Thursday, March 15, 2001
Developer Plans Tests Of Hamilton Lots Near Leak

 By John Nickerson, Marin IJ

 Shea Homes officials announced that beginning tomorrow, it will begin  drilling wells on its housing lots closest to a 26-acre military landfill that has begun leaking potentially explosive methane gas near a  Novato housing subdivision.

 The announcement was made to about 60 residents and potential buyers that had been called to discuss reports of the underground methane leaks migrating toward the Shea Homes development inside the old Hamilton Field.

 Thom Gamble, vice president of Shea Homes, said each of the 30 lots that are nearest to the landfill will have wells drilled and the air be tested as early as next week.

 Last week, Army officials said the potentially explosive gas had migrated from the landfill to within 20 feet of the outer edge of a 150 to 200 foot buffer zone between the landfill and Shea housing lots.

 Prior tests through the second half of 2000 showed that the gas had spread through the soil to about halfway across the buffer zone on the southeast side of the landfill.

 Last month, Shea Homes voluntarily halted construction of some homes next to the landfill until the extent of the leak becomes known and a solution is worked out.

 As well as being a potentially explosive, methane can serve as a chemical conduit for known or suspected carcinogens, including a gasoline additive plume and volatile organic compounds known to be present in the landfill.

 The Army is under a March 30 deadline to issue a report detailing how it plans to address the spreading methane.

 John Sepich, president of Methane Specialists, a company based in the Southern California city of Moorpark, said his firm will drill small-diameter wells to a depth between 10 and 15 feet. The wells will be checked throughout this summer with a device that is able to detect tiny amounts of methane. Those tests will begin immediately, Sepich said, and initial results should be known by next week.

 Gamble said the Army did not provide a proper methane system at the landfill and there is no evidence that the gas has migrated onto Shea property.

 "We don't have a lot of answers at this time," Gamble said. "We are in this together; it is us against the Army to resolve this problem."

 Sepich said if the Army decides that something must be done, it is a fairly simple procedure to vent the landfill - collect the gasses and burn or treat them.

 Shea Homes president Layne Marceau said because there was evidence that the gas is seeping through the ground toward the homes, the Army is lawfully responsible to fix the problem. "This will get fixed, its just a matter of time," Marceau said.

 Although many residents expressed concern with the problem, they said the media was blowing the issue out of proportion, causing some embarrassment.

 One Hamilton resident offered that because building near landfills was such a new thing in Marin, unlike Southern California, many people outside the neighborhood were overreacting to the problem.

 "Everybody's here tonight. There is no mass exodus," said resident and real-estate broker Jeff Johnston. "We are here trying to get the facts. Property values have not gone down as a result of this."
 Marceau said another meeting for residents is scheduled for April 25.