Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 15, 2007
4. Water Quality
GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION:
Boeing will clean up toxic Santa Susana Field Lab site - LA Daily News
Field Lab site may become parkland - Ventura County Star
SEWER ISSUES:
Results near on Rincon sewer vote; Ballot count set Tuesday on shift from septic tanks - Ventura County Star
PERCHLORATE:
Rialto seeking estimate, insurance for cleanup - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION:
Boeing will clean up toxic Santa Susana Field Lab site
LA Daily News – 10/12/07
By Harrison Sheppard, staff writer
The deal - culminating an 18-year controversy since the Daily News disclosed toxic contamination of the research site - was negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration.
It calls for the company to contribute $22.5million over 30 years to an endowment fund to pay for maintaining the property in the hills above
While the deal is not yet final, it caps years of struggle by community and environmental activists who had decried Boeing and federal-government cleanup efforts and worried that the company would sell a still-contaminated site to a residential developer.
But facing recently passed legislation that would have forced a strict standard of cleanup, Boeing decided to donate the land to the state in exchange for a cleanup standard seen as slightly less restrictive, but still tougher than the current effort.
"I think Boeing frankly saw the writing on the wall," said Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-
Kuehl's Senate Bill 990, which the governor also said he intends to sign as part of the deal, prohibits the sale or transfer of the 2,850-acre property until it is cleaned up to state standards that are stricter than the current federally regulated cleanup.
With Boeing's agreement to turn over the property for open space, Kuehl said she will introduce new legislation that will allow the company and the state to negotiate a new cleanup standard that will supersede the one in her bill.
Boeing owns about 2,400 acres of the property, while NASA owns the rest. The company said it will work with NASA to acquire its land and also clean it up.
Soil and water contamination from the property, used in the 1940s for rocket tests and nuclear-energy research, has long been seen as a cause of health problems in the local community, including higher-than-usual rates of cancer.
Schwarzenegger said the new deal should help protect the community.
"I am pleased to announce this historic agreement will benefit the environment, nearby residents in
"I would like to applaud Sen. Kuehl for her leadership on this issue and commend the Boeing Co. for working with officials to come up with this solution that will protect the health of residents in adjacent communities."
Kuehl has been working for more than a decade to strengthen cleanup efforts at the facility and has introduced a handful of bills over the years that failed to pass through the Legislature, in part because of heavy lobbying by Boeing.
Kuehl credited freshman Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, for helping to "strong-arm" colleagues in the Assembly, where Kuehl has in the past had trouble getting legislation through.
In addition, support from two Assembly Republicans whose districts border the property - Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, and Audra Strickland,
Boeing officials said Friday that the company is trying to be a good corporate citizen in agreeing to the deal. Company spokeswoman Blythe Jameson estimated it will take at least 10 years to clean up the property.
"Santa Susana is a site of great natural, cultural and historic significance and should be appropriately preserved and placed in the public trust for future generations upon completion of cleanup activities," Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, said in a written statement.
"Teaming with a respected land steward will ensure that the environmental cleanup and the ultimate transfer of the property is completed in an appropriate and timely manner ... that is safe for use by the public."
Critics, however, said they believe the company had no choice.
Boeing was being hammered with bad publicity for a property it did not even own when the contamination occurred - and the governor's decision to sign Kuehl's bill pretty much forced the company's hand.
Boeing also will likely get a hefty tax break for donating the land and the maintenance funds.
While many hailed the deal Friday, after years of fighting, they also remained skeptical that the company will fully live up to the bargain. They noted that while the company has signed a letter of intent, the full agreement has not been finalized.
Dan Hirsch of watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap said the deal is a "great victory," but noted that the community will remain vigilant.
"Given the history of broken commitments, we will be watching closely," he said. "And if in the still-to-be-drafted binding agreement Boeing breaks its promise to adopt truly protective cleanup standards, we will vigorously oppose any amendments to the legislation just signed into law that would weaken it."
Barbara Johnson has lived near the site since 1970 and both she and her son have been treated for cancer.
She said that while she would prefer that the property still be held to the very highest cleanup standards, she is generally happy with the deal.
"I'm sorry that the bill got diluted in any way whatsoever, but we're very happy that it's not going to be released for unrestricted use, that it will go into parkland," Johnson said. "That is the wonderful saving grace of the whole thing."
California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Linda Adams said Boeing approached the administration with the deal earlier this year when it became apparent Kuehl's bill would hold the company to cleanup standards it considered impossible to meet.
The bill,
Instead, the state will now hold the property to "still a very high standard" of cleanup appropriate for residential areas, but not agricultural use, even though there will be no residential development on the land,
"It was a very clever approach to keep Boeing's feet to the fire," she said.
Smyth plans to introduce legislation next year to create a joint-powers authority that will study the creation of a state park on the land.
The authority would include the state parks department, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and agencies from
Smyth said he believes the park should remain dedicated to hiking, equestrian trails and picnic areas, adding, "We would leave it as much in its natural state as possible." #
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_7165328
Field Lab site may become parkland
By Teresa Rochester, staff writer
The Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a former rocket engine and nuclear test site in the hills south of Simi Valley, will be transferred to state ownership and placed off-limits to development if officials accept a tentative agreement announced Friday between the state and the property's owner, the Boeing Co.
The potential transfer is part of a complicated deal announced as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that requires Boeing to clean the 2,849-acre site to the highest standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before the property can be released for development.
"I am pleased to announce this historic agreement will benefit the environment, nearby residents in
The bill, SB 990, was written by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. Its passage in the Assembly last month capped a six-year legislative battle to ensure strict cleanup standards are used at the field laboratory, which has both chemical and radioactive contamination.
