FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN
Rocketdyne seems confused when releasing information about offsite pollution migration. In a “fact sheet,” issued in May, the company states “hundreds of samples collected outside the SSFL boundary do not contain perchlorate and do not show a pattern of contamination.” Yet, accompanying that sheet was a Rocketdyne map that shows perchlorate hits in three offsite locations – and doesn’t even note the proximity of the site to Ahmanson Ranch. The RWQCB reports that approximately 20 percent of 880 groundwater samples at or near SSFL detect perchlorate. One SSFL Happy Valley groundwater sample clocked in at 280ppb, 140 times over what the state considers safe for drinking water.
Here, There, and Everywhere
Perchlorate contamination isn’t unique to Rocketdyne. Military-industrial giant Aerojet, in the San Gabriel Valley city of Azusa, has so polluted the area that neighboring Baldwin Park has hits as high as 2,180ppb. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena registered 1,500ppb.
Pasadena has the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of the rocket-fuel oxidizer. And now it’s paying the price – JPL is a Superfund site. JPL co-founder Jack Parsons, with a partner, came up with the perchlorate formula back in 1928 and it is still used in fireworks and road flares.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer recently introduced Senate bill 820, the Perchlorate Community Right-to-Know Act of 2003, to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a perchlorate pollution prevention fund and to enact safety standards. Senator Feinstein has weighed in on the matter, as well. “In the Defense Authorization Bill, that passed the Senate, Senator Feinstein included a provision on perchlorate,” said staffer Gerber. “Apparently, the Department of Defense did a study on perchlorate on many of its facilities but it hasn’t released that to the public. In the Senate bill is an amendment, sponsored by Feinstein, which would require them to release the findings of their study within 30 days of enactment.”
Nor is perchlorate the only toxin plaguing Rocketdyne. The toxic rocket-engine solvent, trichloroethylene (TCE), dioxins, and other nasty pollutants have plagued the site.
SSFL’s radiological releases are of particular concern. ValleyBeat has obtained a copy of the “Ahmanson Ranch Hydrogeological Monitoring Program. September 2002 – November 2002 Quarterly Report” prepared by Washington Mutual subcontractor, California- and Utah-based Psomas. The company specializes in land development, water, transportation, and information technology. In one survey of Ahmanson wells, under a column called “Radiologicals Alpha/Beta,” wells came in at high hits of radiation, including one well that registered 72.34 Pico curies per liter (pCi/L). Radiation at this level should be reported, according to Parfrey. “Plus the radionuclides must be determined. And [Psomas] didn’t even bother to test for radionuclides at a number of other wells, like, ‘Why bother?’”
McGarry notes that only one of some “30-odd” samples in these tests was above the dangerous mark, and that it was reported, saying, “The data generated by our monitoring activities have been promptly and fully shared with the appropriate public agencies.”
Parfrey puts it more bluntly, saying, “Ahmanson Ranch seems to be in hot water, literally. It has all the fingerprints of Rocketdyne offsite pollution.
“The Department of Health Services rules [Parfrey] referred to concern drinking water standards and apply only to the monitoring of potable ‘community water systems,’” countered McGarry. “They simply aren’t applicable to the monitoring program at Ahmanson Ranch. Ahmanson Ranch groundwater will not be extracted or put to any use at all.
Carrying On
Mark Blocksage doesn’t really care about all the science involved in the Rocketdyne controversy. All he knows is that he’s sick. “There are huge pits up there where they used to burn chemicals that are, like, where I live, where it would run straight down,” he says. “I know people that have told me that they used to just burn crap up there for years.”
Blocksage changes the music on his stereo to his favorite genre, classic rock. The group Kansas’s anthem, “Carry on Wayward Son,” fills his disheveled bedroom. “I just think the citizens of Simi Valley should be aware of what’s up there.”
