Glad to see you could make it

Oh, what a difference a year makes. That and a good kick in the seat from the Governator.

Thirteen months after it denied a request from the Simi Valley City Council to review scientific data related to the Runkle Canyon development, the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control has taken it upon itself to offer its services to examine the possibility of chemical and/or radioactive contamination existing on the site.

In a letter sent Nov. 8 to KB Home, Norman Riley, the Santa Susana Field Lab Project director for the DTSC, offers the home builder assistance in reviewing samples and analysis data related to Runkle Canyon using its "experts in the fields of engineering, geology, chemistry, toxicology and other relevant disciplines."

It states that the agency has received several public inquiries about the safety of developments proposed in Runkle and Woolsey canyons and it "takes those concerns seriously." Well, at least now it does.

Whether it was the recent passage of Senate Bill 990- a measure that would ensure the complete cleanup of the former field lab in accordance with the highest standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or something else that got the DTSC to stand up and take notice of Runkle Canyon, the news is good for the residents of Simi Valley.

Generally speaking, it's not a good thing when the state gets involved in city matters, but in the case of Runkle Canyon, not only is the DTSC's involvement welcome- it's necessary.

If the concerns of critics were ever to be answered, that answer wasn't going to come from the city, or KB Home, or anyone close enough to the project to be labeled by opponents as "in-the-pocketbook" of developers. And it wasn't going to come from the Radiation Rangers, either.

No, from the beginning this was a job for the state, and especially for such an agency as the DTSC. It's just too bad the city had to expend the time and money to take its own soil and water samples from Runkle Canyon, samples that never put anyone's fears at ease.

On the bright side, it's hoped that the DTSC, working with KB Home, can get the city and its residents the answers about Runkle Canyon they've desired- and deserved- all along.