign that most people weren't worried. However, several La Playa residents said they simply didn't get the word. “I knew nothing about it,” said James Kelley, 88, a retired physician who lives on Kellogg Street, one block from the base.

RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune

Military and environmental regulators have known about the Point Loma Naval Station fuel leak, which has spread east near the San Diego Bay and north near the La Playa neighborhood, since 2000. Naval officials, however, broke the news to the public at a sparsely attended meeting Feb. 7. Several La Playa residents said they never got word of the meeting.

Chris Noble, 34, said he received a notice, but that it didn't state the time, purpose or exact location of the meeting. “There are politically important people in this neighborhood,” he said. “If it was a big deal, I figured, somebody would catch it.” Rhodes, a La Playa community leader, said the Navy has been a good and quiet neighbor. She admires the job it has done preserving scrub land and bird sanctuaries on Point Loma. But she said naval officials need to make their neighbors more aware of the leak. “I would like them to have another meeting and publicize it farther than a block from the base. That way, we could actually attend the meeting,” said Rhodes, who said she didn't get a notice despite the fact that she works from home and lives within two blocks of the storage tanks. The Navy said the plume poses no health risk because it is deep below the surface and people don't use the groundwater there. Independent biologists agree with this assessment, although they fear the environmental consequences should the fuel reach the San Diego Bay. “As long as you're not pulling the water out, the risk to humans is quite low,” said Michel Boudrias, a biological oceanographer at the University of San Diego. “If it goes into the ocean, that's a whole different ball game.”

The Navy discovered the plume about a year after the leaking began. Its contractors have since pumped about 250,000 gallons of fuel from the ground, Patton said. The Navy also plans a $115 million project to replace the base's 11 above-ground and 40 underground storage tanks, all long obsolete, with 10 state-of-the-art megatanks. Construction is scheduled to start in late 2007, Patton said, and should be completed in three years. Such efforts have earned praise from water regulators. “As far as their action, it was very timely,” said Laurie Walsh, an engineer from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board who has worked with the Navy on the leak since 2004. “They're ready to get rid of (the old tanks) just as much as everybody else does.” In 1852, President Millard Fillmore set aside the southern part of the Point Loma peninsula for the military. It wasn't developed until 1898. Six years later, the federal government built a coaling station and some docks so Navy ships could refuel at Point Loma. Between 1918 and 1954, oil tanks replaced coal bins as the fuel for ships gradually changed. Today, the tank farm – known as the Defense Fuel Support Point – holds 42 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel. The fuel is pumped through underground pipelines to military airfields at North Island and Miramar. As the only military fuel depot in California, the Point Loma station is critical to the West Coast operations of all four service branches. When the government erected the tanks decades ago, it worried about an enemy attack from the air or sea. It surrounded the tanks, each able to hold 2.1 million gallons, with thick concrete walls and built moats to contain any leaks. But the builders didn't anticipate the risk of fuel seeping through the bottom of the steel tanks, which are single-walled and sealed with rivets. Modern tanks are double-walled, with welded seams. Patton said inspectors checked all of the tanks in 1993 and 1994 and found no leaks. “These aren't rusty old tanks. They're very well-built,” he said recently. In 2000, though, fuel sensors detected a major leak beneath one of the tanks near the base's north gate, adjacent to La Playa. In 2002 and 2003, they found leaks under two more tanks. The Navy hired a contractor to dig monitoring wells to the east of the tanks, reasoning that the fuel likely would flow downhill toward the bay. Base officials ordered the leaking tanks to be drained. They closed one permanently and reopened the other two after replacing their steel bottoms and reinforcing them with thick plastic liners, then pouring concrete underneath. The contractor also continued to pump out the fuel-water mix. Working under the supervision of county and state engineers, Navy officials thought they were making progress. Last year, at the urging of the California Water Board, the contractor dug a line of wells toward the north. In December, naval officials were stunned to find a thick layer of leaked fuel within 30 feet of the La Playa property line. They calculated the plume to be two to three times larger than they had thought. They drained two more tanks close to the plume as a precaution, Patton said, but these tanks showed no sign of leaking. Although long-term exposure to certain fuel vapors can cause cancer, independent health experts said neighbors probably don't need to fear the plume because it is so deep underground. “Even if you have very contaminated water, if there's no exposure, there's no risk,” said Rick Gersberg, a professor in San Diego State University's School of Public Health. More worrisome is the prospect of the fuel reaching the bay. There it could get into the food chain, contaminating fish and shellfish. Unchecked, it could kill rare shore birds that nest in a nearby sanctuary. “It's very important that the area not be contaminated by oil,” said Jim Peugh, conservation chairman for the Audubon Society. “That would be a disastrous place to have a big spill.” Patton said the Navy is working to prevent such a disaster. “We're committed to removing as much oil as we possibly can,” he said. Nevertheless, no one can rule out surprises like last year's discovery that the plume had spread north. Peering underground involves a lot of guesswork, Patton acknowledged. “We don't know what's really down there,” he said. “You're drilling little 10-inch view ports and trying to figure out what's going on over a 10-acre area.” The Navy has pulled permits to dig more wells to monitor liquid fuel and vapors in the next few weeks, said Walsh, the engineer from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Soon, she added, contractors will be doing the same thing among the homes in La Playa. “It's a beautiful, beautiful neighborhood,” said Adams, the real estate agent and community leader. “We don't want anything to happen to it.” Steve Liewer: (619) 498-6632; steve.liewer@uniontrib.com

