Field lab cleanup encouraged

By Michelle Knight
knight@theacorn.com

Another chapter opened last week in the complex and controverisal saga of the Santa Susana Field Lab when an environmental group released a report saying not enough is being done to clean up the site.

Located in the hills southeast of Simi Valley, the field lab was home to nuclear reactors in the 1950s. The site now tests rocket engines.

The lab was purchased by the Boeing Co. in 1996 when Boeing bought Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power. (Boeing announced recently that it will sell Rocketdyne to a Connecticut-based firm but that the field lab would stay with Boeing.)

Home builders and other developers have been attracted to the area, but environmentalists say the property isn’t fit for development because the soil and ground water hold several known cancer-causing contaminates. They claim the Department of Energy isn’t doing enough to clean it up.

Dan Hirsch, a retired professor and president of the environmental watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap, released a two-year study last week that compared the clean-up standards used by the Department of Energy, which is charged with cleaning up radiation contamination at testing sites around the country, including the Santa Susana Field Lab, with those of the Environmental Protection Agency.

"The Department of Energy is permitting doses almost 100 times higher," said Hirsch.

Department officials were sent a copy of the study last year, but they have yet to respond, Hirsch said.

GreenPark Management LLC

said it wants to build more than 300 homes and perhaps an 18-hole golf course in Runkle Canyon, situated about a mile or so from the field lab. The Simi Valley City Council approved an environmental impact report on the project last April.

Mike Sedell, Simi Valley city manager, received a copy of Hirsch’s study. He said the city council will want to be involved if it’s shown there truly is an environmental concern with the property. However, the city must depend on the expertise of federal and state agencies in situations such as this.

The city will want to know "what is the bottom line for safety for the public?" Sedell said, adding that the city will closely monitor the situation and watch for a response from the Department of Energy, the EPA and from elected state and federal representatives.