The tentative agreement was signed by Boeing, the state Environmental Protection Agency and the state Resources Agency. It requires Boeing to enter into a binding agreement with the state that calls for the land to be cleaned to "levels acceptable for residential use and that protect individuals living in the vicinity of the property."
The agreement would also mandate that Boeing release the land to the state once it is cleaned up. The site would then be used for park, recreational and open space.
Once the binding agreement is reached, Kuehl will carry a bill in the next legislative season that, if passed, would void the portions of SB 990 that call for the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to be cleaned to Superfund standards before it is released by Boeing.
On Friday, Kuehl said in an interview that permanently protecting the land from development was a good thing, as was mandating a cleanup standard that protects area residents.
The tentative agreement, however, does reopen the discussion of what standards will be used to clean the contamination at the site.
"I have done my very best to remind the people of the state and up to the governor's office, that if the state is going to accept it as parkland they need to worry how clean it is," Kuehl said. "It does not need to be what Boeing is already doing."
The tentative agreement between the state and Boeing capped months of negotiations as environmentalists, community members and nuclear watchdogs successfully lobbied lawmakers to support SB990.
Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, who helped shepherd the bill through the Assembly, said Friday that it would be hard to predict the level of cleanup the state and Boeing will agree to.
"It can be years before it is determined as part of this agreement," she said. "The one very positive thing is that this property will never be residentially developed."
Kuehl's bill garnered bipartisan support, including that of Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, whose district includes part of
Boeing officials began looking into the possibility of turning over the land nearly two years ago, spokesman Dan Beck said. "We approached state officials and asked, How can we make this happen?'" he said.
One of Boeing's most outspoken critics on the cleanup of the Field Laboratory, nuclear watchdog-group leader Dan Hirsch, lauded Kuehl's work on the bill but was skeptical about the future agreement.
"Since we have such a history of Boeing breaking its promises and since this promise is vague, we will watch very closely the final, as yet to be written, agreement," Hirsch said. "If Boeing breaks its promise we will vigorously oppose any amendment to weaken the bill." #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/13/field-lab-site-may-become-parkland/
SEWER ISSUES:
Results near on Rincon sewer vote; Ballot count set Tuesday on shift from septic tanks
By Tamara Koehler, staff writer
A nine-year battle to rid Rincon Point of septic tanks in the hopes of improving ocean water quality is nearing an end.
Homeowners in the posh beachside community overlooking a world-famous surfing point have been voting whether to replace the tanks with sewer service at a cost of about $88,000 per home. Mailed to residents in August, the ballots will be counted publicly Tuesday.
If approved, 72 homes and an empty parcel on the
Residents, surfers and environmentalists say they are confident that the switch will be approved, but whether the project will go forward smoothly remains a question.
Controversy, procedural delays and lawsuits have dogged the proposal since 1998, when DNA tests first found fecal bacteria in Rincon waters.
"We have our antennae up. There is always a fight," said Hillary Hauser, an environmental activist working on the issue. "The Rincon homeowners working on this want this. The opposition is small but very, very vocal."
'Septic tanks less polluting'
Linda Ulvaeus is one of the opponents. She believes that septic tanks are less of a threat to the ocean than sewer lines that could fail and dump raw sewage into the water.
"My research shows the worst septic tank is less polluting than the best sewer," said Ulvaeus, who has lived on the Rincon since 1972. "The fact that this is being touted as a way to clean the ocean is a big lie. It is about development — people who want to build bedrooms and build out."
Ulvaeus and other opponents who have filed lawsuits and protests during the project's planning say the water at
But state and federal regulators say otherwise. Removing septic tanks from the Rincon has been part of a state plan to improve beaches since 2000.
The community is built on soft, porous soil, and homes are densely packed on lots usually smaller than a quarter of an acre. The groundwater table is within five feet of the surface in some areas, upping the risk of leaking contamination during heavy rains and high tide, according to a 2005 report by the state's Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board.
In September, the board awarded $2.1 million to the project for construction costs. The money would reduce the cost of hookup for homeowners by about 25 percent, said Craig Murray, general manager of the sanitary district.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also supports the project.
Draw for surfers
The waters off Rincon, dubbed the "Queen of the Coast" for its majestic surfing conditions, are a major draw for surfers worldwide.
Shaun Thomson, a South African surfer, moved to
"A Rincon wave feels like it was made by God's machine," Thomson said. "Tens of thousands of surfers surf out at Rincon every year. It's a national treasure.
"It's absolutely unfathomable to me that any right-minded person can object to this project. People are getting sick every single year." #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/15/results-near-on-rincon-sewer-vote/
PERCHLORATE:
Rialto seeking estimate, insurance for cleanup
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
Perchlorate, which is used to make explosives, is contaminating drinking water in
The perchlorate is flowing from industrial sites on the city's north end that have been in use since World War II.
Now
"We felt this was a possible solution for our needs," said Councilwoman Winnie Hanson, a member of the council's perchlorate subcommittee.
If the cleanup ends up costing more than the estimate, the insurance company would have to make up the difference, not the city or the suspected polluters, said Councilman Ed Scott, another member of the perchlorate subcommittee.
In theory, the city would negotiate a settlement number with each suspected polluter. The suspected polluters would then pay that amount into a fund managed by the insurance company and would no longer be held liable for the contamination.
The city hired AIG to insure cleanup of a landfill south of the 10 Freeway, Scott said. That cleanup was completed last year. #
http://www.dailybulletin.com//ci_7173370?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com
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