RONI GALGANO / Union-Tribune

Capt. Mark Patton, the

basese commander, said the Navy is aggressively trying to fix the problem. He said about 250,000 gallons of leaked fuel have been pumped out of the ground and cited a planned $115 million project to replace obsolete storage tanks with megatanks.

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1523880.php February 09, 2006
Point Loma fuel leak costing millions to stop Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — The Navy is spending millions of dollars to try to stop the spread of fuel that has been slowly leaking from aging storage tanks at a fuel depot at Point Loma Naval Submarine Base. Base commander Capt. Mark Patton said during a town hall meeting Tuesday that boat and aviation fuel has seeped into the groundwater 50 feet underneath the above-ground tanks. He said the fuel poses no threat to humans because the water is not used for drinking. The Navy held the meeting to inform residents about the leaking fuel after monitoring showed the plume is close to the base’s northern edge. The Navy has been monitoring the plume since it discovered the problem of leaking tanks in 2000. Navy spokesman Mike O’Rourke said cleanup efforts have been largely successful. “Of course the long term goal is to replace the leaking tanks,” he said. The Navy has spent $53 million on maintaining and retrofitting the 50 tanks at the depot. The Pentagon has appropriated $115 million to replace the tanks starting in 2008. The old steel riveted tanks, in which the rivets break down over time and leak, will be replaced with new steel welded tanks. The tanks hold about 2 million gallons of fuel.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060208-9999-6m8plume.html UNION-TRIBUNE February 8, 2006

Point Loma fuel leak costs Navy millions. The Navy is spending millions of dollars to try to stop the spread of fuel that has been leaking from aging storage tanks at Point Loma Naval Base for at least six years, the base's commander said yesterday. Capt. Mark Patton said boat and aviation fuel has seeped into the groundwater underneath the 1930s-era, above-ground tanks. He said the fuel poses no threat to humans because the water there is not used for drinking. The Navy had discovered leaks totaling 500,000 gallons between 2000 and 2003, Patton said, and has been working to keep the fuel from flowing into nearby San Diego Bay. Late last year, though, Navy officials learned the spill had grown to as much as 1.5 million gallons. Test wells showed it reached nearly to the base's northern edge, prompting the Navy to discuss the leaks at a town-hall-style meeting last night. Eight residents attended. Patton said the Navy has spent $53 million shoring up the tanks, which hold part of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He said the Pentagon has appropriated $115 million to replace the tanks beginning next year.

http://www.primenews.com/sdhn_020406_fuel.html Underground Fuel Near San Diego Bay

