Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – July 3, 2003 Last week’s news that the toxic chemical perchlorate was found gurgling from a groundwater well, nearly a mile outside the northern border of the Rocketdyne facility, shocked many Simi and San Fernando valley residents. But former Rocketdyne worker Lynwood Sibley was hardly surprised. […]

Supervisors vote to require groundwater testing By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – August 5, 2004 On August 3, Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks’ precedent setting initiative to require testing for pollutants near the heavily contaminated Rocketdyne facility in Simi Valley won approval from the county’s Board of Supervisors on […]

Ventura County imposes testing for development within two miles of Rocketdyne By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – August 12, 2004 The battle over managing toxics at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory took a historic turn last week with a victory for environmentalists seeking to protect future neighbors of the […]

Boeing settles massive lawsuit over the Valley’s heavily polluted Rocketdyne site By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – October 6, 2005 For years, the residents of Simi Valley and western San Fernando Valley towns adjacent to Boeing’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) have claimed that the troubled site, polluted with […]

Two new reports find elevated cancers and other risks within a few miles of Rocketdyne By Michael Collins Los Angeles ValleyBeat – February 16, 2006 On February 2, two long-anticipated UCLA studies analyzing cancer rates and toxic contamination around Boeing’s massive Santa Susana Field Laboratory were finally released. Years in […]

The battle over the massive Ahmanson Ranch housing development heats up amid growing concerns about possible water and soil contamination from nearby Rocketdyne. By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – December 12, 2002 July 1959. Eastern Ventura County. Simi Valley folks squirmed uncomfortably in their chairs as they watched their flickering […]

Ahmanson foes want ground-water tests By Michael Collins LA Weekly – June 12, 2002 Elizabeth Crawford sits astride her black thoroughbred Rufus under a live oak on Ahmanson Ranch in eastern Ventura County, and gazes toward thousands of acres of golden hills. Seattle-based Washington Mutual‘s Ahmanson Land Company (ALC) wants […]

Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory was on the frontlines of the Cold War. Now some who lived near “The Hill” say they share two distinctions: chronic illness and the unswerving belief that the lab caused it By Michael Collins Los Angeles magazine – June 1998 ON A HOT JULY NIGHT […]

How investigative reporting stopped a public health disaster By Dean Kuipers Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – December 31, 2003 June 13, 2002: Collins writes “Earthly Secrets” for LA Weekly, questioning what was in the water and soil of Ahmanson Ranch which is owned by Washington Mutual. Late June 2002: Residents hold […]

The Ventura County Reporter cover story “Dirty Business – New law cleaning up Rocketdyne for parkland may not stop adjacent KB Home development pushed by Simi Valley City Council” included quotes culled from these selected excerpts. The speakers, who were limited to three minutes apiece in public comment, included “Toxic Terry” […]

KB Home’s Runkle Canyon radiation tests questioned as more groundwater pollution is found and developer negotiates cleanup agreement with state By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – January 17, 2008 As soon as the Rev. John Southwick heard the latest round of Runkle Canyon soil testing for the leukemia-causing radionuclide strontium-90 […]

Deadly Rocketdyne vapor threatens Ventura and Los Angeles Counties By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – February 13, 2003 When the poisonous rocket fuel oxidizer perchlorate was recently discovered in a Well #1 adjacent to Ahmanson Ranch intended for use in irrigating the proposed massive project, the news made national […]

EnviroReporter.com analysis – June 2008 MARCH 2008 ROCK SAMPLE WITH WHITE EVAPORATE A mysterious white evaporate or precipitate was found in Runkle Canyon by Rev. John Southwick and Frank Serafine on March 26, 2008 and given the next night to Norm Riley, Rocketdyne cleanup Project Manager for Cal-EPA’s Department of […]

The Rocketdyne facility is more poisoned than anyone knew. Now residents and community leaders of the northwest San Fernando Valley and Ventura County supervisors want more testing before new homes get any closer. By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – July 22, 2004 [KB Home’s Runkle Canyon development is now […]

2019 UPDATE EnviroReporter.com analysis of Runkle Canyon documents and tests – KB Home-supplied 41 reports This timeline analyzes 41 reports that KB Home supplied to DTSC as part of their “Voluntary Cleanup Agreement” of Runkle Canyon in December 2007. DTSC is the lead agency to oversee a new agreement that […]

2019 UPDATE This timeline presents an analysis of information generated by licensed laboratories that should trip DTSC guidelines to precipitate further soil, surface water and subsurface water testing in Runkle Canyon. This information was submitted to DTSC on July 3, 2008. SUMMARY In an e-mail to Simi Valley resident Frank […]