SSFL Cleanup agreements
Overview
The Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) is one of the most contaminated sites in California. Decades of nuclear energy experiments and rocket engine testing resulted in extensive pollution of the site’s soil and groundwater. After learning that children were getting cancer from the site, former CalEPA Secretary Linda Adams began negotiating cleanup agreements with the site’s three Responsible Parties: the Boeing Company, NASA, and the Department of Energy.
The cleanup agreements were intended to make the site as safe as possible for the 700,000 people who lived nearby. Former Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer championed the original SSFL cleanup agreement in 2007. Congresswoman Julia Brownley and former State Senator Sheila Kuehl were instrumental in passing the 2010 cleanup agreement that created the unprecedented cleanup to “Background” scenario.
It was assumed that the cleanup was won and the site would be cleaned up by 2017, as agreed to. By 2015 it became clear that the Responsible Parties, led by Boeing, continued to fight against a full cleanup. They employed all manner of deceit including greenwashing tactics, hiring lobbyists from CalEPA and DTSC, introducing weakened cleanup scenarios into their proposals, and watered down calculations that would allow more contamination to remain onsite.
In the last few years, the three Responsible Parties have been successful in weakening their cleanup obligations under the authority and approval of CalEPA and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
PASSFL is leading the charge along with residents and cleanup advocates to fight back against the powerful responsible parties and return to an agreement that would completely clean up the site to “background.”
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2023
Environmental Impact Report (PEIR)
The DTSC released the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) on June 8, 2023. According to extensive analysis from our technical advisors, Committee to Bridge the Gap, the PEIR is built on the Settlement Agreement and massively limits the final cleanup of the site, breaking all prior promises for a complete cleanup.
Boeing will be allowed to leave up to 94% of their portion of the site contaminated.
NASA and the Department of Energy will leave 63% of their portion of the site contaminated.
The PEIR eliminates the “background” cleanup from further analysis.
Despite prior resolutions by the Los Angeles and Ventura County Board of Supervisors to sue if the PEIR breached cleanup agreements to “background,” they have not taken action.
The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has launched a campaign to convince elected officials that the PEIR isn’t a “decision document” and that they should wait years, possibly decades, for independent resolutions on each section of the PEIR before suing.
One of DTSC’s primary arguments is that they claim the data, such as shown in Table 2.6-1, aren’t final estimates of how much soil will be remediated.
However, during a presentation on the PEIR by the DTSC to the Board of Environmental Safety, their slide admitted that the PEIR assumes maximum estimated soil volume estimates.
This proves our argument that the PEIR is a final decision document as it limits how much soil can be remediated in the final cleanup.
2022
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted in favor of Boeing’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on August 11, 2022, despite 300 community members who (virtually) attended the meeting to ask the Board to vote no. The MOU also activated Boeing’s Settlement Agreement with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
Main arguments against MOU
Agreement promises to remove Boeing’s rainwater discharge permit (NPDES) 10-15 years before cleanup is completed.
MOU gives authority to the Expert Panel, paid by Boeing, to make critical judgements about testing requirements and methodologies.
MOU assumes that the Settlement Agreement will remove all dangerous contamination, therefore Boeing won’t need an NPDES permit to monitor or regulate chemicals flowing offsite and into local waterways.
Elected Officials Concerned about MOU: Federal and local elected officials and governments have expressed concern over negotiations between the DTSC and Boeing, and expressed their support for the stringent 2007 cleanup standards.
Over 310 chemicals have been documented at the SSFL. Some are persistent, lasting in the environment for centuries if not completely remediated. Most are toxic or carcinogenic and can harm both humans and wildlife. Many of the SSFL contaminants have exceeded Boeing’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit levels in the past, despite Boeing’s many promises that they would not allow the contaminated surface water runoff from the SSFL to reach local waterways. Contamination detected in SSFL water runoff has included lead, mercury, arsenic, perchlorate, TCE, dioxins, PCBs, and more.
Contaminated water from the SSFL reaches the Los Angeles River and the Calleguas Creek Watershed, and can pollute water that is:
Used for drinking water in Ventura County. The contamination can disproportionately harm already marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities that can’t afford water filtration systems. These communities are also faced with a lack of access to healthcare.
Percolating into the groundwater. Groundwater is difficult, costly, and extremely slow to remediate.
Irrigates crops, which can contaminate produce grown in Ventura County.
Impacts farmers and farm workers who will be exposed to SSFL contamination while working in the agricultural fields.
Essential to the survival of sensitive and endangered wildlife on and near the SSFL.
Used for recreation, putting people at direct risk of exposure.
En route to the Pacific Ocean, endangering our marine life, ocean, and people.
Sacred to local indigenous tribes.
