The documentary didn’t tell the whole story.

The documentary about the families fighting for the cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) didn’t tell the whole story.

It couldn’t. The story is still happening now, as of August 2022. And the situation has never been more dire.

In May 2022, the Boeing Company, which owns most of the SSFL, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) signed a new deal that re-writes the 2007 cleanup agreement. The new agreement, erroneously referred to as a Settlement Agreement by Boeing and DTSC, massively weakens the cleanup. According to Dan Hirsch (president of the independent watchdog group, Committee to Bridge the Gap), as much as 95% of Boeing’s chemically contaminated soil could remain permanently.

The 2007 cleanup agreement that Boeing signed twenty years ago was to have been completed by 2017 and would have left the site safe enough for people to hypothetically live there, grow backyard gardens, and still have only 1 in 1,000,000 risk of getting cancer from it. DTSC has never put forward an official reason why the original cleanup agreement was never enforced.

According to the 800-page Settlement Agreement document, the risk of people living there and eating home-grown produce is 1 in 10,000 people getting cancer, which doesn’t just violate EPA standards, it’s downright dangerous to the people who live nearby.

The Settlement Agreement was signed without a public comment period, without the approval of the many engaged federal and local elected officials and governments, and without environmental review, which violates California Environmental law.

But the fight isn’t over yet.

Boeing got greedy. For decades, Boeing has violated their NPDES permit, which monitors and enforces how much contamination flows offsite from the Santa Susana Field Lab and into the local waterways when it rains. Boeing has had a multitude of fines and it’s a glaring reminder to the public how dangerous the SSFL is. Boeing has tried to weaken their NPDES permit, but Parents Against SSFL and other organizations fought them.

Instead, Boeing has created a Memorandum of Understanding (M-O-U) proposal that would allow them to forgo their NPDES permit after their bogus cleanup is completed. Obviously, this would be a disaster. It would allow Boeing to discharge unlimited amounts of dangerous chemical contamination when it rains, polluting the headwaters of the Los Angeles River and Ventura County’s Callegus Creek Watershed.

We’re especially concerned about the Callegus Creek Watershed because, according to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the watershed provides drinking water to a large number of residents. It’s used for crop irrigation, recreation, and drains into the Pacific Ocean.

There are 310 contaminants of concern have been documented at the SSFL. These already pollute the local water, but with restrictions from the NPDES permit. These include dangerous heavy metals such as high levels of lead, arsenic, cyanide, and magnesium. There are also dangerous chemicals at the SSFL that are endocrine disruptors and cause developmental delays, birth defects, autoimmune diseases, and even cancer. Many of these chemicals are known as “forever chemicals” because they will take centuries to break down in the environment.

Without an NPDES permit, Boeing won’t have to monitor how many of these contaminants flow from the SSFL into the local waterways permanently.

That’s why we need 100s of people to help us fight back against Boeing’s greed.

We need people to attend the next Water Quality Control Board meeting on August 11, 2022, in person or virtually, to tell the board why residents deserve safe water. It’s the public’s only opportunity to have a say because the board will vote that afternoon. And if Boeing gets their way, our community, wildlife and environment will be devastated because it’s very difficult to clean up groundwater once it’s been polluted.

Only YOU can tell the water board why safe and clean water matters to you. The board members will hear from Boeing’s scientists and lobbyists, and lawyers. But your voice is even stronger because it’s real. It’s personal. It can change the hearts and minds of the water board. It takes less than 3 minutes to speak.

Don’t have all day?

No problem. Sign up, and we’ll send you text alerts to let you know 15 minutes before the public comment period begins on August 11th. Hopefully, that’ll save you an hour or more by bypassing the opening presentations. Click here to sign up for text alerts on the day of the hearing.

Never given a public comment in a meeting before?

We’re here to help. We can help you draft it, and we can arrange a zoom meeting with you if you’d like to practice it out loud with us. Click here to sign up for help with your comment, or you can use the script below. 

“My name is __________________ and in live in _________________ city. 

I don’t want dangerous contamination from the Santa Susana Field Lab to get into ______________________ (pick one or both: Ventura County’s groundwater or the Los Angeles River). 

I care because _______________________ (pick one or more: I drink Ventura County water, I bathe my kids in Ventura County water, I kayak in the Los Angeles River, I fish in the local creeks, I surf at the beach, I eat produce grown in Ventura County, wildlife needs clean water, I care about Indigenous values, etc). 

That’s why I’m asking the Water Quality Control Board members to vote NO on Boeing’s M-O-U proposal and keep Boeing’s N-P-D-E-S permit in place instead. Thank you.”

August 11th Details

What: Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board “MOU” hearing
When: Thursday, August 11, 2022
Time: Meeting starts at 10:00 am, public comment period likely to begin 1-2 hours after
In-person: City Hall 23920 Valencia Blvd., #120, Valencia, CA 91355
Virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LSbsCG2gT_C1925beCC7wQ 

Questions?

Email us at santasusanacampaign@gmail.com and we’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.