Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 3, 2007
4. Water Quality
Debate over safe levels of perchlorate heats up - Pasadena Star News
Environmentalists cheer judge's ruling on SoCal lab cleanup plan - Associated Press
Judge orders study of field lab; Activists celebrate win in legal war with DOE - LA Daily News
Judge assails Rocketdyne cleanup; Environmentalists hail a federal jurist's ruling that a Department of Energy effort to rid the Santa Susana field lab of pollutants is inadequate - Los Angeles Times
Water Pollution Suit Settled - Santa Clarita Signal
Deal will clean Santa Clarita Valley aquifers - Los Angeles Times
Debate over safe levels of perchlorate heats up
By Fred Ortega, staff writer
Environmental Protection Agency officials are balking at plans to set a national cleanup standard for perchlorate, a toxic rocket fuel additive that abounds in the nation's drinking-water supply - including the San Gabriel Valley's.
The EPA's comments came during a House hearing last week attended by Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte. Solis has proposed H.R. 1747, a bill that would require the EPA to enact a mandatory minimum level of perchlorate in drinking water within 2 1/2 years.
The EPA already has a guideline of 24.5 parts per billion as a recommended safe dose for perchlorate, but it has yet to set any mandatory limit for the chemical in drinking water.
One part per billion is equivalent to about a half-teaspoon of the chemical in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Local water quality officials believe a national standard will help agencies get more money from the federal government for cleanup. However, at last week's hearing, an EPA official said that more study is needed in order to determine whether perchlorate in drinking water should be regulated at the federal level.
"We need to determine whether setting a drinking water standard would provide a meaningful opportunity to reduce risk for people served by public water systems," George Gray, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Research and Development, told the House Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.
Gray said that it is still unclear how much perchlorate exposure comes from food, as opposed to water.
But Dr. Anila Jacob of the Environmental Working Group said a series of studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have put to rest the debate over the health risks of perchlorate.
"These studies establish that exposure to perchlorate is widespread and that levels of perchlorate found in people are associated with significant decreases in thyroid hormone levels," said Jacob, senior scientist for the Washington-based environmental group. #
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_5802826
Environmentalists cheer judge's ruling on SoCal lab cleanup plan
Associated Press – 5/3/07
LOS ANGELES -- Environmentalists are hailing a federal judge's ruling that a Department of Energy effort to rid the Santa Susana Field Laboratory of nuclear and chemical contamination is inadequate.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said Wednesday that the agency has violated and continues to violate federal law in its cleanup of pollutants at the former research lab in eastern
"This is a positive turn in what has otherwise been a very dark story," said James Birkelund, senior project attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the agency over its cleanup plan. "The Bush administration was trying to cut corners at the expense of public health, and the judge wasn't having any part of it."
Conti also barred the Energy Department from transferring ownership of the Santa Susana property until it conducts a more thorough environmental review of its cleanup operations at the facility.
The 4.5-square-mile site about 30 miles northwest of downtown
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap sued the Energy Department alleging its cleanup plan for the property would leave dangerous levels of radioactive material and other toxic chemicals in the soil.
Most of the lab is owned by the Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power Division of Boeing Co. However, the Energy Department is responsible for the area until cleanup is complete.
Boeing Co. spokeswoman Blythe Jameson said the company would withhold comment on the court ruling.
Tom Welch, a spokesman for the Energy Department, said he had not read the ruling and could not immediately comment.
Energy Department officials have said the site would pose no significant threat to human health or the environment after it's cleaned up. But watchdogs and critics have demanded that a full environmental impact statement be prepared and that the site be cleaned up to tougher U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Conti said in failing to complete a proper environmental review, the agency violated the National Environmental Protection Act. His ruling requires the agency to prepare a more stringent review of the lab. #
http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/165552.html
Judge orders study of field lab; Activists celebrate win in legal war with DOE
LA Daily News – 5/2/07
By Kerry Cavanaugh, staff writer
Five years after the Department of Energy adopted a controversial cleanup plan for its portion of the Santa Susana Field Lab, a judge ruled Wednesday that the plan violates federal law and that a thorough environmental survey of the former nuclear research site is needed before it can be declared safe.
The decision marked a major victory for activists and lab neighbors who have railed against the DOE's plan to leave 99 percent of the contaminated soil at the hilltop lab.
The decision also means the DOE, which had planned to complete its cleanup in the coming months, now must go back to the drawing board and cannot release the land for unrestricted use until a full environmental study is completed.
"Our concern is the Department of Energy has been tearing down buildings without remediating the soil and groundwater," said Dan Hirsch, a longtime lab watchdog whose group, Committee to Bridge the Gap, was a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "This stops them from walking away now with having only done a trivial cleanup of the site."
