The SSFL Work Group meeting on February 13, 2020 brought together community members, cleanup advocates, and local elected officials to discuss the SSFL cleanup crisis. Boeing, the Dept. of Energy, and NASA signed agreements to fully clean up all of SSFL’s nuclear and chemical contamination by 2017. But the cleanup hasn’t even begun and all three responsible parties have indicated their intent to break their cleanup agreements and leave most of the contamination on the site permanently. However, it isn’t their decision to make – the CA Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has regulatory authority over the cleanup and must enforce the SSFL cleanup agreements.
The February 13 meeting featured a presentation by CalEPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld as well as presentations by Melissa Bumstead, founder of Parents vs SSFL, Dan Hirsch, President of Committee to Bridge the Gap, and Linda Parks, Ventura County Supervisor. Elected officials representing the area from every level of government made strong statements of support for the full, promised cleanup. See video below:
PART 1: Candlelight vigil, lead by local activist and cancer mom Lauren Hammersley, honoring local children who have/are fighting cancer, welcome by Ventura County Supervisor Bob Huber, and a talk by local activist and cancer mom Melissa Bumstead.
PART 2: Dan Hirsch, president of a nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap, presents an overview of the Santa Susana Field Lab and the cleanup crisis.
PART 3: Local elected officials from every level of government state their commitment to the full, promised SSFL cleanup, including: Becca Channell, Office of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Scott Abrams, Office of Congressman Brad Sherman office, Nina Moussavi, Office of Congresswoman Brownley, Jeremy Wolf, Office of CA Senator Henry Stern, Ryan Valencia, Office of CA Assemblymember Christy Smith, Nikki Perez, Office of CA Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, Keith Mashburn, Simi Valley Mayor, Ruth Luevanos, Simi Valley City Councilmember, and Hannah Lee, Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee.
PART 4: Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks has been advocating for the 100% cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Lab for 20 years.
PART 5: California EPA Secretary Jared Blumenfeld explains his agency’s strategy and enforcement of the Administrative Order on Consent which requires that all detectable contamination at SSFL be cleaned up.