The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered NASA to take immediate and long-term actions to clean up contaminated soils at Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, according to the EPA.

The soils at the site are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, chromium, zinc, cadmium, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and are posing a threat to local wildlife, according to the EPA.

Last year the U.S. Navy spent $9.7 million cleaning up an adjacent storm water retention pond and the soils at Ames Research Center have the potential to re-contaminate the neighboring site.

The California State Regional Water Quality Control Board and the EPA plan to continue to negotiate a facility-wide cleanup agreement with NASA at the Moffett Field Superfund site and monitor the cleanup.

— Bay City News Service

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