Gallegly Request : EPA Plans Inspection of Field Lab

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a request by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), is sending an inspector to Rockwell International’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory west of Chatsworth.

The inspector will review the company’s records and look at the 2,668-acre laboratory, where low-level radioactive and chemical contamination has been reported.

“This is not an emergency, and anyone who says it is is blowing this out of proportion,” said EPA spokesman Al Zemsky. “We were requested to take this role and we did--we already know there is no imminent health threat up there.”

Gallegly asked the agency last week to take a more active role in supervising the laboratory because he was concerned about reports of pollution, said Mike Sedell, Gallegly’s chief of staff.

“The congressman is pleased that the EPA is taking this seriously,” Sedell said. “There is no physical evidence of any imminent health danger up there, but we would like the EPA to take a look.”

EPA Meeting

Zemsky said that until Gallegly made his request, the EPA had been allowing state regulatory agencies, such as the Department of Health Services, to take the lead role at the field lab, which is two miles southeast of Simi Valley. Zemsky said the EPA will hold a meeting in Los Angeles either Friday or Monday to discuss the situation at the lab with representatives from other agencies, such as the state health department and the U.S. Department of Energy, which has contracted with Rockwell for energy research.

Between 1947 and 1986, Rockwell operated about 16 nuclear reactors at the Santa Susana field lab. A recent energy department report said there are about 10 slightly contaminated sites at the lab and recommended that the firm drill more wells to monitor ground water. Rockwell has since said it will put in 18 additional wells.