In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti said the DOE violated the National Environmental Policy Act, which is designed to inform and assure the public about the environmental impacts of government projects.
"Area IV is known to be radiologically contaminated and, in fact, was the location of at least one well-known nuclear meltdown," Conti wrote in his ruling.
"It is located only miles away from one of the largest population centers in the world and, in all probability, will become part of that center. ... It is difficult to imagine a situation where the need for such an assurance could be greater."
Conti also criticized the DOE's answers to scientific concerns raised about its cleanup plan. He said the agency responded with "a combination of unjustified assumptions, refusals of responsibility and promises of undefined post-hoc evaluations."
Conti ordered the DOE to go back and complete a detailed analysis of contamination at the site and how it will be cleaned up.
Officials with the Department of Energy and the Boeing Co., which owns the lab, said they had received the ruling late Wednesday and were not prepared to comment on it.
In the past, DOE officials have said they're following all state and federal laws, and that their plan would leave the site safe for unrestricted use.
Partial meltdown site
At issue is a 90-acre section of the lab called the
The center was the site of 10 nuclear reactions, one of which included a partial meltdown, and an open-air pit where workers burned radioactive and chemical waste.
The DOE is overseeing its own decontamination at the center site. In 2002, the agency reversed its long-standing commitment to follow the strictest standards and announced it would adopt the less stringent of two cleanup plans.
Polluter policing
Activists, environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
Yet residents have said they often felt powerless against the Department of Energy.
"We were just getting to the end of our rope," said Barbara
"I think this ruling will give impetus to the people to keep hanging in there."
Under the judge's ruling, the DOE must complete a new environmental study. Officials had no estimate on how long a new study might take, but such studies typically are lengthy and time-consuming.
Tougher laws sought
However,
Feinstein said the court ruling was good news.
"This is really an indictment of the Department of Energy's cleanup plan. They must live up to their commitment to have an EPA analysis of the site, to commence immediately," she said in a written statement.
The lawsuit was filed by the Committee to Bridge the Gap, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the city of
"Today's decision means the Bush administration must protect
"It also sets a precedent nationwide that the Department of Energy must comply with federal law, common sense and basic standards of decency." #
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_5805562
Judge assails Rocketdyne cleanup; Environmentalists hail a federal jurist's ruling that a Department of Energy effort to rid the Santa Susana field lab of pollutants is inadequate
By Gregory Griggs, staff writer
Environmental activists won a major victory Wednesday when a judge declared that the U.S. Department of Energy continues to violate federal law in its cleanup of nuclear and chemical contamination at Boeing's Rocketdyne field laboratory near
U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti also barred the DOE from transferring ownership of its Santa Susana property until it conducts a more thorough environmental review of its cleanup operations at the former nuclear and rocket engine testing facility.
"The Bush administration was trying to cut corners at the expense of public health, and the judge wasn't having any of it," said James Birkelund, a Los Angeles-based attorney for the lead plaintiff, the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Boeing Corp. spokeswoman Blythe Jameson said the company, which sold the remainder of the Rocketdyne assets in 2005 to United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit for about $700 million, would withhold comment on the court ruling. Boeing still owns the 2,800-acre hilltop property that contains the lab.
"It's just been issued and we're reviewing the court's decision," Jameson said.
But Daniel Hirsch, president of the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that nowhere in the 47-page ruling did the judge side with the DOE, and by extension the property owner, Boeing, which purchased the field lab 11 years ago.
"What the judge is essentially saying to the DOE is: 'You guys have really fouled up this cleanup; you've broken the law repeatedly. And I'm going to retain jurisdiction until I'm satisfied that you've met your obligations to clean up the mess you've made.' "
The two nonprofit environmental groups sued the Energy Department alleging that the cleanup plan for the property — where
Energy Department officials have said that the site, where a nuclear reactor meltdown occurred in 1959, would pose no significant threat to human health or the environment after it is cleaned up. But critics and watchdog groups have demanded that a full environmental impact statement be prepared and that the site be cleaned up to tougher U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, which would require removal of tens of thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil.
Conti's ruling requires DOE to prepare a more stringent review of the lab, which is on the border of
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her colleague Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works who has been pushing for more stringent cleanup of the site, praised the judge's decision.
"On behalf of the people who live near Rocketdyne, I am so gratified that the court has found in their favor," Boxer said. "It is our solemn duty in government to protect the health and safety of the people we represent."
Hirsch and others said the DOE and Boeing appear to have accelerated the cleanup in recent months.
