Runkle Canyon Chromium
“Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health – CHROMIUM: total chromium 1997/ hexavalent chromium (VI) 1999” is a set of standards that for land use scenarios, both agricultural and residential/parkland are 64 mg/kg. The Runkle Canyon chromium reading is over 20 times this Canadian limit which also is the same for direct soil contact scenarios. The impacted area is not fenced making contact by hikers and pets possible.
Canada’s soil quality guidelines for hexavalent chromium for agricultural and presidential/parkland are both 0.40 mg/kg so if Runkle Canyon’s chromium reading is from this deadly kind of chromium, Cr (VI), it would be 3,250 times Canada’s limit for the carcinogen.
Rocketdyne chromium concentrations
Runkle Canyon sits beneath 11-acre drainage from Area IV of Boeing’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), the site of at least two partial nuclear reactor meltdowns as well as numerous radiation and chemical spills, accidents and dumping. DTSC is in charge of overseeing a cleanup of the site that is scheduled to end in 2017.
A September 2005 analysis called “Soil Background Report, Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Ventura County, California — Final” was submitted by the environmental firm MWH for Boeing, NASA and the Department of Energy which operated most of Area IV’s facilities, now under order to be remediated to stringent EPA Superfund cleanup standards.
“MWH has proven expertise in global environmental issues,” says the company’s website. “These include water resources, water distribution, drainage and flood control, wastewater treatment, environmental planning, mining engineering, solid waste management, remediation and reclamation, air quality management, aquarium design and sustainability.”
Beginning on page 58 of this 68-page report is “Table 4-6 (1 of 2) Soil Background Comparison Levels for Metals, Santa Susana Field Laboratory.” According to this report, the “Soil Background Comparison Level Value” for Rocketdyne soil is:
Chromium: 37 mg/kg meaning that the Runkle Canyon sample is over 35 times Rocketdyne’s background.
Nickel: 29 mg/kg making it over 23 times the lab’s background comparison level.
Molybdenum: 5.3 mg/kg which is 3.8 times Rocketdyne’s background.
On page 38 of this document is this statement:
If the metal concentration in the investigation unit data exceed the soil background comparison value, further evaluation will be necessary to determine whether site characterization is complete. As discussed with DTSC, this includes evaluating other site information (historical operations, sampling data trends, and risk assessment findings) in a best professional judgement [sic] approach to making decisions regarding additional sampling needs (DTSC 2005).
Indeed, not only are the chromium, nickel and molybdenum Runkle Canyon results from the mysterious white evaporate significantly over the background values on heavily-polluted Rocketdyne, they also trip the Department of Energy’s Preliminary Action Level (PAL) for total chromium in an “industrial” setting, which Runkle Canyon is not. The DOE’s PAL for chromium is 64 mg/kg. The Runkle result is over 20 times this limit even though the DOE standard is for industrial settings which, usually, have less stringent limits than residential and parkland scenarios.
Rocketdyne connection to Runkle Canyon?
Serafine, and his dog Boo, inspect the white precipitate cascading down the hill June 10.
Do these high chromium, nickel and molybdenum readings indicate that this contamination is oozing off the Rocketdyne site onto and under Runkle Canyon below? Do the Radiation Rangers’ Pat-Chem sampling and tests, as well as the city of Simi Valley’s Tetra Tech analysis which indicate high arsenic, nickel, vanadium, cadmium, barium, chromium and lead in Runkle Canyon’s creek water and soil, provide evidence that this pollution came from Rocketdyne?
Gravity and logic could lead to that conclusion. Indeed, as we reported in “Bubble Trouble” in the July 27, 2007 issue of Los Angeles CityBeat:
Another disturbing aspect to the mystery of Runkle Canyon’s astronomically high arsenic and gooey water is a subterranean fault map that shows a faultline carving through the middle of the Rocketdyne site and leading right down into the canyon. This could account for the polluted seeps that plague the proposed development’s property even during drought years such as this one.
