Officials with a regional water board in recent days praised a new agreement that would provide safeguards for the environment and communities that live near the polluted Santa Susana Field Laboratory tucked in the hills in Simi and San Fernando valleys.
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted unanimously on August 11 in support of a memorandum of understanding requiring Boeing, which owns the majority of the site, to prove that stormwater runoff is not polluted and human health is not at risk — once the company completes its soil cleanup. Officials with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, called the vote “a monumental step forward after decades of stalled progress.”
DTSC Director Meredith Williams said in a statement that her agency, “is grateful for the Water Board’s careful consideration and looks forward to working together to see this cleanup to completion.”
But residents and activists said the board ignored their pleas for more stringent rules and voted in support of the memorandum despite calls from nearly 200 activists and residents who urged the board to vote against it, arguing that the new agreement would put the health of local families at risk.
The memorandum of understanding, or MOU, involves both the Los Angeles Water Board and DTSC and sets up “methodologies to assess the effectiveness of Boeing’s soil cleanup on stormwater quality and ensure contaminants in the soil from past industrial activity have been adequately remediated so that surface water runoff from the site is safe,” according to the board.
The longtime 2,850-acre facility was home to rocket testing and nuclear research, and in 1959 the site experienced a partial nuclear meltdown that did not become public knowledge until the late 1970s.
Between 1947 and 2006, NASA, the Department of Energy, Boeing and its predecessors used the site for the assembly and testing of rocket engines. Years of industrial activity left the area polluted with chemicals and radionuclides dangerous to human health.
Dan Hirsch, retired director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was the first to discover evidence about the meltdown — in 1979. Over a span of 40 years, he became one of the most vocal activists demanding a stringent cleanup of the Santa Susana field.
On Monday, Hirsch called the approval of the new memorandum “a tragedy.”
“When they voted on the MOU — which was horrible in its own way — it made effective the larger deal with Boeing to let them have vastly higher levels of contamination in place,” he said. He added that the agreement, if not overturned, “will allow Boeing to leave almost all the contamination in place.”
The May agreement was slammed by critics who said the new standards were much weaker than the ones spelled out in the 2007 legally binding agreement that required the full restoration of soil and groundwater by 2017.
The new document, critics said, would require Boeing to clean only a fraction of what was promised under the previous agreement.
Boeing spokesman Connor Greenwood wrote in an email that the company supports the water board’s approval of the memorandum.
“Together, the MOU and agreement with DTSC and California EPA create a comprehensive framework that will provide regulatory certainty and a clear, accelerated path forward for Boeing’s cleanup at the former Santa Susana Field Laboratory,” Greenwood said. “The framework protects the important environmental and cultural resources at the site, which will never be developed under a conservation easement. It also reflects Boeing’s deep commitment to safety, sustainability and the communities where we live and work.”
But Hirsch noted that the May agreement was reached “behind a closed door, with no public comment and no environmental review.”
Melissa Bumstead, founder of Parents Against Santa Susana Field Lab and a West Hills resident, was among a group of residents who attended the board’s meeting, holding signs that read “DTSC lies,” and “Boeing Corporation no toxic dump in our community.”
“It was not an environment set up to benefit the public,” she said. “Clearly, everything was already in favor of the polluter.”
Earlier, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asked county counsel to consider legal action if the cleanup doesn’t meet the so-called “background level” — the most stringent cleanup standard.
Hirsch said that although the fight for stringent cleanup will continue, “I don’t want to pretend that Thursday wasn’t devastating. … It’s a huge tragedy.”
Related links
State’s new deal to clean up radioactive Santa Susana Field Lab is slammed by critics
Environmental groups say safety measures lacking as Santa Susana Field Lab buildings demolished
Study: Radioactive elements reached neighborhoods near Santa Susana Field Lab during Woolsey Fire
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