SAN DIEGO, CA - (2-4-06) An underground fuel spill is causing problems in Point Loma. The fuel reportedly leaked from tanks at the Naval Base Point Loma. Officials have been monitoring the more than 100,000 gallons of fuel, and say it appears to be moving north. They will begin taking boring samples at the north end of the base near Rosecrans Street and will continue pumping and recovery. Officials do not believe any of the fuel has reached San Diego Bay. A town-hall meeting is scheduled for 7pm Tuesday at Liberty Station to discuss public concerns. Correction: The leak in the tanks has been an ongoing problem over the last six years and did not just occur as one spill. Officials say that they have recovered more than 100,000 gallons of fuel over the six years. The exact amount of fuel remaining underground has not been determined.

NOTE: Although a meeting was scheduled for Tuesday at 7 pm at Liberty Station, they did not say where in Liberty Station or contact information. Also, on the Naval Base website, no information was found on the spill or the meeting.

http://www.house.gov/susandavis/press/pr031606navyfueltank.html

Links

Navy Radio and Sound Laboratory on Point Loma.

2. POTENTIAL CANCER CLUSTER

Supporting Information Handed Out During The Meeting (Click Here).

· Katherine Kennedy, CEO of Relocation Coordinates, SD Yacht club member Chair of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Foundation

· Marlisa Anderson, Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in Epidemiology, from San Diego State University in 1995. an Epidemiologist at the city level, but for past 8 years working as a statistician on clinical trials of investigational medicines. a member of SDYC since 1993.

· Dr. Al Deisseroth, CEO of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center At Yale, he served as Chief of the School of Medicine’s Section of Medical Oncology, The Yale Cancer Center’s Associate Director for Clinical Research, and Director of its Genetic Therapy Program. Chairman of the Department of Hematology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco’s Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Head of the Experimental Hematology Section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, MD.

Approximately 100 community residents were present to hear the summary of the Epidemiological results from the analysis of cancer registry cases. Ms. Anderson explained the method that these studies are held to and the manner in which a specific type of cancer is tracked. With a power point presentation, Ms. Anderson reviewed the number of cases by year and by gender that had been surveyed by Celeste Holthaus and Katherine Kennedy.

The cases used By UCI to compare to the Cancer registry followed a conforming pattern so that exact comparisons could be made. The criteria :

University of California Irvine, after utilizing the statistical analysis of 2 Point Loma census tracts, yearly incidence of head and neck cancer as reported in the San Diego County cancer registry and comparing the “expected” number of cases for the same time period, indicated that the number of new diagnoses of head and neck cancers in our vicinity is within the range of expected cases during the time period of 1998-2002. Dr. Deisseroth spoke about number (110) types of cancers and the many variables involved with each. He stated that the number of cases which yielded this resulting conclusion from UCI was an indication that there was no cluster. However, the need for a larger number of survey participants might define the situation more clearly for the community. The worst outcome could be a heightened awareness of cancer, prevention, and treatment possibilities. A complete survey is the only way for the community to know that perhaps there are enough cases to classify as a cluster OR that with the combination of age, geographic coincidence and the PREVALENCE OF CANCER in our society, we are now very aware each time cancer occurs.

The outcome: The results from the epidemiological expert (UCI) deemed the number of cases as “Under the number of expected cases” UCI will continue to review the cases.

· The creation of an email where cases of cancer can be sent, along with the contact information of the individuals ( cancer cases) so that a survey can be generated and documented.

· Creation of phone /fax line to communicate cancer cases in for those who do not use email:

Those who wish to participate in initiating the survey of 92106 are asked to volunteer via phone or email.

A Six month review of the survey results of 92106 for the residents of the Point Loma community will be published and emailed and mailed to those in attendance.

1) The response rate may be far less than expected Assumptions cannot be made regarding disease absence or presence in those who do not respond.

2) It is difficult to keep track of those moving in and out of the area during the time period of the survey.

4) Designing a survey to elicit unbiased information is a difficult task to accomplish.

