Michael Collins garnered Second Place for Journalist of the Year for newspapers under 100,000 circulation with his investigative series “Two Mile Island” in Los Angeles CityBeat. The Series: TWO MILE ISLAND BLINDED BY THE LIGHT BETWEEN ROCKETDYNE AND A HARD PLACE RADIATING OUTWARD TOXIC ODDS Annual Southern California Journalism Awards […]

Michael Collins won First Place for 2002’s best Investigative/Series for papers under 100,000 circulation for his “Rocketdyne Ranch” expose in the Ventura County Reporter. Judges’ comments: A thorough and well-written report, which even included the reporter using his own nuclear radiation monitor to find radiation that had been overlooked in […]

50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards Denise Anne Duffield and Michael Collins win Online Journalists of the Year for EnviroReporter.com, and Collins wins News Feature (Print – Under 100k circ.) for VC Reporter cover story, “Dirty Business.” 49th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards L.A. Press Club Board Member/Judging Chair Michael […]

Congratulations Michael and Denise on two very impressive years at Enviroreporter. My involvement with you and Denise, as both a “Radiation Ranger” and a friend, has been very rewarding for me. A special thanks to you both for keeping this old brain working on all the scientific reporting you share […]

Denise Anne Duffield and I launched EnviroReporter.com in May 2006. In conjunction with Los Angeles CityBeat, we broke a five-year investigation called “Real Hot Property” about a forgotten nuclear dump on Veterans Administration land in Brentwood California. A story that hot deserved an even hotter website so we loaded up […]

Newest to oldest, generally, in descending order: August 7, 2009 Los Angeles City Council votes 12-0 to ratify Corporate Pointe at West Hills ordnance and resolution green-lighting developer Trammell Crow’s development without having an Environmental Impact Report done. Site rezoned which allows higher limits for radiological, chemical and heavy metals. […]

Corporate Pointe in West Hills sits on 51 acres of an 81-acre former aerospace and nuclear-research facility once occupied by Hughes Missile Group, Rocketdyne, Atomics International and Raytheon Missile Systems. Expanse of land is riddled with heavy metal, chemical and radiological contamination. Maps show how site drains to Bell Creek […]

(Click each image to view larger photograph.) Corporate Pointe sits on 51 acres of an 81-acre former aerospace and nuclear-research facility once occupied by Hughes Missile Group, Rocketdyne, Atomics International and Raytheon Missile Systems. The expanse of land was riddled with heavy metal, chemical and radiological contamination.

Runkle Canyon radiation report spells trouble by Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – February 19, 2009 Nearly 50 people filled Simi Valley City Hall chambers late last month in a much-anticipated Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) meeting about environmental conditions in Runkle Canyon. The 1,595-acre property is where KB […]

It’s all about savings in the multi-billion-dollar recycled radiation business By Michael Collins Pasadena Weekly – December 27, 2001 My neighbor stared intensely at her silverware, eyes bulging. Then she glowered at me. “You mean that this could be radioactive?” Whipping out my Geiger-Counter, this lady’s utensils registered “hot,” meaning […]

Polluters are attempting to abort the state’s new standards By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – January 5, 2004 Ammonium perchlorate was first used at the NASA-owned Jet Propulsion Laboratory, literally as rocket fuel. A rocket booster for the Space Shuttle contains over 1.3 million pounds of propellant, of which […]

Protecting kids from perchlorate isn’t rocket science By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – January 20, 2005 On Jan. 10, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report on the hazards of perchlorate that has the defense and aerospace industry crowing and some environmentalists singing the blues. The NAS […]

Proposition 84 promises much-needed water cleanup in the San Fernando Valley, but is still struggling to get traction By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat — November 2, 2006 When they go to the polls November 7, Angelenos will be paying special attention to Proposition 84, the biggest water bond ever […]

One man calls his project on the L.A./Ventura border the pursuit of a dream home, but others just see an illegal solid waste dump. By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – November 16, 2006 Chatsworth resident Todd Doherty began noticing a heavy flow of dump truck traffic heading up and […]

By Michael Collins LA Weekly – December 9, 1998 “Start talking to the former employees — those who are left alive — that have not contracted cancer,” former Rocketdyne technician Dan Parks implored at the June 24 meeting of the Santa Susana Field Interagency Work Group. A lifelong resident of […]