Lawmaker Is Denied Rocketdyne Report

A top state health official has refused to provide a state lawmaker a draft copy of an extensive report into potential radiation exposure among Rocketdyne employees.

Dr. Robert Harrison of the state Department of Health Services told Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) that the department must make sure the report by UCLA researchers is accurate before releasing even preliminary findings.

“The public interest in seeing the draft report prior to scientific and technical review is clearly outweighed by the need to ensure that the report is accurate before it is released,” Harrison wrote to Katz in an Aug. 13 letter.

Katz requested a copy of the draft report earlier this month after he found out that a copy was provided to Rocketdyne, which is under review for its 1950s nuclear projects at the Santa Susana Field Lab outside Simi Valley.

The assemblyman criticized an earlier decision to provide Rocketdyne with the draft report, saying the company may try to influence the final product before it is released later this year.

Katz wrote Harrison on Friday charging that the decision to withhold the report was “clearly a political decision made to deflect further criticism of your handling of this study and the department’s inadequate oversight at the Rocketdyne plant.”

The study evaluated the potential health effects of radiation exposure among 5,000 past and present Rocketdyne employees.