Head and neck cancers often require multiple visits to multiple providers to diagnose and treat the cancer. Reporting is made not only by the physician or outfit making the diagnosis, but also by the pathology laboratories etc. The likelihood of underreporting in this instance is very small, less than 5%. Moreover, since the analysis done by UCI compared the observed cases to the expected cases, the likelihood of underreporting of head and neck cancers is equal in the observed and expected cases, so it is balanced. There is no reason to believe that residents of Pt. Loma would be underreported compared to San Diego County as a whole.

If anything, they are more likely to be reported because Pt. Loma is an affluent community and people of means have more access to medical care than the indigent. Therefore, the cancer registry gives us the best and most accurate estimate of the incidence of head and neck cancers in our vicinity

Your presence is requested at a casual and informational meeting to be held at San Diego Yacht Club on Thursday, March 23 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. This is an update meeting regarding the incidences of head and neck cancer which have been diagnosed in Point Loma.

· Numbers of cases

· Epidemiology results

· Local environmental concerns

· Actions to be taken

· Committee formation

· Suggestions and recommendations

We urge you to attend and in

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=4216

Coincidence or cluster? Point Loma women try to get handle on cancer cases in their ’hood

by Kelly Davis

The back deck of Katherine Kennedy’s Point Loma home looks out over San Diego Bay. To the east is Lindbergh Field; Naval Base Point Loma is to the west; and if you threw a baseball straight ahead and far enough, it would land in the middle of North Island Naval Air Station’s crisscrossing runways. Kennedy’s new set of patio furniture sits covered by canvas tarps to protect it from the jet-fuel residue she suspects ate away at the last set. Since 2001, at least a dozen residents living in and around Point Loma’s upscale La Playa neighborhood have developed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, a type of cancer that comprises only 3 to 5 percent of all cancer diagnoses in the U.S. For now, public health officials have ruled that a dozen cases of head and neck cancer within the census tract that includes La Playa isn’t an unusual number, but residents believe there are more cases yet to be discovered. It started a few years ago, Kennedy said, when a member of the San Diego Yacht Club, to which Kennedy and her husband belong, was diagnosed with mouth cancer. “He didn’t smoke,” she said. “It’s rare if you’re not a smoker to get that…. Eighteen months goes by and another [yacht club member] gets it and goes through the same thing. Then we have another one, and another one, and another one.” Celeste Holthaus’ husband, Doug, was one of those guys. Like the other men, Doug doesn’t smoke, nor does cancer run in his family. The only thing all these men had in common is that they’re Point Loma residents and avid, longtime sailors. “It got to be this joke down at the yacht club: Don’t drink at the bar,” said Kennedy, who’s also on the board of directors of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. “It started to make no sense.” She also heard about people who were not yacht club members who had been diagnosed with the same type of cancer. “People knew, but no one had really done anything,” Holthaus recalls. “People talked and said, ‘We’ll call the National Institute of Health. We’ll call the National Cancer Institute.’ But nobody did anything.” So Kennedy and Holthaus began collecting data on each diagnosis and organized a community forum in May of last year. Initially, they planned to spearhead a zip-code survey but were told by county health officials that they should send the information they’d collected to the San Diego County cancer registry, located on the campus of UC Irvine, one of 10 regional registries that collects data on cancer cases. That data is then reported to the state Department of Health for statistical purposes. Holthaus was diligent in how she gathered the necessary data and can still, from memory, sketch out a rough map showing where each individual diagnosed with this particular kind of cancer lives. “I realized I had a lot to do to make sure I had enough information and make sure I had it organized well enough and intelligently presented so that hopefully they would look at it,” she said. Each year, nationwide, state and local health officials get roughly 1,000 inquiries from people who think they’ve discovered a