[CPEO-MEF] Fire releases from Rocketdyne (CA) concern Sen. Feinstein

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Fire damage to Rocketdyne test site concerns senator 

By Daniel Wolowicz 
Simi Valley Acorn (CA)
November 4, 2005 

Health officials say preliminary results for local air quality during
and after the recent Topanga fire do not show unusual levels of toxic
contaminants in the air. 

Environmentalists, however, say the information being released by the
state agencies performing the tests is too ambiguous and unsubstantiated
to be considered valid. 

Concerned by toxins released by the fire, Sen. Diane Feinstein wrote a
letter to Barbara Riordan, interim chair for the California Air
Resources Board, asking for an air quality report. The request came
after the wildfire scorched more than 2,000 acres of Rocketdyne's Santa
Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in the Simi Hills. The fire damaged 10
buildings on the test field, destroying seven. 

Because the test field was used by Rocketdyne, the Defense Department,
NASA and the Energy Department to conduct rocket, missile and nuclear
testing for nearly 40 years, health officials, politicians and residents
were worried that the fire released toxic and radioactive materials
trapped in the soil and surrounding brush. ?I am deeply concerned that
toxic and radioactive contamination concentrated in vegetation and so
could be transported downwind by the fire and expose the public to
health risks,? wrote Feinstein. "The cleanup at the Santa Susana Field
Laboratory has been ineffective at best, as the radioactive and toxic
contamination in the soil (and thus vegetation) largely remains." 

For the entire article, see
http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2005/1104/Front_Page/001.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 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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