HIDE AND SEEK
However, Brentwood School’s Michael Pratt hinted that Nicholson may be preparing to challenge the findings attributed to MicroTech LLC, which allegedly state that there is radioactive debris buried under the school’s athletic fields. In a January 22, 2007 letter to Nicholson, Pratt wrote that a “report MicroTech LLC prepared for the VA” that “stated that radioactive biomedical waste was buried under land Brentwood School shares with the VA” was “simply a mistake,” and requested that Nicholson clarify the situation who, as of publication, hasn’t done any such thing. The VA did not respond to CityBeat‘s repeated requests for comment.
The VA did, however, ask Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) in December to remove the draft PwC report from the Congressman’s website even though the VA hasn’t sent a corrected version. “They maintained it was an error,” said Lisa Pinto, Waxman’s district director. “They’ve asked us to take it off our website and we’ve declined.”
“This follows a pattern that we’ve seen with the VA on everything that we’ve dealt with them,” said Special Forces vet Keith Jeffreys, president of the VA watchdog group Citizens for Veterans’ Rights. “From benefits and veterans’ services to land use and toxic waste buried under VA property, the West L.A. VA fails to come forward with all the information they have in a timely manner so that this land is run properly.”
Further troubling VA observers is the way Millennium Consulting is conducting its Phase One survey. Broad swaths of the 27 acres slated for surficial soil testing were missed, including the inclines of the dump’s main arroyo, land adjacent to Brentwood Theatre, and a considerable chunk of Barrington Recreation Center including part of the dog park. Millennium’s Noel says he won’t be revisiting Brentwood School, either. “It has been more than adequately addressed,” Noel told CityBeat on January 30.
But has it? Ramberg notes that the large debris mound in the center of the known dump is the same one that the VA told CityBeat in January 2006 was a result of excavating waste from under Brentwood School’s fields. The mound’s ambient radiation is twice normal background and shards of radioactive glass and a “hot” syringe were found next to it. The syringe still lies on the ground although Noel had said he would have it analyzed for radiation.
“It would behoove Brentwood School to know what’s in that mound since they maintain, perhaps presumptuously, that no rad waste was buried on its leased land,” said Ramberg. “It’s an obvious choice for Millennium’s Phase Two that [the mound] should be cored and a determination made if there is any radiation and how hazardous it is. Wherever [Millennium] sees a mound, they should bore. It’s that simple.”
