 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Mountains of Goo - KB Home promises
mass grading of Runkle Canyon
4/16/09 Ventura County Reporter
San Fernando Valley's Galaxy of
Chemical Goo - City planners make a
slick zone change for easy building on
toxic land
3/05/09 LA Weekly
'Simi, we have a problem' - Runkle
Canyon radiation report spells trouble
2/19/09 Ventura County Reporter
Critical Runkle Document Analysis
Analysis of 41 docs KB Home gave DTSC
Complete Runkle Canyon timeline
mass grading of Runkle Canyon
4/16/09 Ventura County Reporter
San Fernando Valley's Galaxy of
Chemical Goo - City planners make a
slick zone change for easy building on
toxic land
3/05/09 LA Weekly
'Simi, we have a problem' - Runkle
Canyon radiation report spells trouble
2/19/09 Ventura County Reporter
Critical Runkle Document Analysis
Analysis of 41 docs KB Home gave DTSC
Complete Runkle Canyon timeline
| Simi Valley City Council with Runkle Canyon DTSC and EnviroReporter.com environmental presentations November 17, 2008 Aerojet Chino Hills $46 million clean up - HOT PHOTOS! Real Best LA - Grand Tour! Dawn in Desert Wonderland Michael Collins interview with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams |
Simi Valley
February 19, 2009
Runkle Canyon radiation report spells trouble
- Historic meeting of the Department of Toxic Substances Control
and citizens of the Simi and San Fernando valleys takes place
January 28, 2009 in Simi Valley City Council Chambers. No
elected city officials attend. Staffer left to take notes but says city
will file Response Plan comments anyway.
- Would-be developer KB Home/Lennar, along with their
controversial lab Dade Moeller & Associates, also no-shows
despite subject of meeting, the Runkle Canyon Response Plan,
is their creation.
- Committee to Bridge the Gap president, Dan Hirsch, rips
Response Plan as "propoganda" and says 2004 Environmental
Impact Report for Runkle Canyon, approved by City Council,
was "fraudulent."
- Hirsch criticizes Dade Moeller strontium 90 resampling plan as
"inadequate" citing numerous scientific flaws including only one
soil sample per 19 acres to be tested. Hirsch Sr-90 study cited.
- Dade Moeller objectivity as developer-hired company has
vested interest to please employer, Hirsch and citizens say.
- DTSC's Norm Riley maintains that lab is qualified to do work.
- The Radiation Rangers, CleanUpRocketdyne.org,
TheAerospace.org, and the Aerospace Cancer Museum of
Education - Los Angeles, post their comments on the
Response Plan on StopRunkledyne.com.
- New Runkle Canyon article in the Ventura County Reporter
examines issue.
Over 30,000 rocket engine tests at the old
Rocketdyne test site have polluted property.
Rocketdyne test site have polluted property.
Runkle Canyon timelines tell the tale.
| Corporate Pointe at West Hills-related information: PHOTOGRAPHS MAPS & FIGURES DOCUMENTS & LINKS RADIO PROGRAM |
Los Angeles
March 5, 2009
City planners make a slick zone change for easier
building on troubled land
building on troubled land
- LA Department of City Planning rezones former aerospace and
nuclear research site in west San Fernando Valley site to chagrin
of residents. Corporate Pointe at West Hills gets green light.
- February 26 vote codifies lower environmental standards for
chemicals, radionuclides and heavy metals found at 81-acre
property. Plan determines that no Environmental Impact Report is
needed.
- Local resident and cancer survivor starts digging in 1995 for
environmental contamination on and under the site. “I was
shocked to see widespread chemical and radiological
contamination in the soil and groundwater.”
- Groundwater contains forms of trichloroethene, dichloroethane,
dichloroethene, trichlorofluoromethane, Freon, chromium, radium,
and uranium — many of them near or exceeding their respective
Maximum Contaminant Levels.
- Aerospace giant Raytheon has been remediating groundwater
since 1996. Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control board
orders Raytheon to extensively rework what was found to be a
“deficient technical report” to address problems involving uranium.
- Formal zone change now approved by the Villaraigosa
Administration, the cleanup target required of Raytheon for getting
rid of uranium 238 officially relaxed by more than 32,378 times.
- Well, tested in July 2008, produced water with more than 3,300
times the Maximum Contaminant Level for dichloroethene — a
highly flammable, colorless liquid that causes sedation,
inebriation, and convulsions. Standards lowered by four times.
- Gases from soil beneath Corporate Pointe could intrude “into
buildings,” the state's own report reads. Cracked sewer lines
remain uninspected and raise concerns about toxins leaching into
soil underground.
- “The statement that the site is contaminated with a wide variety of
toxins is wholly unsupported and inaccurate as evidenced by the
fact that were less than six opponents of that project at the
[planning] hearing,” says Brad Cox, managing director of the Los
Angeles office of Trammell Crow.
- Unanimous planning decision now heads to LA city council
planning and land use management committee. Citizens vow to
bring demands for an Environmental Impact Report for Corporate
Pointe to LA City Council.
Thompson Ramo Woolridge in 1962.
DTSC groundwater toxins plume map at
Corporate Pointe West Hills. Note sewers.
