NASA, the Department of Energy, and Boeing have been trying to get out of their Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL) cleanup obligations for years, despite having signed legal agreements in 2010 with the State of California. But NASA’s most recent attempt to find a loophole out of the cleanup may be the most unethical yet, and if successful, could end any chance of the full cleanup we've been promised.
First, a little background: The Santa Susana Field Lab’s hilly terrain contains a 25-acre area called the “Burro Flats Painted Cave Site,” which may have been used for Native American solstice ceremonies thousands of years ago. The Burro Flats Site has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1976 and, like all officially recognized Cultural Resources at the Santa Susana Field Lab, is protected by the 2010 SSFL cleanup agreements.
But NASA has recently proposed to expand the historic 25-acre Burro Flats Site to 2,850 acres of surrounding land- the entire Santa Susana Field Lab property!
NASA qualified the expansion in their nomination writing, “[the Santa Susana Field Lab] district retains all aspects of integrity [for the indigenous people].” That’s despite the SSFL's four enormous rocket test stands, dozens of test missile stands, a dozen dilapidated structures, the aftermath of nearly two-hundred buildings, parking lots, roads, and utilities.
Worse, NASA’s 70 page nomination didn't mention any of the lab’s chemical and radioactive contamination that remain on site, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, TCE, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium-239, because NASA doesn’t want the National Register of Historic Places board to know how dangerous the Santa Susana Field Lab is.
NASA’s end game is clear - declare the entire SSFL site as an officially recognized Cultural Resource and claim it is exempt from requiring any cleanup. If NASA succeeds, it could kill the cleanup all together, which is harmonious with NASA’s previous attempts to leave up to 90% of the contamination on site permanently.
Without the cleanup, Native Americans who come to the SSFL to engage in religious or cultural activities could be exposed to the same dangerous contamination that has caused health issues and cancers in the surrounding communities for decades.
Especially as Native Americans and other communities of color are disproportionately impacted by pollution and toxic waste like that at the Santa Susana Field Lab, it’s sickening to think that NASA is trying to manipulate cultural protections for indigenous sites in order to avoid cleaning up the lab. It’s appalling and deceitful.
There are several ways you can participate:
Email your comment:
Please submit your comment, limited to 250 words or less, to clerkoftheboard@ventura.org. Please include in the Subject Line of your e-mail the words “Time Certain Item 1:30 PM Read at Meeting.”
or
Video or call your call using Zoom:
Please register no later than 3:30 p.m. on July 27, the actual meeting will be on July 28th at 1:30 PM. The registration link is not posted yet but will be soon here and we will also send it in a subsequent petition update.
Thanks for all your help!