 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Runkle Canyon News and Analysis |
| Simi Valley citizens headed up Runkle Canyon in March and June 2008 only to find an expansive 'dead zone' covered in white evaporate |
|
This chemical sheen was discovered in a
Runkle Canyon creek on Thanksgiving 2006.
Latitude: 34°14'1.57"N
Longitude: 118°44'3.39"W
Runkle Canyon creek on Thanksgiving 2006.
Latitude: 34°14'1.57"N
Longitude: 118°44'3.39"W
| The Runkle Canyon Timeline (click here to read) |
| Citizens question California Dept. of Health Services about radiation in Runkle Canyon (click here to read) CDHS responds to citizen questions (click here to read) |
| Runkle Radiation Rangers water tests (click to read the two pertinent pages ) |
| Strontium-90 pollution in Runkle Canyon comes from adjacent Rocketdyne says recent report! READ REPORT |
| October 2006 EPA-funded Simi groundwater report links Rocketdyne water to Runkle Canyon! |
| Runkle Canyon Documents (click here to read) |
April 24, 2008
- Historic Earth Day agreement enacted between Runkle Canyon
developer KB Homes and Department of Toxic Substances Control
- KB Homes agrees to supply DTSC with at least 41 extensive reports
and documents for their inspection and pay for the $114,884 that this
initial work will cost
- "Full cooperation" is KB Homes' pledge regarding DTSC oversight
- DTSC’s Norm Riley will head Runkle Canyon investigation which could
lead to long-term remediation activities that KB Homes would fund
- Riley already heads DTSC oversight of cleanup of adjacent Rocketdyne
- “The negotiations with Runkle Canyon LLC were frank, cordial and
productive,” Riley says. “I do believe they are serious about addressing
the concern about contamination in the project area”
- Radiation Rangers ecstatic about agreement. "We had to fight for two
years to get to this point and couldn’t have done it without the VC
Reporter and [EnviroReporter.com]," says "The Good Reverend" John
Southwick. "Our hats are off to the DTSC and, of all people, the new
folks in charge at KB Homes.”
- “This is outstanding news,” Radiation Ranger "Perchlorate Patty"
Coryell says, “I have a high degree of faith in the integrity of DTSC under
Norm Riley’s leadership and feel that their review will be impartial and
unbiased”
- Riley had "strongly encouraged" KB Homes to invite oversight back in
November 2008
- Boeing may end up paying KB Homes' tab for cleanup investigation and
possible remedial actions including long-term operations and
maintenance
- Will Runkle Canyon eventually become parkland or open space, like
Ahmanson Ranch, as real estate market continues to tank?
- Extensive Runkle Canyon documents tell the tale of this troubled land
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
This chemical sheen was discovered in a
Runkle Canyon creek on Thanksgiving 2006.
Latitude: 34°14'1.57"N
Longitude: 118°44'3.39"W
Runkle Canyon creek on Thanksgiving 2006.
Latitude: 34°14'1.57"N
Longitude: 118°44'3.39"W
| The Runkle Canyon Timeline (click here to read) |
| Citizens question California Dept. of Health Services about radiation in Runkle Canyon (click here to read) CDHS responds to citizen questions (click here to read) |
| Runkle Radiation Rangers water tests (click to read the two pertinent pages ) |
| Strontium-90 pollution in Runkle Canyon comes from adjacent Rocketdyne says recent report! READ REPORT |
| October 2006 EPA-funded Simi groundwater report links Rocketdyne water to Runkle Canyon! |
Down the Test Tubes - KB Homes’ Runkle
Canyon radiation tests questioned as more
groundwater pollution is found and developer
negotiates cleanup agreement with state
Canyon radiation tests questioned as more
groundwater pollution is found and developer
negotiates cleanup agreement with state
- Rev. John Southwick, and the Radiation Rangers, send January 7 letter
to City of Simi Valley demanding full strontium-90 test results
- KB Homes' lab produces 10-page report with no lab analysis that
shows strontium-90 radiation only a quarter of "background" for area,
and a fraction of previous sampling results
- Simi Valley's "split-samples," to double-check KB Homes' tests for
accuracy, come in over a hundred times less than previous samplings
- City provides Southwick KB Homes' sampling plans
- Simi Valley lab's radiation testing procedures include controversial
decanting and filtering
- Cancerous trichloroethylene found in Runkle groundwater by Boeing in
December 2007 test results for Department of Toxic Substances Control
- TCE vapor danger helped sink Ahmanson Ranch development in 2003
- DTSC in mid-January 2008 negotiations with KB Homes for a Runkle
Voluntary Cleanup Agreement with costs to be paid by developer
- KB Homes' Runkle Canyon project head replaced
| Runkle Canyon Documents (click here to read) |
January 17, 2008
June 26, 2008
Reassessing Runkle - KB Homes and
state agree to cooperate on troubled Simi canyon
state agree to cooperate on troubled Simi canyon
White Blight - Runkle Canyon's Chromium
Conundrum
Conundrum
- Radiation Rangers, Rev. John Southwick and Frank Serafine, discover
white substance covering vast area of Runkle Canyon on March 26,
2008
- White evaporate creates surreal 'dead zone'
- Department of Toxic Substances Control's Norm Riley takes sample
and has it tested at DTSC lab and gives Serafine "Rock with White
Evaporate" report
- Heavy metal readings show high chromium, nickel, molybdenum,
potassium and iron
- DTSC report calls material "evaporative salt" two weeks before getting
lab results. High chromium readings ignored but EnviroReporter.com
performs extensive Runkle Canyon chromium analysis
- Potassium over 635 times normal, molybdenum 14 times higher, iron
3,243 times more than in average California soil
- Chromium six times EPA Preliminary Remediation Goal and eleven
times average in soil
- Chromium levels trip investigation guidelines in New Jersey, Kentucky,
Oregon and Canada
- Type of chromium unknown but hexavalent variety a human carcinogen
and trivalent "valence" harmful to mammals and birds
- Chromium previously found by city of Simi Valley in Runkle Canyon
surface water
- Runkle Canyon chromium, nickel and molybdenum all higher than
Rocketdyne averages
- DTSC official says similar material found in west San Fernando Valley
canyon on the opposite side of Rocketdyne from Runkle Canyon
- "We were in Runkle Canyon and observed a similar kind of salt," official
says. "We checked the precipitate salt and found that it wasn't a
problem to public health"
- Ranger Southwick says "the department has to take this stuff as
seriously as we do and get the science right"
- Boeing fined $471,190 by California Regional Water Quality Control
Board on September 11, 2007. "The violations consisted of wastewater
and storm water run-off discharges with elevated levels of chromium..."
- Boeing official contradicts himself in sworn documents given to DTSC
that mischaracterize Rocketdyne's border with Runkle and offsite tests
- Radiation Ranger "Toxic Terry" Matheney demands that the white "dead
zone" be immediately remediated. "KB Home has to scrape that crap off
the surface of the soil before next season's rains or it will be washed
down into the Arroyo Simi and we'll end up drinking it"
Seeing is disbelieving in white
Runkle Canyon heavy metal land.
Runkle Canyon heavy metal land.
EnviroReporter.com performs extensive
Runkle Canyon chromium analysis
Runkle Canyon chromium analysis