By Michael Collins LA Weekly – December 23, 1998 Imagine giving someone millions of dollars for doing a bad job. That’s what Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson did on December 15 when he awarded aerospace giant Boeing $148.5 million to complete cleanup efforts at its Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory […]

By Michael Collins LA Weekly – January 20, 1999 Accused industrial polluter Rocketdyne has ducked several legal bullets, but its problems aren’t over yet. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last month green-lighted a federal class-action lawsuit against the corporation’s parent company, Boeing. The suit charges […]

William Webber’s memory of fire By Michael Collins LA Weekly – April 21, 1999 In conducting two detailed long-term health surveys of Rocketdyne employees, UCLA scientists have necessarily focused on the results of working for a firm that helped pioneer the space race. William Webber offers a glimpse of how […]

Criminal charges filed in fatal explosion By Michael Collins (LA Weekly – May 5, 1999) On July 26, 1994, two scientists at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Otto Heiney and Larry Pugh, “placed [rocket propellant] in a container over a bed of sawdust and then ignited [it] with an electric […]

By Michael Collins LA Weekly – July 8, 1999 It’s been more than a decade since Rocketdyne shut down its nuclear-test site to focus on cleaning up the toxic goo contaminating its sprawling compound between Chatsworth and Simi Valley. The cleanup has been a long, slow process, with the aerospace […]

By Michael Collins LA Weekly – August 5, 1999 Community groups have long protested defense contractor Rocketdyne’s failure to clean up toxic wastes at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the hills between the Simi and San Fernando valleys. But this week, it was a cleanup plan that raised hackles. […]

By Michael Collins LA Weekly – October 14, 1999 Military-industrial giant Rocketdyne has been reeling the last few weeks from a barrage of negative publicity about pollution problems at its Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer has demanded a more stringent cleanup at the San Fernando/ Simi valleys–straddling […]

By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – February 12, 2003 Even veterans of the decades-old battle over Rocketdyne’s heavily polluted Santa Susana Field Laboratory were a bit awed Monday night. Gone was the contentiousness that marked Rocketdyne community meetings over the last 10 years. The standing-room-only crowd and parade of […]

Simi Valley’s Rocketdyne facility was blasted by 50 years of rocket engines and nuclear reactor meltdowns, leaving a toxic disaster atop what residents call “The Hill.” Runoff may be poisoning Southland residents. And now the government just broke a promise to clean it up. Los Angeles ValleyBeat – June 12, […]

Cal-EPA comes down on Simi Valley’s Rocketdyne facility By Michael Collins Los Angeles ValleyBeat – October 23, 2003 The toxic leaks continue at the Rocketdyne lab in Simi Valley. After high levels of the toxic rocket fuel oxidizer perchlorate were found this summer near the facility, California’s Environmental Protection Agency […]

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 […]

More good news about contamination from your friends at Rocketdyne By Michael Collins Ventura County Reporter – September 23, 2004 With new revelations coming almost monthly, the scope of the toxic mess at the Rocketdyne aerospace complex in the hills between the San Fernando and Simi valleys continues to grow. […]

More good news about contamination from your friends at Rocketdyne By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – September 27, 2004 With new revelations coming almost monthly, the scope of the toxic mess at the Rocketdyne aerospace complex in the hills between the San Fernando and Simi valleys continues to grow. […]

Plans to store contaminated water under Ahmanson Ranch raise environmental concerns By Michael Collins Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat – February 24, 2005 The deluge of rain soaking Southern California hasn’t washed away the problems of a scant water supply throughout the region. Now a plan to bank reclaimed water in eastern […]

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 […]