SSFL Cleanup agreements
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PEIR | MOU | 2022 Settlement Agreement | 2010 AOC | 2007 consent order | Timeline
Final 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
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 been successful in its 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.
Video includes experts Committee to Bridge the Gap and goes over the primary problems with the PEIR
Chart shows NASA and Dept. of Energy’s exempted land from cleanup in PEIR, PDF page 162
One of DTSC’s primary arguments as to why the PEIR isn’t a decision document is 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.
There’s no justification for making residents wait for the cleanup when the Board of Supervisors should sue the DTSC now, get the complete cleanup back on track, and get the cleanup started.
If residents don’t get involved, Boeing, NASA, and the Department of Energy will get away with leaving almost all of the contamination onsite, permanently.
Residents must demand the safest, smartest, and most comprehensive cleanup of the toxic site near their homes.
Map from PEIR that shows how Boeing will claim a biological exemption over 94% of the site to avoid a complete cleanup.
2022 Memorandum of Consent (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 erroneously titled "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.
comments against 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
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
2022 Settlement Agreement
After making public promises to uphold the health-protective cleanup agreements, government agencies instead began secret negotiations with Boeing, killing the 2007 and 2010 cleanup promises to “background.”
In 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. DTSC Director Williams also promised elected officials that the DTSC would uphold the prior agreement. The 2022 Settlement Agreement clearly overwrites the Consent Order, breaking promises to the community.
But on May 9, 2022, DTSC and Boeing signed a new agreement for the Santa Susana Field Lab cleanup, called 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.
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.
Criticism of Settlement Agreement:
Committee to Bridge the Gap:
THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT DRAMATICALLY WEAKENs THE CLEANUP
The Press Release by DTSC claimed that the cleanup would be “background,” which is removing all contamination until nothing man-made remains. However, they will only clean up radionuclides to background, but there is very little radioactive contamination on Boeing’s areas (yellow on map). Most of the radioactive contamination is on the Department of Energy’s area (orange on map).
Boeing and DTSC deceptively claim that the new Settlement Agreement will, “strengthen the cleanup of contaminated soil, groundwater and stormwater runoff at the Santa Susana Field Lab.” They quickly admit that it could be as stringent as a “Residential with Garden” cleanup standard. After closely examining the document it became clear that the new agreement would leave almost all of the contamination on site.
2010 Administrative Order on Consent (AOC)
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.
2007 Consent Order
The 2007 Consent Order was BROKEN by the Settlement Agreement- no longer valid.
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.
Cleanup timeline
2023: DTSC releases the final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIR) that upholds the deal with Boeing and has provisions to allow NASA and the Department of Energy to leave most of the contamination onsite, permanently.
2022: Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board approves Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Boeing Company.
2022: DTSC and Boeing sign the erroneously titled Settlement Agreement which will leave 95% of the contaminated soil onsite.
2022: The Ventura County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved partnering with Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles to consider litigation if the long-delayed cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Lab isn't as stringent as possible.
2022: Los Angeles Board of Supervisors passes motion to Direct the Chief Executive Officer to add a policy to …agendas to support legislation to assure a full "cleanup to background" and Direct County Counsel to work with the Los Angeles City Attorney and Ventura County Counsel and other affected jurisdictions…to explore legal action as necessary to ensure that the 2007 and 2010 agreements by all parties are carried out and to report back in 60 days in writing.
2021: Boeing and DTSC begin confidential negotiations in regard to the 2007 Order of Consent. It results in the Settlement Agreement.
2020: NASA issues a “Record of Decision,” aka ROD. It is the final step for NASA’s supplemental Environmental Statement process.
2019: The Department of Energy (DOE)’s Final Environmental Impact Statement breaks both the NEPA and RICRA laws for not allowing residents to comment on the statement.
2019: NASA determined that substantially more soil needed to be removed from its part of the site than what it estimated in the 2014 report and created a supplemental environmental statement or SEIS. NASA lauds option “C” which will leave almost all contamination on site.
2017: Boeing alters its cleanup standard from “Residential” to “Recreational” arguing that the Order’s “open space” can be interpreted.
2017: Boeing, NASA and DOE’s soil cleanups to be completed across the Santa Susana Field Lab. No significant cleanup work has begun as of 2022.
2015: Boeing’s RFI report shows 9 out of 10 people would get cancer from the SSFL, though Boeing claimed their “Recreational” cleanup would be as safe as a "Residential with Garden” cleanup.
2015: Boeing promises residents to cleanup the site according to a “Residential with Garden” scenario.
2013: Boeing Sues and Overturns SB 990 that would have held Boeing to a stricter cleanup.
2010: NASA and DOE sign the “Agreement on Consent (AOC)” cleanup with the DTSC, to cleanup their portions of the SSFL to “background.” Boeing does not sign.
2008: Legislature SB990 passes to hold Boeing to stricter cleanup. Overturned in 2013.
2007: Boeing, NASA and the US Department of Energy (DOE) sign the Consent Order cleanup agreements with the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).