Comments on: The Gloves Come Off http://www.enviroreporter.com/2009/07/the-gloves-come-off/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:28:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: christina walsh http://www.enviroreporter.com/2009/07/the-gloves-come-off/#comment-26 christina walsh Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:50:38 +0000 http://www.enviroreporter.com/?p=5541#comment-26 For now, the existing Consent Order is signed by all the parties and 9 of 11 RCRA reports are out for public review. I encourage everyone to weigh-in and use their voice on how these reports need to be done -- which is done right. We still see many gaps in all of these reports, especially in the recently submitted reports for Group 2 and now we are reviewing the giant group 1a which is the Area 1 portion nearest the San Fernando Valley side. We need to make sure all the historical information is known so that the radiation soil survey that is underway by EPA can be as comprehensive as possible and so any/all chemical and radiation impacts are dealt with properly. I think we need a site-wide soil management, segregation and disposal, and transportation plan that addresses the important concerns the surrounding communities have about dust mitigation, wind conditions and avoiding the rainy season. But I think we can all agree we want clean-up and for that, the trucks HAVE to come down the hill. I think it's important to voice these concerns so the process is safe and protective so we can finally clean-up the site so the next generations do not inherit this mess. When hot-spots are found during the characterization process, I think we want to get it out of there, but we need to do it right. Let's talk about how to make sure it is done right, to SB990 standards as we have law behind us today. For now, the existing Consent Order is signed by all the parties and 9 of 11 RCRA reports are out for public review. I encourage everyone to weigh-in and use their voice on how these reports need to be done — which is done right. We still see many gaps in all of these reports, especially in the recently submitted reports for Group 2 and now we are reviewing the giant group 1a which is the Area 1 portion nearest the San Fernando Valley side. We need to make sure all the historical information is known so that the radiation soil survey that is underway by EPA can be as comprehensive as possible and so any/all chemical and radiation impacts are dealt with properly. I think we need a site-wide soil management, segregation and disposal, and transportation plan that addresses the important concerns the surrounding communities have about dust mitigation, wind conditions and avoiding the rainy season. But I think we can all agree we want clean-up and for that, the trucks HAVE to come down the hill. I think it’s important to voice these concerns so the process is safe and protective so we can finally clean-up the site so the next generations do not inherit this mess. When hot-spots are found during the characterization process, I think we want to get it out of there, but we need to do it right. Let’s talk about how to make sure it is done right, to SB990 standards as we have law behind us today.

]]> By: Joan Bien http://www.enviroreporter.com/2009/07/the-gloves-come-off/#comment-13 Joan Bien Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:25:48 +0000 http://www.enviroreporter.com/?p=5541#comment-13 First, I was astonished that no reporters attended this meeting. One daily newspaper spilled a lot of ink a few weeks ago bragging about how they "owned" this story and that they were the public enlighteners of all things Rocketdyne. Another daily newspaper has also been following the story but they do seem to be getting bored with it. Understandable because sweet nothing has happened and the various officials and agency reps obviously feel no compunction about wasting the time of plain, old, ordinary citizens. Which begs the question, are they stalling until the entire generation of those with legitimate claims just die off, akin to the treatment of the Atomic Vets? It can't be they are waiting for the contamination to magically disappear, could it? Fifty years later, the land remains unsurveyed by a non-involved party. What other conclusions can be reached by a sane person? Wait, I know the answer! According to an unnamed website, their reporter has revealed that nothing serious ever happened at the site. She even found 20, TWENTY, unnamed senior scientists who all created and ran the SRE in 1959 and who, until now, had been silent on the issue. Where on earth have they been hiding all this time? Wow, what a score for that website! Stop the presses! I'll just bet that Boeing and others who sympathize with Boeing now feel vindicated. Everyone has been wasting their time for 30 years. Don't we feel foolish. NOT. It sounds eerily like the disinformation propagated 60 years ago by McCarthy and HUAC. Too bad some former newspaper people feel they must resort to a campaign of disinformation. First, I was astonished that no reporters attended this meeting. One daily newspaper spilled a lot of ink a few weeks ago bragging about how they “owned” this story and that they were the public enlighteners of all things Rocketdyne. Another daily newspaper has also been following the story but they do seem to be getting bored with it.

Understandable because sweet nothing has happened and the various officials and agency reps obviously feel no compunction about wasting the time of plain, old, ordinary citizens.

Which begs the question, are they stalling until the entire generation of those with legitimate claims just die off, akin to the treatment of the Atomic Vets? It can’t be they are waiting for the contamination to magically disappear, could it? Fifty years later, the land remains unsurveyed by a non-involved party. What other conclusions can be reached by a sane person?

Wait, I know the answer! According to an unnamed website, their reporter has revealed that nothing serious ever happened at the site. She even found 20, TWENTY, unnamed senior scientists who all created and ran the SRE in 1959 and who, until now, had been silent on the issue. Where on earth have they been hiding all this time? Wow, what a score for that website! Stop the presses! I’ll just bet that Boeing and others who sympathize with Boeing now feel vindicated. Everyone has been wasting their time for 30 years. Don’t we feel foolish. NOT.

It sounds eerily like the disinformation propagated 60 years ago by McCarthy and HUAC. Too bad some former newspaper people feel they must resort to a campaign of disinformation.

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