After two years of educating the public about the toxic contamination and ongoing cleanup in the hills above Simi, the Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education is closing its doors.

ACME opened right over the hill from Simi in Chatsworth in May 2008 with the goal of enlightening local residents about the history of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the former rocket engine testing and nuclear research facility, and the current issues surrounding the site.

But due to a lack of funding, ACME is planning a farewell event at its 23350 Lake Manor Drive building from 1 to 5 p.m. Sun., March 28.

Founders William Bowling and Christina Walsh blame the economy as well as the current divisiveness in the activist community for the loss of funding, most of which came in the form of a large grant from the Annenberg Foundation. Donations from individuals supplemented the grant.

Walsh said ACME’s demise is due primarily to the intense resistance of other local activists to the formation of a new community advisory group—something the museum petitioned the state Department of Toxic Substances Control for last November.

“There have been many efforts on the part of a few specific people to damage the credibility of ACME,” Walsh said. “Because specific people don’t want a valid petition to be accepted, they will stop at nothing. They have damaged us in ways that go far beyond what is right, what is fair, what is ethical.”

Bowling agreed that the division in the community scared donors off.

“A couple of those sources, as far as government money is concerned, said there’s this infighting and why should we support a museum (that’s) going against the work group?” he said.

However, Bowling maintains that a community advisory group would not supplant the 20-year-old SSFL Interagency Work Group— which meets on a quarterly basis— but simply add another forum where more voices could weigh in on what’s happening at the site.

The DTSC, the lead agency overseeing the cleanup, recently denied ACME’s petition to create the new work group. Walsh said the museum plans to take legal action to reverse that decision.

Despite having to close ACME’s doors, the pair say they will continue to carry out the museum’s mission, even without four walls.

To do that they are setting up a mobile museum; a former field lab worker has already donated his trailer to the cause.

Mobile ACME’s first stop will be Calabasas Earth Day on April 3. After that, the museumon-wheels will host monthly events across the region.

“We’re going to bring the museum to wherever it needs to go,” Bowling said.

While there are some benefits to ACME going mobile, Bowling said a website and trailer can’t replace the hands-on experience one would get at the museum.

“It was the only museum of its kind. At any cleanup site around the United States, I don’t think anyone went to the lengths that we had to put the information out to the community.”

The two intend to reopen a permanent space in the future if they’re able to get the proper funding, but for now they’re simply moving forward in a way that people can, hopefully, support.

“Our work is far from over,” Walsh said.