By Emmanuel T.Erediano
Variety News Staff

LIEUTENANT Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, during the Environmental Awareness Month proclamation yesterday, mentioned the “environmental nightmare” in Lower Base.
After Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed the proclamation, Villagomez relayed to Division of Environmental Quality Director Frank Rabauliman the report of a private citizen he did not name about the situation in Lower Base.
Villagomez said the report he received focused primarily on Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s Tank 104 which “needs major repair.”
The problem, he said, is that “there is a tremendous amount of oil being stored there,” referring to the area surrounding the former CUC building.
Villagomez is a former CUC executive director.
The DEQ staffers who attended the proclamation signing assured the lt. governor that a cleanup was already being carried out in the area.
Even the soil, said one staffer, had already been tested.
Coastal Resources Management Director John Joyner, in a telephone interview, said concerned agencie are cooperating with CRM in cleaning up the area which includes eight abandoned offices, some vehicles and drums piled in one place.
CUC spokeswoman Pamela Mathis, in a separate telephone interview, said Tank 104 is for used oil.
The tank, according to a press release issued in December by CUC, has 115,000 gallons of used oil which CUC, DEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency plan to use for a renewable energy power plant, Mathis said.