[CPEO-BIF] Los Angeles Unified School District

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

SCS Engineers Goes Back to School

By Vicki Strickler, SCS Engineers
Brownfields Renewal web exclusive
November 17, 2011

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) faced a number of  
challenges and intense pressure to expand its schools to accommodate  
a rapidly growing student population. To solve the capacity crisis,  
LAUSD proposed building a large number of schools in the Los Angeles  
area.
Because the L.A. area is largely built-out, and there is a scarcity  
of unimproved land, some of these school sites were located on older  
industrial and commercial properties, which had been identified with  
contaminated soils. Soil cleanup for these sites was a priority of  
the LAUSD. In addition, many areas in Los Angeles are vulnerable to  
methane gas seeps—from underground petroleum sources and/or oil-field  
activities (e.g., old wells or pipelines). The most notorious example  
was the Belmont Learning Complex site, where a newly constructed  
school lay unused for 10 years while solutions to (and litigation  
over) a previously unknown methane problem was successfully resolved.
Before constructing begins at new school sites, California State law  
requires approval from the Department of Toxic Substances Control  
(DTSC) following an environmental investigation to identify  
potentially hazardous materials or contamination. If contamination is  
found during site investigations, appropriate remediation is  
necessary for the protection of staff and children in order to  
receive DTSC approval and for new construction to proceed.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.brownfieldrenewal.com/news- 
well_schooled_in_waste_water_effluent_matters_-162.html
--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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