Lawsuits involving SSFL

CEQA | NPDES | Waste Injunction | SB990

2022: CEQA

In 2022, PASSFL, PEER, and PSR-LA joined together to sue the DTSC over a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) violation regarding the erroneously titled “Settlement Agreement,” which would allow Boeing to approximately 90% of the soil at the Santa Susana Field Lab to remain contaminated.

CEQA has provisions to ensure an opportunity for the community to comment on project plans and requires an environmental review. The DTSC, Boeing, and the Los Angeles Water Board negotiated the terms of the Settlement Agreement behind closed doors and signed it without any public input or environmental review.

It’s our hope that a final outcome of this lawsuit will force the DTSC to change it’s agreement and instead return to a “background” cleanup to remove all man-made contamination.

The case is currently being heard.

2024: NPDES

In 2023, clean water advocates including PASSFL, the Wishtoyo Foundation, Heal the Bay, WaterKeepers, PEER and PSR-LA petitioned the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to tighten Boeing’s rain-water runoff permit (NPDES) to limit the amount of SSFL contamination polluting local waterways. The Water Board agreed.

The new NPDES provisions include:

  • Effluent Limits at Outfalls 001 and 002

  • New Effluent Limit for Aluminum

  • Enhanced PCB monitoring

  • Monitoring Requirements for Chemicals of Potential Concern in DTSC’s SRAM for the SSFL Site

  • Retained Effluent Limits at Outfall 008

  • Groundwater Infiltration Studies at the [unlined] Silvernale and R-1 Ponds

In 2024, Boeing sued the Water Board, claiming the new NPDES was unfairly strict. The clean water advocates were admitted as “friends of the court” and allowed to explain why the new restrictions were critically important to protect the water, wildlife, and people living nearby.

The case is currently being heard.

“Four groups, Consumer Watchdog, Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA, Southern California Federation of Scientists, and Committee to Bridge the Gap, have urged the California Supreme Court to reverse a First District Court of Appeal ruling that allows Boeing to tear down five structures at the Santa Susana Field Lab and deposit the tainted debris in landfills and metal recycling centers the groups say are not equipped to store radioactive waste.”
— Los Angeles Daily News

2013: waste injunction

2013: Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles, Southern California Federation of Scientists, Committee to Bridge the Gap, and Consumer Watchdog file a lawsuit against the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the Department of Public Health (DHP) after discovering that the DTSC was allowing Boeing to demolish and dispose of radioactive waste at hazardous waste facilities and recycling plants neither licensed nor constructed to house it. The lawsuit was filed to ensure that radioactive structures were appropriately dismantled and the leftover radioactive waste was placed in appropriate facilities licensed to take it. 

Low-level radioactive material taken to unlicensed sites:

  • 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

  • 242 tons were disposed of in Class III landfills, regular municipal trash dumps

2013: The groups won a preliminary injunction against the DTSC in December, temporarily halting the continued disposal of radioactive debris from the site. 

After lengthy proceedings in the trial court to uncover communications between Boeing and the state agencies about their demolition plans, the trial court ultimately ruled against the consumer and environmental groups who appealed to Sacramento’s Third District Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal entered a stipulated order extending the stay of any demolition activities in Area IV pending the outcome of the appeal. 

The final brief of consumer and environmental groups replying to the government agencies was filed in October. 

2009: SB 990

Senate Bill 990 (SB 990), enacted in 2007, mandated stringent cleanup standards for the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The legislation required that the site be remediated to levels suitable for agricultural use, the most protective standard, to ensure public health and environmental safety.

In response, The Boeing Company, a principal party responsible for the contamination, filed a lawsuit in 2009 challenging the constitutionality of SB 990. Boeing argued that the state law was preempted by federal regulations governing nuclear safety and cleanup, thereby infringing upon federal authority.

In 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of Boeing, declaring SB 990 invalid and unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court concluded that the state law unlawfully encroached upon federal jurisdiction over nuclear safety standards. This decision was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2014.

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