The Boeing Company owns most of the Santa Susana Field Lab, an old Cold War facility located in the hills outside Los Angeles. It’s one of California’s most toxic places- contaminated with radioactive fallout, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. It’s never been cleaned up. My family is one of thousands that live within miles of the site.
Whenever there is heavy rain in SoCal, the toxic waste from the Santa Susana Field Lab flows into our local groundwater, rivers, and streams.
Because Boeing hasn’t completely cleaned up the Field Lab it puts our water, used for drinking and crop irrigation, at risk of being polluted by their deadly chemicals each time it rains. The polluted rainwater from the site can reach the Los Angeles River. It can even reach the Pacific Ocean. It’s making our children sick.
We need people from Ventura County or Los Angeles to speak out on September 28th to say that Boeing shouldn’t be allowed to let ANY of their chemicals or radioactive waste impact our surface or groundwater.
What: Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board Hearing: Boeing’s Proposed NPDES Permit
When: Thursday, September 28, 2023
Time: 9:00 a.m.; Comment period probably after 1pm
Virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DPXm2mIxSgG_AhhqbWtBmw#/registration (Agenda #9)
In-person: Board of Supervisors Hearing Room | Ventura County Government Center | 800 South Victoria Avenue | Ventura, CA 93009
Problems in Boeing’s NPDES Permit:
- The proposed NPDES permit does not set limits for dangerous VOCS, and “forever” chemicals like PFAS.
- All contaminants that have been found at the Santa Susana Field Lab should have limits in the NPDES, especially in consideration of global warming events such as wildfires.
- Rerouting polluted runoff into Silvernale Pond at the SSFL recontaminates the groundwater at, and potentially around, the Santa Susana Field Lab. Groundwater takes longer, costs more, and is harder to clean up than surface water. This is a dangerous practice that puts future generations at risk of contamination.
- The Water Board should not renew any agreements with the Boeing Company to reduce or restrict future fines of fees for NPDES violations.
Water runoff from the SSFL impacts:
- Ventura County’s Calleguas Creek Watershed
- Drinking water in Ventura County
- The Los Angeles River
- Water used for crop irrigation
- Water used for recreation in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties
- Water used by endangered wildlife
- Water considered sacred to the local indigenous people
- The Pacific Ocean
- Groundwater that might be used in the future
Learn how to give a public comment
Learn more about water impacted by the Santa Susana Field Lab
Photo 2913988 | Child Drinking Fountain © Meolia | Dreamstime.com