The Ventura County Department of Airports would like to continue our efforts to provide regular updates to the community regarding the soil piles on Oxnard Airport property east of Ventura Road (see map below). These piles were associated with a previous airport construction project during which, in cooperation with the State of California Regional Water Quality Review Board, we agreed to temporarily store and test the material before disposal. The Department of Airports continues to work cooperatively with the State of California Regional Water Quality Review Board to better understand whether PFAS, recently determined by the federal government to be a chemical of concern, could have the potential to affect drinking water. To that end, we have set aside soil excavated from the prior project construction area to allow for further sampling prior to its eventual offsite disposal.
PFAS chemicals have been used in the United States since the 1950s and are in products such as non-stick cooking pans, dental floss, food packaging, clothes, microwave popcorn bags, laundry soap, carpeting, etc. The article at the link below shares more information about PFAS in consumer products:
(https://time.com/6281242/pfas-forever-chemicals-home-beauty-body-products/).
These “forever” chemicals are also found in the aircraft firefighting foam mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which was used on two occasions and annually for required testing of fire trucks. It is important to note that no PFAS foam has been sprayed at Oxnard Airport since 2019. To meet federal requirements for equipment testing the Department of Airports acquired a specialized instrument to test the readiness of its trucks without needing to release any foam.
The Ventura County Department of Airports is among the first airports in the State to expedite the replacement of this foam with a new fluorine free firefighting foam (also referred to as F3) recently approved by FAA for use at civil airports in September 2023. Much more on FAA’s transition to fluorine free foam can be found in this linked document:
(https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_safety/aircraft_rescue_fire_fighting/f3_transition)
The Airport’s previously stockpiled soil, which is fully covered on plastic liners, was recently tested by the Department of Airports and we are now coordinating with the California Regional Water Quality Review Board regarding the next steps. The Department of Airports expects to commence removal of the stockpile soil from the property east of Ventura Road before the end of the year.