Cleaning up toxic and radioactive sites is supposed to make things better but that’s not been the track record for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), an agency under the California EPA. The DTSC has wreaked havoc on the site near my home in Los Angeles, the Santa Susana Field Lab (SSFL), which has been contaminated with radioactive and toxic waste for 60 years. 

The DTSC has issued an “Imminent Danger” cleanup, for the Santa Susana Field Lab’s Area 1 Burn Pit site… but they’ll be leaving so much contamination behind that according to their documents it can cause “observable harm to wildlife.” 

For decades, workers at the Santa Susana Field Lab burned toxic chemicals, experimental rocket engine fuel, and radioactive waste in an open-air site known as the Area 1 Burn Pit. The fallout from these fires left the ground massively contaminated, and worthy of an emergency cleanup… the irony is the SSFL’s 540 contaminated acres were supposed to be completely cleaned up by 2017. Instead, nearly seven years later, the small, six-acre Burn Pit cleanup will leave much of the dangerous contamination behind. 

It comes down to money. A partial cleanup is cheaper than a complete cleanup. The DTSC and the site’s other responsible parties (the Boeing Company, NASA, and the federal Department of Energy) all know how the Field Lab’s contamination is harming my community. My daughter is one of 80 kids here who have been diagnosed with cancer. They know the contamination is also harming sensitive and endangered wildlife living on and near the site, and will continue to after their partial cleanup is complete. They don’t care. Saving money is more important to them.

We need the public to fight back and demand that the Area 1 Burn Pit be completely cleaned up to a “background” level. 

Will you help?

SoCal residents can attend the DTSC’s zoom meeting tonight, November 9th at 6:00 pm PST, and speak up during the public comment period to let them know that they have to stop cutting corners and instead prioritize human health, wildlife, and the environment by doing a complete, “background” cleanup of the Area 1 Burn Pit. 

If you can’t make the Zoom, you can still tell the DTSC your opinion with their online survey until November 15th. 

Warmly,
Melissa Bumstead

P.S. You can read how the DTSC screwed up the Exide cleanup in this scorching LA Times article.