The goal of community outreach is to advocate for and strengthen early and meaningful community participation in the Department of the Navy’s (Navy) Environmental Restoration Program (ERP). The overarching objective of the Navy’s ERP is to protect human health and the environment from past hazardous waste practices and releases at Navy Installation Restoration Program (IRP) and Munitions Response Program (MRP) sites. The Navy is committed to involving the public during the site investigation and cleanup process at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado, a Naval Base Coronado (NBC) Outlying Activity, by both formal and informal means of communications. Health and safety on the air station and in our communities is a top Navy priority.
Federal and state laws and regulations require community involvement during site investigation and cleanup activities conducted under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. This ensures that the public is informed and involved early, that public concerns are heard, and that their comments are considered in making final decisions on managing cleanup activities. The Navy encourages meaningful and productive participation by everyone in the community.
Community Relations Plan
The Navy, in conjunction with State of California regulatory agencies, are responsible for oversight of the Navy’s ERP. The Navy has developed community relations plans, most recently in 2003. The plan provides an opportunity for community outreach activities at NBC, with Naval Air Station North Island being the primary focus addressing both community concerns and expectations, linking activities to NAB Coronado as relevant and necessary.
Community involvement described in the plan provides opportunities for active public involvement, strives to meet the community’s needs for information, seeks community input concerning environmental cleanup decisions, and provides mechanisms for feedback to the public on how the Navy is incorporating the community’s concerns into the ERP at the NAB Coronado.
Community outreach activities include conducting community meetings; publishing fact sheets, newsletters, and public notices; and contacting the community through website postings and by electronic mail. Some documents produced during Navy site investigation and cleanup activities have a required formal review period during which the public can provide comments and input, while other documents are not subject to the same public review and comment requirement. The Navy provides opportunities for public review of these documents in community forums and upon request.
Technical Review Committee/ Restoration Advisory Board
The Navy formed a Technical Review Committee (TRC) at NBC in 1990 for the purpose of ensuring a continuing dialogue among members of the community, DoD, and regulatory agencies on issues concerning environmental remediation. The TRC was converted into a Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) in 1994 until the RAB was disestablished in 2009.
As part of continued community outreach, the Navy sponsors a booth at the annual Coronado Flower Show each year in April. The Navy continues to encourage public participation in the environmental restoration process through various other community outreach activities.
In addition to information presented here, Fact Sheet No. 11, dated April 2022, provides information on the Navy’s environmental investigation and cleanup program underway at NAB Coronado; on accessing the administrative record file and information repository, sources of reports and studies, and on how to be added to the NAB Coronado mailing list.
Administrative Record and Information Repository
An administrative record file has been established for the ERP at NAB Coronado. This comprehensive file includes documentation of public and Restoration Advisory Board meetings and other activities that show public participation, project documents, technical reports, and other ERP-related documentation. This file will continue to be maintained for at least 50 years after environmental restoration activities are completed at NAB Coronado. The file is available for public review. To obtain access to the files or to receive a copy of the file index, please contact:
Command Records Manager
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Southwest
750 Pacific Highway, Code EV33
NBSD Bldg. 3519
San Diego, California 92132
(619) 556-1280
CLICK HERE to access the online administrative record files for NAB Coronado.
An information repository has also been established for the ERP at NAB Coronado. This publicly available repository is at the following location:
Coronado Public Library
640 Orange Avenue
Coronado, CA 92118
While the repository documents cannot be removed from the library, they can be read at the library or photocopied.
Community Meetings and Public Comment Periods
In accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Defense requirements, community meetings are held as appropriate during the remediation process. Notices of any upcoming public meetings are published approximately two weeks prior to the meeting in the San Diego Union-Tribune. In addition, notices are posted at the NAB information repository.
To ensure effective two-way communication with local community members, public comment periods are a federal requirement of the remedial action process and are established at critical times in the cleanup process. All public comments received by the Navy are considered and, as appropriate, incorporated into final documents. The Navy provides formal written responses to these comments- in the Responsiveness Summary section of decision documents.
Public Affairs Office
The mission of the NBC Public Affairs Office is to enhance the public image of NAB Coronado, an Outlying Activity NBC, manage the command's community relations program, and serve as the point of contact for all media and public inquiries.
The Public Affairs Office provides information and press releases to newspapers, TV, radio stations, and civic organizations, and schedules and conducts interviews and news conferences.
The Naval Base Coronado Public Affairs Office can be contacted at (619)-545-8136 or nbcpao@us.navy.mil.