A federal grand jury is investigating Boeing Co. for allegedly breaking environmental laws due to waste runoff water from their Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Boeing officials confirmed earlier this week.

In mid-November, the federal grand jury subpoenaed documents that deal with monitoring rain runoff water from the 2,600acre parcel in the Santa Susana Hills, said Inger Hodgson, a Boeing spokesperson.

Hodgson said the Seattlebased aerospace company would not comment on details of the inquiry. “We are cooperating with authorities,” Hodgson said. “It’s premature to comment on the nature of the federal investigation at this point.”

Local environmentalists who have been complaining of toxic runoff from the test field for nearly 15 years welcome the grand jury investigation.

“I would like to see a full exposure of the historical behaviors of Boeing,” said Elizabeth Crawford, senior environmental specialist with the Physicians for Social Responsibility. “I am glad to see their crimes are finally getting paid the attention that they deserve.”

The grand jury investigation came just weeks before a cleanup and abatement order was issued to Boeing in late November by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The regional water board is ordering Boeing not only to stop discharging contaminated runoff water, but also to detail how they plan to clean up their site in order to avoid future violations.

According to the regional water board, Boeing has exceeded runoff limits at least 96 times since 1998. Pollutants found in the runoff water that exceed allowable limits include mercury, dioxins, iron, lead, copper and manganese.

Runoff from the test field travels through a dozen creeks and rivers in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The runoff flows through waterways that include Bell Creek, a tributary of the Los Angeles River, the Arroyo Simi, Dayton Canyon Creek, Chatsworth Creek, and other smaller drainages through Runkle and Woolsey canyons.

Boeing has said the excessive contaminants in the runoff water were caused by ash from the Simi Valley fires in 2003 and the Topanga fire in late September.

Although the recent wildfire scorched more than 2,000 acres of the test field, state officials said, “(The fire) does not relieve (Boeing) of its obligation to comply with its waste discharge requirements.”

In 2002, the regional water board hit Boeing with a $39,000 penalty for runoff violations. The amount, said Crawford, is far from enough.

“It is cheaper for (Boeing) to violate than to comply,” Crawford said.

Jonathan Bishop, an executive with the regional water board, said his offices are working on a ceaseand-desist order against Boeing, which will force the company to stop water runoff until they meet state and federal regulations for runoff water. The order should be out by next week.

If Boeing is unable to comply with runoff limits set by the regional water board, the state has the power to fine the company for each violation. Bishop said he could not comment on the investigation.

“If the regional board fined Boeing what they fined Thousand Oaks over a single sewage spill, every time they violated their permit, it would stop tomorrow,” Crawford said. In 1998, the regional water board fined Thousand Oaks $2.3 million for a sewage spill that released millions of gallons of raw sewage into a creek, damaging crops and eventually dumping into the Pacific Ocean, closing some beaches for weeks.

Officials with the control board say their investigation and the federal grand jury’s investigation are independent of each other.

Known as the Rocketdyne test site, the field was used by Rocketdyne, the Defense Department, NASA and the Energy Department to conduct rocket, missile and nuclear testing for nearly 50 years.

A multi-agency work group was founded in 1989 to help oversee the test field’s $250-million cleanup effort.

In 1996, Boeing acquired Rocketdyne. In August, Boeing sold Rocketdyne to United Technologies for $700 million. The sale included Rocketdyne’s headquarters in Canoga Park but didn’t include the test field.

The next Santa Susana Field Laboratory meeting will take place on Wed., Jan. 11 in Simi Valley.