=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2004/01/08/MNGHV45OB5= 1.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, January 8, 2004 (SF Chronicle) Pitch to restore Moffett's Hangar One/Cleanup for NASA museum would cost Na= vy 10s of millions Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau Washington -- Some powerful Washington figures are pitching in to help preserve and reopen Moffett Field's historic and cavernous Hangar One, an 82-year-old South Bay landmark along Highway 101 so vast that fog sometimes forms in its upper reaches. The largely steel South Bay structure -- which could accommodate seven football fields -- is polluted by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and has been fenced off and closed for the past few years. The Navy is responsible for cleanup and is formulating multimillion-dollar plans that backers hope could lead to the hangar's reopening. "We urge the Navy to adopt a long-term remediation plan that allows Hang= ar One to be preserved," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, said in their letter to assistant Navy Secretary Hansford Johnson. The two members of Congress reminded Johnson that the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View and the NASA Ames Research Center, which has owned the hangar since the Navy left Moffett in 1994, want to convert the hangar into a space and science center that would help visitors explore the future of space travel. The three agencies created the nonprofit California Air and Space Educational Foundation, which boasts a star-studded board, including "Titanic" director James Cameron, ex-Apple Computer CEO Gil Amelio and astronaut Sally Ride, that is trying to make the museum a reality. But those plans now await the PCB cleanup. "It's a huge and magnificent building," said Lisa Lockyer of the NASA Am= es development staff. "There are these exciting plans that would reopen the hangar to the public. ... The board's concern is that the Navy ... not keep the hangar shuttered for decades." The Navy has already painted the 198-foot-tall hangar with a sealant to prevent more PCBs from leaching into the ground or water at Moffett Field and has fenced off the building. The Navy now has begun what promises to be a long process of deliberations about what to do about the hangar that was built as the West Coast home to the Navy's small fleet of dirigibles. The most famous of those lighter-than-air ships, the Macon, was lost in the Pacific Ocean off Big Sur in 1935. Its loss was one of the disasters that led the Navy to abandon its blimp program. NASA has done some preliminary estimates for encapsulating, or removing, the PCBs and restoring the hangar, and for tearing it down. "Every option is in the tens of millions of dollars," Lockyer said. How the Navy will find the money for such an expensive cleanup is the big question. If the experience of other polluted former Navy facilities, such as San Francisco's Hunters Point Shipyard, is replicated, the hangar could be shuttered for years to come. The other two big hangars at Moffett, built during World War II, are also closed and face what could be an even bleaker future than Hangar One. Their interiors are made of Douglas fir, and neither hangar has a modern fire suppression system. Figuring out how to install effective sprinkler systems in their vast interiors is a real conundrum. Among those awaiting a decision on Hangar One is Carol Henderson, executive director of the Moffett Field Museum. Her group operated a 4,000- square-foot museum in the hangar until the structure closed. "We'd love to move back in," said Henderson. "A lot of our collection is still in the hangar, but no one can see it now." NASA has given her group a small nearby building to serve as a temporary museum. After raising funds to make repairs to the building, the museum plans to reopen on April 3. But it won't be the same as being in Hangar One, Henderson added. "It's a one of a kind thing. It's beautifully constructed and on the inside, it's even more awesome." E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 SF Chronicle