There is no benefit to the public in discontinuing Boeing’s NPDES permit after the insufficient and dramatically weakened soil cleanup is completed.
Residents protest before the MOU vote by the Water Board. Santa Clarita, 2022.
critiques of MOU
Committee to Bridge the Gap, 2022: Comments on Proposed Memorandum of Understanding Between the Boeing Company and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board Regarding the Contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Heal the Bay, 2022: Calling for Accountability at the Santa Susana Field Lab
2022
Settlement Agreement
CalEPA, DTSC, and Boeing sign a new agreement for the Santa Susana Field Lab cleanup, erroneously titled as the Settlement Agreement. When carefully examined, the 796-page document shows that the new agreement will dramatically weaken the chemical cleanup at the site. Instead of removing most of the chemical contamination, it will leave most of it. Similarly, it will leave most of the groundwater dangerously contaminated. Our community, wildlife and environment will be harmed unless all of the contamination is cleaned up.
PASSFL is currently suing over the Settlement Agreement, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles and Public Employees Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Major Faults in Settlement Agreement
The settlement Agreement supersedes most of the 2007 Agreement, resulting in 95% of the contaminated soil remaining on site.
The agreement was negotiated in private without any representatives for the public interest and was agreed to without any public input.
The agreement didn’t include CEQA, a legally required environmental review.
Critique of Settlement Agreement:
Committee to Bridge the Gap:
2020
CalEPA Promises community
2020, EPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld publicly promised the community that CalEPA would not negotiate with Boeing over the cleanup and would enforce the 2007 Consent Order Agreement.
AOC agreement 2010
The 2010 AOC was NULLIFIED by the PEIR and WILL NO LONGER BE IMPLEMPNETED, despite promises to the community for a complete cleanup.
Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, Congresswoman Julia Brownley, Devyn Gortner (Teens Against Toxins),, Congressman Brad Sherman, Ryan Moorman (Teens Against Toxins), and former LA City Councilmember Greig Smith stand in front of the Santa Susana Field Lab entrance holding a copy of the signed 2010/AOC cleanup agreement.
A FEW MAIN POINTS OF THE 2010 AOC CLEANUP AGREEMENTs:
Soil cleanup to be completed by Fall 2017 and a permanent water remedy to be in place.
Cleanup to “background,” that is, to remove all man-made contamination.
All low-level radioactive debris and soil must be sent to low-radioactive licensed facilities and not local dumps.
The cleanup will not affect old-growth trees, large rock formations, endangered wildlife, or cultural artifacts. There were exceptions written into the AOC to specifically protect these.
The cleanup will be regulated by federal, state, and local laws to minimize the dust and disruption to the community.
The AOC was written by the former secretary of the Department of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu who is a distinguished scientist, the 12th Secretary of Energy, and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997).
The AOC Cleanup Agreement prioritized the health of local communities who lived near to the SSFL. Most other cleanups prioritize the cost to the polluters and only considered the exact perimeter of the contaminated sites. They had no regard for how contamination from these sites could migrate into the local communities, causing serious health issues.
That’s why Parents Against SSFL believe that the AOC is worth fighting for- not just for our community, but because it has the potential to change cleanup standards across the nation. Most contaminated sites are intentionally placed near socioeconomically disadvantaged communities of color who lack the resources to fight for a full cleanup.
If we fight to implement the AOC, and succeed, the impact will help protect millions of Americans from contaminated waste. There will be a new precedent. This is a responsibility Parents Against SSFL take very seriously, and after the SSFL cleanup, we intend to help other communities fighting for cleanups.
Cleanup agreements 2007
The 2007 Cleanup Agreements were NULLIFIED by the PEIR and WILL NO LONGER BE IMPLEMPNETED, despite promises to the community for a complete cleanup.
Signed between Boeing, NASA, Department of Energy (DOE) and California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
Would remediate the site to match Ventura County's "open space" zoning, which includes agricultural and rural residential land uses. (1)
Cleanup would be completed by 2017.
A permanent groundwater remedy was to be in place at that time.
The 2007 Consent Order is not as comprehensive of a cleanup as the later 2010 AOC agreement.
2015 Boeing promises a “Suburban Residential” cleanup to residents.
2017 Boeing breaks cleanup promise and says it will cleanup to the significantly less protective “Recreational Cleanup.” (2)
(1) “DTSC and U.S.EPA, in implementing the Superfund process, defer to local government’s land use plans and zoning decisions, and base their cleanup level calculations on the assumption that the land will be used as the land use requirements would allow, irrespective of its current use.” (PDF Page 12)
(2) August 22, 2017: Boeing broke its longstanding commitment to a residential cleanup with an emailed announcement to the community by Kamara Sams, Boeing Community Relations.