Santa Susana Mountain Park Association

but reasonableness is beginning to prevail 

 Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2014 

To: 'mhiltzik@latimes.com'

Subject:Santa Susana Cleanup Effort Is a Mess

Dear Michael Hiltzik:

I read your column this morning regarding "Santa Susana toxic cleanup effort is a mess".

You are correct. 

Unfortunately, you, like many others, have listened to a one-sided view as reported by Consumer Watchdog. Their alleged facts are very skewed and misrepresented. Past and recent testing have shown that there is not a higher cancer risk for residents living within 2 miles of the SSFL. On a personal note: My family, including three young children, in the late 1970's lived at the bottom of Runkle property in Simi Valley, the SSFL watershed area, and more recently for twelve years on Woolsey Canyon, West Hills. After living on both sides of the SSFL within 2 miles, in different time periods, my family and I are cancer-free and healthy.

The Consumer Watchdog group works on the human fear factor so that a responsible cleanup might not happen. The radical clean up to background will require more than ten years of truckloads, minimum of 80,000 truckloads, of soil and rocks being excavated and hauled out causing more health risks versus a technical remediation as Boeing has been conducting for years. Half of the San Fernando Valley is a Super Fund site because of contamination from gas stations, dry cleaners using chemicals, machine shops and aerospace industry. No one is advocating demolishing all structures and excavating the soil in the eastern half of the San Fernando Valley.

Many of us are working to stop the insanity, save a thriving and important wildlife corridor, preserve Native American historical districts and historical rocket engine test stands. We want a clean up, but a responsible cleanup that doesn't hurt the environment.

If you would like to know the real facts, not hyperbole, about the contamination, the clean up in process, and the best scenario to ensure a risk-based assessment of the cleanup, you are invited to attend the next Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting or attend a tour of the SSFL so you can learn more about the site and this natural wonderland. Website information about the SSFL cleanup: www.ssmpa.com and www.ssflcag.net John Luker <jcluker2@yahoo.com>, SSMPA Vice President, will be happy to discuss the SSFL cleanup and advise you of the next CAG meeting and SSFL tour. 

Carla Bollinger

Affiliations:

NASA/SSFL Section 106 Consultant
Santa Susana Mountain Park Association Member (SSMPA) 
Associated Historical Society of Los Angeles County Member
Member of SFV Audubon Society and Southwestern Herpetologists Society