[CPEO-MEF] Bermite cleanup may start

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California
Bermite cleanup may start
Whittaker states desire to meet with toxics agency
By Heather MacDonald
Staff Writer
SANTA CLARITA -- State officials are encouraged by Whittaker Corp.'s
recent cooperation with its order to begin cleaning up the defunct
Bermite explosives factory in the center of Santa Clarita.

The Simi Valley-based company has met the first series of deadlines set
by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which ordered
Whittaker to begin cleaning up dozens of poisonous chemicals and
unexploded ordnance waste left over from decades of explosives
manufacturing.

"Things have definitely taken a turn for the better," said Sara Amir,
the chief of the Southern California Cleanup Operations branch of the
DTSC. "We're moving ahead."

In a letter sent to Amir last week, Whittaker attorney Joseph J. Armao
asked for a meeting to discuss the schedule and work plan for the
cleanup, and expressed a desire to work with the agency.

That represents a good deal of progress since Nov. 16, when the DTSC cut
off negotiations with Whittaker officials and threatened to take the
company to court, Amir said.

The DTSC's action came nearly 20 years after Whittaker ceased building
and testing weapons for the U.S. military on the 996-acre site in the
hills near Soledad Canyon Road and Bouquet Canyon Road.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20949%257E1066866,00.html

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