cancer cluster in their community. But only between 5 and 15 percent of suspected cancer clusters—nationwide—end up being statistically significant, meaning the number of cancer diagnoses in a certain area exceeds the expected number of diagnoses. Historically, nearly all suspected cancer clusters can only be explained as coincidence, and those that have been linked to environmental causes are usually within an occupational setting. Dr. Thomas Taylor, a bio-statistician at the UC Irvine cancer registry and one of the scientists who evaluated the Point Loma data, said the first step was to verify that the information Holthaus compiled involved all the same kind of cancer. “If people are concerned, let’s say, about breast cancer, and they put a colon cancer and a lung cancer in with it, then epidemiologically, that doesn’t make much sense,” he said. Also, the cases all needed to be residents who lived within a defined area, so a member of a local yacht club who’d contracted the same kind of cancer but who lived in Clairemont was not included in the final number of cases. Registries then use census data to determine what, over a five-year period, the “expected” number of cases of a particular kind of cancer would be for a certain area, Taylor said. Because of difficulties associated with collecting information on each cancer diagnosis within a particular area, registry data lags by about three years—so when Holthaus gave UC Irvine information on cases spanning 2001 through 2005, the registry had to go by data spanning 1998 through 2002. For the 5,000-person census tract that includes La Playa, statisticians determined that from 2001 and 2005, between one and 12 men and up to nine women would be expected to contract head and neck cancer. In other words, the 10 Point Loma cases that the registry evaluated fell well within the expected number of cases. Holthaus received a letter from the director of the cancer registry in November, informing her that there was no indication that incidences of head and neck cancer in the La Playa area should be cause for concern. Holthaus said registry officials have told her that if she comes up with data on additional cases, they will re-run the numbers. Kennedy says they’re aware of additional diagnoses. And though the two women are not looking for a cause, Kennedy was surprised to open the newspaper on Feb. 8 to see a small article about hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel that had leaked into the soil under the Point Loma Naval Base between 1999 and 2003. The public was notified only this February after it was discovered that the leak was coming close to breaching the divide between Navy land and La Playa—Holthaus’ home looks out over the Naval Base, and she said she had no idea about the fuel leak. (At a March 20 community forum, Capt. Mark Patton, base commander, said that as far as he knew, the fuel spread had been halted and a toxicologist hired by the Navy said vapor sensors set up around the spill site had so far detected nothing that would pose a health risk to residents.) But cancer plus a nearby fuel spill has left a lot of La Playa residents concerned. UC Irvine’s Taylor doubts there’s a link. “My experience over the years is that military bases, nuclear power plants, dumps and other things like that make people more suspicious than they otherwise would be,” he said. “I’m not personally aware of any direct link between any of those places and head and neck cancer. “People want explanations for these things, and I don’t blame them. We all want explanations,” he said. “The fact is that cancers are very complicated, very different from one patient to the next. The idea that there’s one thing in the environment that gives cancer to a bunch of different people, that’s sort of been sailed so many times. Cancers are so much more what we’ve been born with, our genes and what we choose to do with them, our diet, our exercise—stuff like that is much more important than where we live.” Holthaus said right now the focus is not on pinpointing a cause but rather to get a handle on exactly how many residents in the Point Loma area have been diagnosed with head and neck cancer. She and Kennedy are moving forward with their plan to do a full zip-code inventory, even if that means going door-to-door. “We just want to get information out to people,” Holthaus said. “No. 1, if they have it, there’s a network of people to help them, and No. 2, to find out of there are more cases so that we do get it recognized such that it will be investigated by the proper agencies and then maybe God knows how many years down the road, something positive will come out of it.” 3/29/06.

