Author Archive for EnviroReporter
Documents Confirm More Runkle Contamination
EnviroReporter.com completed its analysis of thousands of pages of KB Home reports submitted to Department of Toxic Substances Control as part of Voluntary Cleanup Agreement signed in April. Other critical documents were also analyzed, revealing that radiological and chemical contamination in Runkle Canyon may actually be worse than previously publicly known.
White Blight
Radiation Rangers, Rev. John Southwick and Frank Serafine, discovered a white substance covering a vast area of Runkle Canyon on March 26, 2008. The Department of Toxic Substances Control’s Norm Riley took a sample from the Rangers, had it tested at DTSC’s lab, and gave Serafine a “Rock with White Evaporate” report.
Reassessing Runkle
An historic agreement was enacted between Runkle Canyon developer KB Homes and Department of Toxic Substances Control on April 14, 2008. KB Homes pledged “full cooperation,” agreeing to supply DTSC with at least 41 extensive reports and documents for their inspection and pay for the $114,884 that this initial work will cost.
The Promised Land
Gov. Schwarzenegger terminates the uncertainty of Rocketdyne cleanup with historic move that keeps California in charge – for now. The long bitter battle of Rocketdyne was resolved on January 15, 2008 with State negotiating highest cleanup standards for intensely-polluted Boeing lab.
Down the Test Tubes
KB Home’s lab Dade Moeller & Associates has produced a 10-page report that shows strontium-90 radiation only a quarter of “background” for the area, and a fraction of previous sampling results. Simi Valley’s “split-samples,” to double-check KB Homes’ tests for accuracy, came in over a hundred times less than previous samplings.
Schooled for Scandal
Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl leads tough talks with VA to secure $1 million for comprehensive Phase 2 tests of West LA VA’s forgotten biomedical nuclear dump. The controversial and incomplete Phase I test results showed heightened radiation under two arroyos skirting Barrington Dog Park and Brentwood School football field.
Cleaning Up Rocketdyne
The Department of Toxics Substances Control has begun the massive cleanup of a Rocketdyne dump next to Sage Ranch State Park. A trio of environmentalists found a debris field in March 2007 that included blocks of asbestos and pipes lined with antimony. In June, DTSC’s Norm Riley accompanied the citizens to the dump and validated their concerns.
Dirty Business
The battle over the proposed 461-residence KB Home development in Runkle Canyon continues as Radiation Rangers and Simi Valley residents demanded a new Environmental Impact Report and a government meeting over pollution concerns at the Simi Valley City Council meeting October 22. It remains to be seen if a new law cleaning up Rocketdyne for parkland will affect the adjacent KB Home development.
Pay Dirt
On October 12 Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB-990, a bill championed by State Senator Sheila Kuehl to clean up Rocketdyne to Superfund standards. Boeing agreed to pay for remediation and to donate the lab to the State for parkland. Government oversight will be headed by DTSC, and transfer of the 2,850 acre lab to the State is prohibited until cleanup goals are completed.
Million Dollar Maybe
The West LA VA has committed $1 million to a second phase nuclear dump survey of its property in Brentwood. “We’re going to waste a million dollars for no purpose,” a VA official said to an LA city insider in four-hour discussions before the September 6 CARES public meeting.
Nuke ‘Em High
The mystery of the Brentwood nuclear and chemical dump moved that much closer to solving with the release of the 5,500+ pages of VA documents by Congressman Henry Waxman (D – Los Angeles). Syringes and medical waste including low-level radioactive materials were covered by fill material to depths of twenty to thirty feet or more at the prestigious private school.
Spin Cycle
The City of Simi Valley claims that a Tetra Tech toxics report proves that Runkle Canyon’s water and soil are safe. The Ventura County Star and Simi Valley Acorn have also reported the canyon as “safe” with continued fact-challenged coverage including a false alarm about copper, erroneous cost of the citizens’ test, and incorrect posting status of Rangers report.
Rep. Waxman releases nuke dump docs!
Congressman’s Waxman’s office yields over 5,000 pages of VA data about the radiation dump under Brentwood School and dog park. EnviroReporter.com and Los Angeles CityBeat are analyzing this treasure trove of dump docs held by Waxman’s office since mid-December 2006.
Bubble Trouble
The City of Simi Valley tested Runkle Canyon water and soil for arsenic on July 2 after the Radiation Rangers’ tests showed high levels of arsenic. The full Pat-Chem lab residents’ report was released July 6, adding 15 pages of non-detects for other chemicals to the two previously released pertinent pages.
Waxman waffles on nuke dump
The office of Congressman Henry Waxman has refused repeated media requests to see 5,500 pages of information supplied to him by the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the West Los Angeles VA. The Congressman is portrayed by staffers as not wanting to share any “sensitive financial” documents that might violate an agreement with VA Secretary R. James Nicholson.
The Radiation Rangers
Los Angeles CityBeat & ValleyBeat cover story “The Radiation Rangers” reveals high arsenic, nickel and vanadium in Runkle Canyon surface water. The Rangers hired Pat-Chem Laboratories to perform Runkle Canyon tests on Title 22 metals in water and soil after the City of Simi Valley rejected their request to inspect the water with them. The City instead cited a faulty KB Homes surface water report with missing data.
Brentwood School study claims no rads on campus
ENVIRON International tests surface and subsurface of Brentwood School’s athletic fields in December. No evidence of tritium or carbon-14 contamination is found. Brentwood nuke dump expert says ENVIRON’s 12 subsurface soil borings are insufficient to make safety claims.
Runkle EIR radiation report “not considered useful”
Simi Valley residents, at the invitation of the City of Simi Valley, submitted questions for the California Department of Health Services, Radiologic Health Branch regarding health issues uncovered in
Brentwood nuke dump controversy mushrooms
In a January 30, 2007 letter to the parents and colleagues of students of Brentwood School, Head of School, Dr. Michael D. Pratt, revealed that the exclusive private school on leased West LA VA land had hired two firms to evaluate school soil for radioactive and chemical contamination first reported by Los Angeles CityBeat and EnviroReporter.com last May.
Developer claims contradict investigation’s findings
KB Home’s subcontractors claim that their testing indicates that only .26 out of a million people exposed to the Sr-90 at Runkle Canyon, even though the U.S. EPA clearly states otherwise. The government’s findings further highlight problems with the project’s EIR that EnviroReporter.com has analyzed. Those problems could give the city grounds to ask for a new EIR.
