deceit
We’ve kept a record of DTSC, Boeing, NASA, and Department Energy’s intentional deceit and campaigns to lessen their cleanup commitments in order to save money.
DTSC Lies
The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has repeatedly and knowingly lied to the public about the Santa Susana Field Lab… again and again and again.
low-level rads to local landfills
A study by the Committee to Bridge the Gap shows Boeing knowingly sent low-rad waste to recyclers and landfills in order to save money.
493 tons of metal were recycled into the commercial metal supply
2,432 tons of asphalt and concrete were sent for recycling
1,153 tons were disposed of in Class I landfills designed only for chemical, not radioactive wastes
568 tons were disposed of in Class II landfills, designed for industrial, not radioactive waste, and
242 tons were disposed of in Class III landfills, regular municipal trash dumps
Greenwashing
The Responsible Parties have utilized various greenwashing campaigns over the decades to make the contamination at the Santa Susana Field Lab seem less dangerous than it is, in order to justify a lesser cleanup.
Boeing lawyer Peter Weiner (right) flatters former DTSC Director Raphael (left) at her confirmation hearing.
Captured Agencies
The Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Job report shows how polluters work the system and influence regulators to save their clients potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. The report lists a few strategies Boeing used to capture and influence the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) over the Santa Susana Field Lab including:
Boeing captured DTSC, including its [former] Director Debbie Raphael, with help from former government officials—including some that worked for [former Governor] Brown in his prior administration—to pressure their own former subordinates and others to reverse cleanup.
Boeing benefited from the removal of four regulators who had championed full cleanup of the site
California EPA’s EMpty Promises
In 2021, former CalEPA Secretary Blumenfeld promises the public he’ll reform the DTSC and keep the Responsible Parties from re-negotiating the cleanup agreement.s
DOE blows up radioactive building
2021: DTSC had a study that showed the structure was radioactive, but that didn’t keep them from allowing DOE to blow it up.
DTSC Promises to use “best Science”
2022: DTSC claims their “best science” allows them to change the SRAM, resulting in 95% of the SSFL’s contaminated soil staying onsite.
DTSC Community Updates: Woolsey Fire
During the 2018 Woolsey Fire, DTSC claimed there wasn’t any chance of radioactive ash or smoke and lied about their sources.
EPA Region 9 Gregg Dempsey works closely with Committee to Bridge the Gap’s President Dan Hirsch
EPA catches Rocketdyne in the act
EPA investigator Gregg Dempsey visited the SSFL to inspect its radiation monitoring program in 1989. Dempsey found that Rocketdyne (Boeing’s predecessor) had been:
Washing vegetation samples (which had the effect of washing off surface radioactivity) before monitoring them.
Heating samples to a high temperature both vegetation and soil samples (which had the effect of driving off volatile radionuclides);
Inappropriately subtracting an arbitrary value from actual radiation levels measured by dosimeters (which had the effect of inappropriately lowering measured radiation amounts)
“It is clear to me that Rocketdyne does not have a good ‘handle’ on where radiation has been inadvertently or intentionally dumped onsite.” EPA Gregg Dempsey
DTSC to use 1974 radiation limits
2018: Cleanup activists follow the DTSC’s trail of breadcrumbs to learn 1974 detection limits would be used instead of modern limits.