They Want to Clean Up the Act at Santa Susana Field Lab By John Millrany - April 27, 2001A May 2 meeting of residents concerned over the massive cleanup of the old Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory is expected to attract environmentalists, anti-nuclear activists and Congressmen from both sides of the aisle who are expressing concern that the Bush administration has indicated it might scale back the $250 million remediation program.
Now owned by Boeing Co., the 2,800-acre field research lab that lines a ridge above such residential enclaves as Santa Susana Knolls is in its 10th year of cleaning up contaminated soil, water and buildings. With funding presently set at $17 annually, there is concern that the budget would be slashed by $3.7 million in 2002, if the recommendation by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is effected. That maneuver, which would be part of an overall national reduction of $467 million, brought quick protests from Reps. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who said they would vehemently fight a reduction.
Disappointed that a class-action suit against Rocketdyne was dismissed, residents are worried that any material funding cutbacks could delay the cleanup, originally projected to end in 2007, by several years.
The cleanup in question affects only 90 acres attached to the Department of Energy's section of the field lab. Responsibility for remediation of the remainder of the property is that of Boeing, which has maintained it will "aggressively" carry out a proper cleanup.
Ground water contamination is one of the major concerns of residents in and around the Simi Valley area and brings up the specter of the San Joaquin Valley town of Hinkley, which won a $333 million damage settlement against Pacific Gas and Electric, popularized in the movie Erin Brockovitch.
The issue in Hinckley was chromium 6, a known carcinogen when inhaled; it was found in unacceptable amounts in ground water. Now word comes that plans to fund a study on how to remove C-6 in ground water will involve the cities of Los Angeles, Glendale, Burbank and San Fernando along with the American Water Works Association.
The association will kick in $200,000, with LA earmarked for $100,000, Glendale between $25,000 and $65,000, with Burbank and San Fernando splitting the difference.
Even though the effects of C-6 in ground water are unknown, it exists in unacceptable amounts in the San Fernando Valley, officials say. (See Hinckley.)
Glendale is expected to construct its own treatment plant and has already spent $3 million on research on the facility.
According to Don Froelich, Glendale’s water services administrator, the signing on of the American Water Works Association to the joint research project underscores the gravity of C-6.
"We felt it was a major breakthrough that chromium 6 is not just a San Fernando Valley issue or Southern California issue, but a state issue and potentially a national issue." |