Peninsula Beacon News

Cancer Cluster Study Inconclusive

La Playa residents vow to perform more exhaustive study

Blake Jones March 30, 2006

Concerned La Playa residents met at the San Diego Yacht Club Thursday, March 23 to discuss the purported high incidence of cancer in their community. A small committee, at work since last year to survey the neighborhood and analyze data collected, presented their inconclusive findings at the meeting and promised to begin a second, more comprehensive look at Point Loma. Some committee members were also quick to dismiss insinuations that any perceived high rate of cancer in the area be linked to a massive fuel leak at the nearby Naval Base Point Loma. Katherine Kennedy and Celeste Holthaus, La Playa neighbors, started asking questions eleven months ago after hearing about one too many new cancer cases among their acquaintances. Kennedy, chair of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) Foundation board of trustees, and Holthaus, also a board member, held a community meeting in May 2005 and began surveying their neighbors to assess how many people actually had cancer, particularly head and neck varieties. Last week’s gathering shared the results of that survey, which were too ambiguous to satisfy Kennedy or Holthaus. “We as a community need to understand what was assessed, what was surveyed and we need to take the same actions because no one else is going to do it for us,” Kennedy told the audience. Kennedy contends that the first survey did not reach enough community members suffering from head and neck cancers, and that a renewed effort to contact every resident of the 92106 ZIP code is the only option to positively rule out an abnormally high incidence for the area. Twenty-three cancer patients filled out the first survey, although only 12 were included in the data analysis. People who smoked, had cancer other than head and neck varieties or recently moved to the area were not considered. An epidemiologist from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) determined that the information collected in 2005 did not indicate a higher incidence of the disease when compared to statistics from the San Diego/Imperial Organization for Cancer Control (SANIOCC), located at UCI. While the rate of cancer cases is not increasing annually in La Playa, according to the survey, no one in the room seemed ready to dismiss their worries. The individuals surveyed were diagnosed as recently as this year, but the most recent SANIOCC statistics used were dated 2002. Additionally, the registry does not publish pertinent lifestyle information of the patients, which is essential for this type of nuanced study.

On hand to interpret the findings and provide background information on the study and disease were epidemiologist Marisa Anderson and Dr. Albert Deisseroth, SKCC president and CEO. Anderson described the symptoms for head and neck cancers, which comprise 3 to 5 percent of all cancers, but do not include the esophagus, brain, eyes, thyroid, scalp, skin, muscles or bones. She added that incidence is higher among men than women, and the biggest risk factors are cigarette and alcohol use. Deisseroth reiterated that the UCI results were not decisively good or bad, but instead emphasized the need to probe further. He encouraged a community-vetted initiative to the dismay of some residents who placed the onus on local doctors to thoroughly investigate a possible cancer cluster.“We have to prepare as a community to go forward with the next step to collect the information that will enable us to definitively decide if we have this problem,” Deisseroth said. “We can’t really be sure of what is going on until we get a more comprehensive look at the community.” Deisseroth said 80 percent of cancers are thought to be produced by environmental factors, which interact with an individual’s unique susceptibility. Should Kennedy’s suspicions be confirmed and an abnormally high rate of cancer is discovered in La Playa or the greater peninsula area, efforts to identify the causing factors would then commence. Nonetheless, the crowd was eager to discuss possible causes within the community. The Navy’s recent announcement that three of their massive fuel tanks near La Playa have leaked as much as 1.5 million gallons of petroleum into the ground since 1999 has fueled buzz surrounding a peninsula cancer cluster, despite preliminary reports that the underground plume poses no immediate health risks. Kennedy and Deisseroth redirected questions regarding the leak to the Navy, pointing out that their inquiry began long before the Navy’s admission. “It’s important that we don’t go in it with a negative attitude, that we go in it with a positive attitude and try and find a cure and try and find if there is something that causes [the cancer],” said resident Bill Munster in regards to the finger pointing. Since being diagnosed with squamous cell cancer in 1999, Munster has had two surgeries and 152 radiation treatments. Kennedy and her committee will need volunteers and funds to complete their current study, which needs all of Point Loma to participate. For more information or a survey, email skcc@relocationcoordinates.com or call (858) 452-5928. Completed surveys can be faxed to (858) 452-5860.

vite others who may have cancer issues or ~~high interest~~ high interest. Those who have experienced this cancer please invite your doctors. .

