Latest news a great start, but Rocketdyne saga far from over

Local residents and public officials who carry genuine concern for the environment let out a collective sigh of relief last week as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 990, the much-needed legislation that guarantees the Santa Susana Field Laboratory will never be developed for residential or commercial purposes, and one day may even become a state park.

Attempts to delay the cleanup of the former rocket testing site may finally have run out of fuel.

But there's still much work to be done.

The site should be scrubbed according to the highest standards of the Environmental Protection Agency if it's one day to become a place where we want our children to play. Only then can the public be reasonably sure that the heinous chemicals resting in the soil will no longer be a threat to hearth and home.

We hope Boeing sticks by its statement that the site will be cleaned to meet all residential standards, even though SB 990 ensures no homes will ever be built on the property.

Boeing agreed to pay $22.5 million to pay for the field lab transfer of ownership and the maintenance once it becomes a park.

We also hope State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and city officials remain vigilant in their efforts to make sure the new law does what it's supposed to. Kuehl has proven to be an effective watchdog over the Rocktedyne issue and without her services the battle with Boeing might well have continued. It took years of costly pressure from oversight groups to bring some semblance of closure to the matter and hopefully those efforts won't be wasted.

So what comes next?

"When you look at the property I think its best used in its natural state for hiking, walking, equestrian activities and mountain biking," Assemblymember Cameron Smyth told the Simi Valley Acorn.

What an excellent start.