Felkins ANTHOLOGY and HOTSHEETS *Copyright Madeline L. Felkins 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 All Rights
Felkins ANTHOLOGY and HOTSHEETS *Copyright Madeline L. Felkins 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 All Rights
 Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times |
|
By Amanda Covarrubias
Times Staff Writer
February 12 2003
Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson and Ventura
County Supervisor Linda Parks said Tuesday they believe the Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory is the likely
source of a toxin
found in 17 wells in Simi Valley and one near Ahmanson Ranch.
After a public hearing on the issue Monday, Jackson and Parks
said all available information points to the mountaintop
field lab above Simi Valley as the source of the perchlorate
contamination.
Perchlorate is a highly toxic chemical used in rocket fuel.
"We have a pretty good understanding that the Rocketdyne plant is
responsible,"
said Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). "Who else would it be from?
All the other options are pretty much eliminated. Rocketdyne used
perchlorate
in its rocket testing."
But Rocketdyne,
a division of the Boeing Corp., has maintained that any chemicals
and toxins generated by the hilltop lab have been contained to the 2,600-acre site.
The company says that research data do not support critics'
theory that the perchlorate migrated from the site to the valley floor via
streams and springs.
State investigators also say they cannot prove that the lab,
which conducted rocket
testing and nuclear research at the site for more than 40 years, is the
source of the chemical.
Jackson and Parks are the first public officials to place the
onus of the perchlorate contamination on Rocketdyne.
"I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out
that all the sites where perchlorate
was found
have a real strong connection to Rocketdyne," Parks said Tuesday. "There's a
real frustration that the polluting industry is fighting
regulators because it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars
to clean it up."
Perchlorate has been detected in water wells in at
least 20 counties in California. The fast-moving contaminant is
known to cause thyroid dysfunction and has become a national concern as states
grapple with the environmental effects of aerospace and
defense research.
"We want to make sure we provide you with the information as
to what perchlorate is and what its ramifications are,"
Jackson told the standing-room-only crowd of 100 who attended
Monday's hearing in Thousand Oaks. "We're trying to learn
what we can do and must do to remove
perchlorate from our drinking water and soils."
The hearing was sponsored by the Assembly's Natural Resources
Committee, which Jackson chairs, and the Environmental Safety and
Toxic Materials Committee.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a preliminary
public health goal of 1 part per billion for perchlorate in
public water supplies, while California health officials have
announced a draft public health goal of 2 to 6 parts per billion.
One part per billion is roughly equivalent to a grain of sand in
an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Perchlorate
was detected in 17 wells in Simi Valley last year with the highest reading at 19.2
ppb. Drinking water supplies are not contaminated or threatened
because most of Simi Valley's tap water is *imported from Northern
California.
The chemical was also found last year in a well south of the lab,
near the proposed Ahmanson Ranch housing development, at 28 ppb.
The property where the well is located is owned by a state
agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
Ahmanson Land Co. donated the property to the state in 1998 but
retained rights to use water from the well for irrigation.
Developers had proposed using the well to irrigate a golf course
on Ahmanson Ranch but have since talked about capping it.
Dennis Dickerson, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional
Water Quality Control Board, told the panel that follow-up tests
will be needed to confirm the reading. But, he noted, perchlorate has
been measured at up to 1,600 ppb in soil on the lab site and at
600 to 700 ppb in the groundwater.
In addition, Rocketdyne's environmental testing records
show perchlorate was measured at 17 ppb in rain water draining
from the site at its southeast border in the direction of Bell
Canyon.
Critics say this supports the contention that perchlorate is
migrating from the field lab downhill to heavily populated valleys and canyons.
Jackson said she and the other four members of the Legislature
who sat on Monday's panel will work to ensure that agencies set
appropriate public health goals, continue monitoring water wells
and try to find the sources of the perchlorate.
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