JOIN US IN THE SPINNAKER ROOM AT SDYC ~~(and~~ please forward this invite to others that may have an interest )

Thursday, March 23, 2006 5:30 – 7:00 P.M.

rsvp: Katherine Kennedy 858.864.2932 ~~katherinek@relocationcoordinates.com~~SKCC@relocationcoordinates.com

** Light appetizers will be served with a no-host bar **

On Tuesday, May 24, 2005, Katherine Kennedy and the undersigned, Celeste Holthaus, hosted a meeting at the San Diego Yacht Club attended by more than 60 residents of the La Playa area. The purpose of the meeting was to present information regarding an increasingly high incidence rate of squamous cell esophageal cancer among the male population within this particular segment of Point Loma. A power point presentation was shown as Ms. Kennedy reviewed the issue of investigating suspected cancer clusters within communities and explained the difficulties in presenting and validating them. The statistics historically show that only a very small percentage (5-15%) of reported suspected clusters reach the investigation stage by the designated agencies because of a number of variables. Many reported cases are discounted due to the non-specific nature of a cancer (i.e., all genders and ethnicities included within the reported group or several types of cancer included within that group.) Others are determined to be within the statistical expected average number for a particular region or area. And, many are simply given the explanation that the cases occurred merely by chance. With that understanding in mind, an effort is underway to gather sufficient data within fairly specific parameters such that this particular “suspected cancer cluster” will gain the interest of the Cancer Registry, the agency which is first in the chain of institutions and agencies that ultimately investigate reported clusters. There will be no need to finance a Zip code survey on the part of the public as was discussed as a possibility during the meeting. However, the more data and number of cases of this “throat cancer” we submit, the statistical numbers will far outweigh any expected figures and this situation will be addressed and looked at seriously by the Cancer Registry. Because of the HEPA laws, it is almost impossible to obtain this data on specific individuals unknown to us; however, the men who are personally known to us that are involved have provided us their specific information; i.e. name, age, address, date of diagnosis, doctors names, etc. If there are cases that become known to you and that fall within these basic parameters, please ask if they would be willing to help in this endeavor and put them in touch with Celeste or Katherine. Our contact numbers are listed below. We are open to suggestions or other offers of assistance, as this is not a two-woman show by any means. Thank you for your genuine interest and concern for all of us.

Your presence is requested at a casual and informational meeting to be held at the San Diego Yacht Club on Tuesday, May 24th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We will be sharing information concerning what appears to be an increasing incidence of a specific type of cancer afflicting members of our Point Loma community. As each new case is discovered, the anxiety level grows and false information spreads. With your help and support, we will work together to fund a Zip Code Survey which will enable us to find answers and take action at the appropriate level. Distinguished scientists and health care professionals will be on hand to discuss the issues in their respective fields.

As we know you are a concerned member of our community, we urge you to accept this invitation and join us in the Spinnaker Room at SDYC, Tuesday, May 24th, 2005, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

For all who are aware of the numerous cases of head, neck and throat cancer cases that have developed in Point Loma (within a 2 mile square area), we are sending an important reprint on the Navy’s admitting to underground fuel leaks over a number of years. Those residents who understand all the components of Point Loma that affect the air and water – all the vessels, Lindbergh Field, North Island Naval Air Base, Submarine base, and the secret military facility atop Point Loma ( which emits the highest level of radar that is possible), will be interested in this article. This very small article was published in Section B of the Feb 8 union Tribune.

Since the initial meeting held at the SD Yacht club to start informing and investigating how so many could get such a rare form of cancer in such a small geographic area, we are sad to say that we have 6 more cases, bringing the total to over twenty. As a resident of Point Loma and a member of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, we are pursuing more information from Capt Patton in the hopes that we can draw some attention and perhaps a larger investigation of unknown- to- us cancer victims with the help of the Navy.

This article is just the tip of the iceberg in what we can now expect to continue to happen to residents of Point Loma. Please forward this to any one you feel has an interest in the health and environment of Point Loma and surrounding areas or who may have cancer of any type. And please look for a notice of a community meeting March 23, Thursday.

Katherine Kennedy, President, Relocation Coordinates, Inc., 4350 Executive Drive, Suite 150, San Diego, CA 92121, 858-452-5665, 858-452-5860 fax

Navy orders removal of piles of on-base hazardous material NEW.

Navy discusses cleanup of toxic deposit on base

Coincidence or cluster? Point Loma women try to get handle on cancer cases in their ’hood

by Kelly Davis

Peninsula Beacon News

Cancer Cluster Study Inconclusive

La Playa residents vow to perform more exhaustive study