2000-2024 Aerojet Rocketdyne Chino Hills Investigation Main Page

“Perchlorate draining off Aerojet Chino Hills” – October 26, 2017
Surface and subsurface water tests ordered by DTSC in response to EnviroReporter.com comments finds high perchlorate, explosive RDX and uranium. DTSC notifies no one about it.

 

“Dead for the Hills” – June 30, 2016
High radiation, perchlorate, heavy metals left in water and soil and uranium in Aerojet surface water over three times drinking limit as it drains down Soquel Canyon Creek to Orange County aquifer.

 

2016 EnviroReporter.com comments on Aerojet Rocketdyne Chino Hills cleanup
EnviroReporter.com lauds efforts to remove tainted soil and leftover munitions but questions DTSC’s conclusions about radiation and chemicals impacting Aerojet Chino Hills surface and subsurface water.

 

“Trouble Ahead, Trouble Behind” – August 21, 2009
DTSC’s Cypress office informed EnviroReporter.com that it had amended its Aerojet Chino Hills website to accurately reflect where the polluted 800-acre facility is located. It failed. The competency shown by the department towards Aerojet Rocketdyne Chino Hills a decade later was greatly enhanced.

 

“Bombs Away at Aerojet Chino Hills” – August 11, 2009
Aerojet and Weston have done a good job finding 52 “munitions and explosives of concern” across a 39-acre area of the 800-acre facility, along with 70 pounds of munitions debris. This diligent work may have contributed to diminished uranium readings found in a tributary off of Aerojet Rocketdyne Chino Hills in 2019.

 

Does DTSC know where Aerojet Chino Hills is?” – July 23, 2009
Has the $46 million-and-counting cleanup of unexploded bombs, munitions and depleted uranium shell fragments has moved onto the Greg Norman Signature Golf Course? Soon after EnviroReporter.com‘s pointing out of this inexplicable error, the Department of Toxic Substances Control fixed the map.

 

“Blow In Place” – July 20, 2009
We asked why the groundwater under the OB/OD “unit” area hadn’t been tested for contamination or why the soil wasn’t screened for depleted-uranium toxicity. The documents supplied us suggested that all munitions and bomb-related material may not have been found at the cleanup site nor adjacent to it.

 

2009 EnviroReporter.com comments on Aerojet Rocketdyne Chino Hills cleanup
Surface water leaving site contaminated with uranium exceeding Maximum Contaminant Level for this drinking water source which drains into Santa Ana River which replenishes Orange County aquifers. Radiation and munition residue in dirt.

 

“Aerojet Cleans Up Its Explosive Act” – March 26, 2009
Unexploded ordnance and toxic chemicals scoured from soil at 14-acre “Open Burn/Open Detonation Unit”. “Over 260,000 cubic yards of soil were re-excavated and re-screened with over 47,000 items and 120,000 pounds of inert fragments recovered,” says DTSC.

 

AEROJET CHINO HILLS OB/OD CLOSURE, CLEANUP UPDATE – SPRING 2009
State solicits public comment on impending closure of 14-acre Open Burn/Open Detonation area. EnviroReporter.com analysis of OB/OP documents reveals vast areas still untested for munitions and depleted uranium contamination though DU ordnance used heavily.

 

Hot Zone“Hot Zone”
LA Weekly – November 9, 2000
Michael Collins ends up helping firefighters get a grip on hazards of burning Aerojet.

 

Santa Ana River“Russians, Rockets and the Santa Ana River”
Orange County Weekly – May 18, 2000
A closed weapons plant in the Chino Hills may be leaking hazardous chemicals into the Santa Ana River.

 

War Factory“Living Next to a War Factory”
LA Weekly – May 3, 2000
Neighbors of closed Aerojet plant worry about their health and water. The Chino Hills site is littered with high explosive material, unexploded munitions and depleted uranium.

 

AerojetAEROJET CHINO HILLS – LATEST POSTS
The site, near the juncture of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, detonated mustard- and tear-gas weapons, exploded depleted uranium-tipped projectiles, and produced a galaxy of bombs and munitions.

 

AEROJET CHINO HILLS – CLEAN UP
Background and history on the Aerojet Chino Hills facility and multi-million dollar clean-up effort.

 

Aerojet GalleryAEROJET CHINO HILLS – PHOTO GALLERY
Gallery begins in early 2000 with EnviroReporter.com‘s Michael Collins exploring the site for LA Weekly. Then a fire that swept Aerojet later that year. Extensive collection DTSC photos of cleanup.

 

Aerojet documents and linksAEROJET CHINO HILLS – DOCUMENTS AND LINKS
EnviroReporter.com gets a lot of traffic regarding Aerojet-Chino Hills which shows its importance to our audience. Further coverage is forthcoming and will be evidenced by yet more articles, photos and documentation