Boeing’s Conservation Easement
2022
Reuters News Special Investigation details how Boeing’s Easement at the Santa Susana Field Lab could be used to help them get out of their cleanup obligations.
2017
The Boeing Company places 1,900 acres of the Santa Susana Field Lab into a conservation easement with the North American Land Trust. This is meant to prevent the land from being developed so that people can’t live at the site.
2017
Boeing argues that the conservation easement should allow them to break their commitments to the stronger cleanup standard previously agreed to.
“A recreational cleanup should be evaluated to reflect the actual future use of the land… consistent with the site’s future as undeveloped open space habitat.”
Limitations of conservation easement
Boeing claims the conservation easement will benefit the local indigenous people to use the site for cultural practices.
However, limitations in the easement prevent Indigenous people from many cultural practices at the SSFL, including:
Camping or overnight use
Agriculture or farming
Hunting or fishing
Gathering or use of biological material
Use of water
Boeing’s Cleanup Promises
2007
Boeing signed a cleanup agreement with the State of California. Their cleanup agreement specified that Boeing’s portion of the SSFL would apply a “Risk-Based” cleanup scenario that would meet the land use requirements set by Ventura County. This would include options for agricultural and residential with garden cleanup scenarios.
2008
Former California EPA Secretary Linda Adams championed SSFL cleanup legislation, SB990. The bill set strict cleanup standards for the site's cleanup.
2013
Boeing Sues and Overturns SB 990, claiming it will clean up the site, although to levels far below those outlined in SB 990.
2015
Boeing applies a recreational cleanup scenario to their RCRA Facility Investigation (RFI) Report. This shows 96 out of 100 people would get cancer according to Boeing’s new Recreational scenario.
Boeing promises residential cleanup: “Boeing has referred to this commitment as a cleanup to the “suburban residential” standard that is applied generally throughout the state. This means we will clean up our portion of Santa Susana so it will be safe enough that someone could live there and be at the site every day if development was allowed.”
2022
The “Settlement Agreement” between Boeing, CalEPA and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will allow Boeing to leave up to 94% of it’s property contaminated with toxic chemicals by using calculations for a Recreational Cleanup standard (Boeing now refers to this as a Residential cleanup which is false. See Cleanup Agreements for more information on how the calculations were manipulated).