Corporate Pointe West Hills. Note sewers.
Chino Hills
March 26, 2009
Aerojet Cleans Up Its Explosive Act
$46 million remediation effort seeks community input
$46 million remediation effort seeks community input
- Cal-EPA's Department of Toxic Substances Control holds public
meeting in Chino Hills to detail 10-year effort to clean up 800-acre
former munitions site. DTSC Open House today in Chino Hills.
- Unexploded ordnance and toxic chemicals scoured from soil at 14-
acre "Open Burn/Open Detonation Unit".
- "Over 260,000 cubic yards of soil were re-excavated and re-screened
with over 47,000 items and 120,000 pounds of inert fragments
recovered," says DTSC notice of March 26 meeting.
- Public comment on closure of OB/OD Unit until April 10.
- Facility operated from 1954 to 1995 developing explosives,
propellants, chemicals as well as building and packing munitions.
- May 2000 LA Weekly investigation first breaks story. "Over the years,
perchlorate and other poisonous substances were dumped into a
350,000-gallon polyethylene-lined pond and a 270,000-gallon
unlined sludge pit." OC Weekly cover story expands report.
- "Reporter Michael Collins has written extensively about the clean-up,
contributing a piece that appeared in the Weekly nearly nine years
ago titled 'Russians, Rockets and the Santa Ana River.,' the OC
Weekly writes March 25. "His reporting, and public outcry, helped
prod the state into demanding a more comprehensive cleanup of the
polluted site."
- Questions remain about Aerojet groundwater and lack of data.
- *EnviroReporter.com requests two Aerojet Chino Hills OB-OD
reports and extension of comment period for two additional weeks. - **DTSC sends complete OB-OD reports to EnviroReporter.com
to comment on. In-depth responses coming in next few days.
Series of conveyor belts for soil inspection
yielded 60 tons of munitions fragments.
yielded 60 tons of munitions fragments.
Aerojet tested a galaxy of bombs
and munitions for 41 years leaving a
legacy of explosive contamination.
and munitions for 41 years leaving a
legacy of explosive contamination.
**
Simi Valley
April 16, 2009
Mountains of Goo
KB Home promises mass grading of Runkle Canyon
KB Home promises mass grading of Runkle Canyon
Simi Valley’s Radiation Rangers uncover more than just contamination in
Runkle Canyon - they've discovered that Runkle's would-be developer KB
Home promises to remove two giant mountains of slag material that are
leaking pools of toxic sludge.
Massive grading would take place in land previously dedicated as open
space as part of the 465-home development adjacent Rocketdyne. Huge
undertaking not mentioned in Environmental Impact Report.
"Tar material encountered at the site poses a potential threat to human
health because benzo(a)anthracene concentrations exceed the
[Preliminary Remediation Goal],” says state EPA’s Department of Toxic
Substances Control. “The tar material should be removed from the site
and either properly recycled or disposed.”
Rangers show in 58-page cleanup plan response on their website
StopRunkledyne.com that KB Home subcontractor says huge hills will
come down in developer's Response Plan.
The Rangers plan to hold KB Home to this pledge. "That's going to be
something watching KB tear down those mountains if they ever do," says
"Toxic Terry" Matheney. "But DTSC just can’t let them do this without a
legal cleanup plan and city oversight because Runkle Canyon is in Simi
Valley city limits. We've got rules in this city the state can't walk over.”
Rangers show Runkle Canyon to be in Simi Valley city limits since 2006.
Assert DTSC Notice of Exemption to permit Runkle grading in violation of
municipal law to protect oaks. Group demands plans before grading.
Runkle Canyon - they've discovered that Runkle's would-be developer KB
Home promises to remove two giant mountains of slag material that are
leaking pools of toxic sludge.
Massive grading would take place in land previously dedicated as open
space as part of the 465-home development adjacent Rocketdyne. Huge
undertaking not mentioned in Environmental Impact Report.
"Tar material encountered at the site poses a potential threat to human
health because benzo(a)anthracene concentrations exceed the
[Preliminary Remediation Goal],” says state EPA’s Department of Toxic
Substances Control. “The tar material should be removed from the site
and either properly recycled or disposed.”
Rangers show in 58-page cleanup plan response on their website
StopRunkledyne.com that KB Home subcontractor says huge hills will
come down in developer's Response Plan.
The Rangers plan to hold KB Home to this pledge. "That's going to be
something watching KB tear down those mountains if they ever do," says
"Toxic Terry" Matheney. "But DTSC just can’t let them do this without a
legal cleanup plan and city oversight because Runkle Canyon is in Simi
Valley city limits. We've got rules in this city the state can't walk over.”
Rangers show Runkle Canyon to be in Simi Valley city limits since 2006.
Assert DTSC Notice of Exemption to permit Runkle grading in violation of
municipal law to protect oaks. Group demands plans before grading.
Black Goo Man with benzo(a)anthracene in
Runkle Canyon July 2, 2007 with Simi officials.
Runkle Canyon July 2, 2007 with Simi officials.
Is KB Home really going to mass grade away
this slag mountain with toxic tar seeps?
this slag mountain with toxic tar seeps?
