All Entries Tagged With: "Runkle Canyon"
Down the Test Tubes
KB Home’s lab Dade Moeller & Associates has produced a 10-page report that shows strontium-90 radiation only a quarter of “background” for the area, and a fraction of previous sampling results. Simi Valley’s “split-samples,” to double-check KB Homes’ tests for accuracy, came in over a hundred times less than previous samplings.
Dirty Business
The battle over the proposed 461-residence KB Home development in Runkle Canyon continues as Radiation Rangers and Simi Valley residents demanded a new Environmental Impact Report and a government meeting over pollution concerns at the Simi Valley City Council meeting October 22. It remains to be seen if a new law cleaning up Rocketdyne for parkland will affect the adjacent KB Home development.
Pay Dirt
On October 12 Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB-990, a bill championed by State Senator Sheila Kuehl to clean up Rocketdyne to Superfund standards. Boeing agreed to pay for remediation and to donate the lab to the State for parkland. Government oversight will be headed by DTSC, and transfer of the 2,850 acre lab to the State is prohibited until cleanup goals are completed.
Spin Cycle
The City of Simi Valley claims that a Tetra Tech toxics report proves that Runkle Canyon’s water and soil are safe. The Ventura County Star and Simi Valley Acorn have also reported the canyon as “safe” with continued fact-challenged coverage including a false alarm about copper, erroneous cost of the citizens’ test, and incorrect posting status of Rangers report.
Bubble Trouble
The City of Simi Valley tested Runkle Canyon water and soil for arsenic on July 2 after the Radiation Rangers’ tests showed high levels of arsenic. The full Pat-Chem lab residents’ report was released July 6, adding 15 pages of non-detects for other chemicals to the two previously released pertinent pages.
The Radiation Rangers
Los Angeles CityBeat & ValleyBeat cover story “The Radiation Rangers” reveals high arsenic, nickel and vanadium in Runkle Canyon surface water. The Rangers hired Pat-Chem Laboratories to perform Runkle Canyon tests on Title 22 metals in water and soil after the City of Simi Valley rejected their request to inspect the water with them. The City instead cited a faulty KB Homes surface water report with missing data.
Runkle EIR radiation report “not considered useful”
Simi Valley residents, at the invitation of the City of Simi Valley, submitted questions for the California Department of Health Services, Radiologic Health Branch regarding health issues uncovered in
Developer claims contradict investigation’s findings
KB Home’s subcontractors claim that their testing indicates that only .26 out of a million people exposed to the Sr-90 at Runkle Canyon, even though the U.S. EPA clearly states otherwise. The government’s findings further highlight problems with the project’s EIR that EnviroReporter.com has analyzed. Those problems could give the city grounds to ask for a new EIR.
