Cleaning old S.C. base to take 12 more years

MYRTLE BEACH — It will take an additional 12 years to clean cancer-causing pesticides and other contaminates from groundwater at the old Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, environmental officials and the military say.

The military said it will cost about $723,000 to clean up a shop where pesticides were stored for 15 years at the base, which closed in 1993. The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported that the contamination also has moved to 4 acres of private land next to the base.

The project would involve cleaning up pesticides and solvents including trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride.

Some residents were not pleased with the plan.

An alternate proposal would clean the contamination in about half the time, but it would cost about $400,000 more.

"If this is about human health, why not do it in seven years instead of waiting longer," said Cheyenne Rheingold, who lives near the base.

But the longer cleanup has few risks because the groundwater is not used for drinking and because people are not exposed to the contamination, said Dick Souza, who is overseeing the cleanup.

"You have to balance how fast you do it with how you spend the taxpayers' money," he said.

But Maxine Rheingold said she worries that the contamination is more dangerous than officials think.

"There is a health risk, and nobody knows what that risk is until years later," she said.

Since the base closed 15 years ago, the military has spent $53 million cleaning 258 contaminated sites there. The latest plan, announced Tuesday, proposes removing some of the contaminated groundwater and letting the rest of the underground chemicals break down over time.

State and federal regulators are accepting public comment on the plan through Aug. 28.