Critics suggest the rush was to get the Rocketdyne site declared officially "clean" before the Bush administration leaves office, fearing the next president may be tougher on environmental polluters.
Last month, the EPA announced that it would reconsider its decision not to add the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to its federal Superfund cleanup list.
The designation would provide more federal funding.
State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said she welcomed the consideration.
"Overall, the attention focused on this site by the EPA is very important. It rattles a few cages." #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rocket3may03,1,4605938.story?coll=la-headlines-california
Water Pollution Suit Settled
Santa Clarita Signal – 5/3/07
By Katherine Geyer, staff writer
The Castaic Lake Water Agency and several local water companies have settled the seven-year-long lawsuit against the current and former owners of the Whittaker-Bermite property, an area that consists of 996 acres of polluted land in the
Along with CLWA, the Newhall County Water District, Santa Clarita Water Co. and Valencia Water Co. approved a settlement agreement on April 11 to help clean up the polluted groundwater beneath the property that was home to a munitions manufacturing plant for decades.
If the settlement is approved by the courts, the Whittaker Corp., Remediation Financial Inc., Santa Clarita LLC and their insurance companies would make an immediate payment of $22.5 million. The water agencies will also receive about $1.85 million per year over the next 30 years for their operation costs.
"That could go up, that could go down, but they are obligated to pay, whatever it is," said Dan Masnada, CLWA's general manager.
In addition, $10 million from a "rapid response fund" will be available for the agencies to treat additional wells that could become polluted. The companies have already paid the water agencies about $12 million, he said.
"Ultimately, the settlement amount would add up to $70 (million) to $100 million when you add everything up, with the operating costs over 30 years and the capital costs we'll be incurring over the next year or so, as well as the past costs that we have incurred," Masnada said.
He said the agencies are excited about the settlement and are relieved that litigation is over.
"We were going to move ahead with the facilities anyway," he said, "but now we can continue the development of the facilities understanding that the settlement will pay the cost and our residents won't be burdened with the costs."
The Whittaker Corp. sold the property in 1999, but the new owner, Remediation Financial, filed for bankruptcy in 2004.
"Whittaker has been performing site investigation and remediation since 2004," said Eric Lardiere, vice president and general counsel of Whittaker Corp. "We do all of our work and supervision with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the progress at the site has been substantial," he said.
He said SunCal Cos. and Cherokee Investment Partners have gained the authority from a bankruptcy court to purchase the site, but they have not purchased it so far and may not purchase it for another two to three years.
The cleanup of the perchlorate, a byproduct of rocket fuel that has been linked to human thyroid problems, is expected to take about 30 to 40 years. Masnada said the design for the groundwater treatment facilities is complete. He said construction will occur over the next year, with the facilities to come on line in 2008.
"We filed suit in November of 2000, and during that time there were a lot of studies and work being done to determine the extent of the plume, to characterize the contamination and develop a remedy, which largely has been accomplished," Masnada said. "We're within a month or so away from going to bid to construct the pipelines and the treatment plants that will allow us to put two wells back on production and treat the water that will restore some of the lost well capacity and also prevent the plume from migrating."
Masnada said the next step is for the agreement to be approved by the bankruptcy court and also the federal court, where the original lawsuit was filed. He said that 30 days after the courts' approval, the agreement would be effective and the agencies would receive the initial payment, which Masnada expects to occur in August. #
http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=48037&format=html
Deal will clean Santa Clarita Valley aquifers
By Valerie Reitman, staff writer
Perchlorate contaminating the Santa Clarita Valley's underground water supply is to be cleaned up under an estimated $100-million settlement of a federal lawsuit against former and present owners of a shuttered munitions and fireworks factory announced Wednesday.
The suit was filed by four area water agencies in November 2000 against Whittaker Corp., Remediation Financial Inc. and Santa Clarita LLC over pollution at the 996-acre site known as the Whittaker-Bermite plant, which for decades operated in the heart of Santa Clarita.
Five public wells were shut in 1997, about a decade after the plant closed, after the perchlorate contamination was discovered.
Perchlorate compounds are used in the manufacture of explosives, munitions and rocket fuel.
Under the agreement, a treatment plant will be built to clean up pollution in two local aquifers.
The facility will be at
The settlement is still subject to federal District Court and Bankruptcy Court approval. The current site owners filed for bankruptcy in 2002.
Two potential buyers — SunCal Cos., a builder, and Cherokee Investment Partners, which specializes in redeveloping polluted properties — have proposed buying and developing the site with homes and businesses after soil cleanup is complete. #
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water3may03,1,1204923.story?coll=la-headlines-california
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