Government needs to get its priorities straight
Leave it up to the state and federal bureaucracies to put a question mark on what should have been a moment of complete victory for residents living near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, especially those who've spoken up for years about the dangers of what lies beneath the soil at the former rocket engine and nuclear testing facility now owned by Boeing Co.

On a day when most concerned citizens received what they'd been asking for all along- assurance from the governor that the site would be cleaned to the highest standards set forth by the United States Environmental Protection Agency- a major question was left unanswered as to what agency will ultimately be in charge of the decontamination, an uncertainty that threatens to delay a cleanup already long overdue.

Despite a recommendation by the U.S. EPA that the field lab be added to its Superfund National Priorities List- putting decontamination under its control- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who should be highly commended for his actions to preserve the standards detailed in Senate Bill 990, and the California EPA decided to table the matter for six months to look into cleanup possibilities that don't include Superfund involvement.

The state's reasoning: Putting the field lab on EPA's "priorities" list would actually delay cleanup.

Yes, only in the upside-down world of the federal government does getting put on a priorities list mean you become less of a priority.

But, when looking at the facts, it's hard to argue with the state's logic. In fact, of the 94 sites in California that have been put on the Superfund list in the program's first 28 years, only 11, fewer than 12 percent, have actually reached full cleanup.

Apparently it's erroneous to believe that the U.S. EPA could best do the job of making sure a site is cleaned to U.S. EPA standards.

But thanks to years of effort by concerned citizens and watchdog groups who wouldn't take no for an answer, the proper standards for the field lab's cleanup have finally been set.

Now it is the duty of our elected officials to ensure those strict standards are met, and met without unnecessary delay.

That, without question, should be a priority.