Somewhere along the line, the citizens and elected officials of Simi Valley and the west San Fernando Valley have let public oversight of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup slip into the hands of a group whose staunch, anti-nuclear agenda is all that appears to matter.

At first it seemed like we all wanted the same thing: to get the 2,850-acre former rocket engine and nuclear energy testing site in the Santa Monica Mountains cleaned so that its pollutants could never again harm a human life.

Unfortunately, the environmentalist faction appears more concerned about punishing field lab property owners Boeing, NASA and the Department of Energy—and advancing their own cause in the process—and less concerned with getting the contaminated site scrubbed in a timely fashion. While we agree the polluters made gross errors in judgment, the sole concern now should be making sure that the mess they created is cleaned up.

A Boeing lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 990 (see story on page 1), whether justified or not, is a byproduct of the average citizen’s willingness to let others carry the torch.

The attitude for many in our community continues to be “outof-sight, out-of-mind,” let somebody else take care of the problem.

But results have been slow to come.

Our city staff and council members may say they’re concerned about “what goes on up there,” but it’s Daniel Hirsch, leader of the nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap, and his supporters who have the attention of the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, not our local representatives. Sure, Simi’s own have plenty to worry about inside the city limits, but they also need to be a strong voice in the field lab cleanup.

Starting today, oversight over the cleanup needs to be returned to hands of the residents and local officials who are at risk from the property’s pollution. While we appreciate the work done by Hirsch and others in bringing the issue to the forefront, it’s going to take our voices and our votes to take it the rest of the way.

When it comes to cleaning up the radiological and chemical carcinogens left behind at the field lab after years of improper handling, time is of the essence. While the politicians and environmentalists fuss over legal technicalities, the clock continues to run and an increasing number of residents are at risk of being exposed to invisible toxins. Enough is enough.