Leaky toxic dump near CSUMB housing scares some students.

As the Army prepared for a controlled burn on Fort Ord earlier this week, CSUMB students paid attention. Beginning Monday morning more than 100 students made a last minute raid on the Army''s Voluntary Relocation Office to apply for and collect relocation funds.

By the end of the day the student''s intentions were clear. The U.S. Army was about to sponsor keggers in Monterey hotels and meteor-watching trips in Big Sur. Army officials knew their reimbursement plan-designed to assuage locals who feared the health impacts of the burn-was being taken advantage of. But there was nothing they could do.

A prescribed burn on Fort Ord isn''t a serious health concern at CSUMB. Smoke from the proposed burn, which was postponed due to weather conditions, probably wouldn''t have affected campus and, most would agree, wouldn''t be that harmful if it did.

The real issue, a health concern that has students planning something other than parties, is the detection of ''elevated cancer risk'' from a Superfund site landfill on CSUMB''s doorstep.

"Personally, I''m more concerned about the landfill than the burn," said Nat Rojanasathira, a member of the CSUMB student senate who heads the environment committee. "This issue has definitely created lots of controversy on campus among staff members, students and administration."

Recent controversy over the landfill stems from an internal California Environmental Protection Agency memo. The memo was culled from public records by Curt Gandy, director of the environmental watchdog Fort Ord Toxics Project.

In the memo, EPA Toxicologist John Christopher said, "detected concentrations of volatile chemicals emitted from the landfills of OU-2 present cancer risks and non-cancer hazards higher than acceptable benchmarks."

The OU-2, ''Operation Unit-2,''landfills are five sections of a larger 125- acre landfill sandwiched between CSUMB''s main campus and student apartments.

Army officials say emissions from the landfill pose no threat to students, some of whom are housed just 300 feet from the landfill''s eastern perimeter.

Not sure whom to believe, Rojanasathira and CSUMB Student Voice Environmental Committee have invited a panel of experts and concerned citizens to CSUMB for a Town Hall meeting.

"I don''t think the Army should be telling us what is OK and what is not OK," Rojanasathira said. "If emissions are above EPA limits, we need to be informed about what''s going on."

Ambient air samples collected from the perimeter of the landfill in the fall of 2001 showed elevated levels of benzene. "The levels were high enough to get my attention, but not so high that we should be evacuating students," Christopher said in a recent interview.

Christopher stressed that gas leaks from ''young'' landfills, like the newer sections of the OU-2 landfill, are typical. What is atypical in this case, however, is the close proximity of the landfill to student housing.

"I am concerned that a landfill emitting that much gas is that close to residents," Christopher said. "Normally you would have a much larger buffer zone."

Another abnormality in this case is the detection of elevated benzene levels upwind, as well as downwind, from the landfill.

"Its really puzzling," said Gail Youngblood, environmental coordinator for the Army''s Base-Closure Office. "We need to collect more data."

In the year that has passed since the ''puzzling'' data was first recorded, Army contractors have collected one additional set of samples. The results are still under analysis and will be disclosed at the Nov. 26 Town Hall Meeting. Around 10 panelists, including Christopher and Army representatives, are expected for the meeting, which will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. in the UC Ballroom in the CSUMB University Center. Panelist presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer period moderated by CSUMB Ombudsperson Eleanor Funk.

OU-2 operated as a municipal landfill from 1956, when it opened, to 1987 when it was covered with a thin layer of clean fill. Beginning in 1996 the landfill was capped and methane collection systems were installed. A seven-acre section of the landfill remains open for base closure waste and will be capped this winter.

The OU-2 landfill was listed as a Superfund site in 1990 after plumes of benzene and other toxic substances were detected in aquifers directly below the landfill. In 1995 a groundwater treatment facility was installed to extract and filter the toxic plumes. Groundwater cleanup is expected to continue for another 30 years. The last panel meeting at CSUMB regarding the OU-2 landfill was held during the 1998 school year.