Rocketdyne Cleanup

Re “EIS Warranted at Rocketdyne,” Ventura County editorial, June 4, and the response from James T. Davis of the U.S. Department of Energy (Ventura County Letters, June 18).

I have been active for 11 years to help assure the community that Rocketdyne is doing a thorough cleanup of the polluted site. As a public member of the Environmental Protection Agency oversight panel, I have attended all the meetings and read and listened to all the presentations.

I was, therefore, pleased to see the editorial staff of the Los Angeles Times take a stand for the people regarding an effective cleanup. Much as we would like to believe that the DOE (one of the polluters) and our public agencies are doing an efficient job, the facts point elsewhere.

Why, if the DOE wishes to make the public feel comfortable about the cleanup, will they not agree to clean up to the much more stringent EPA standards?

Why do we not get straight answers to legitimate questions about the cleanup? Why do our taxpayer-paid public agencies give us contradictory information?

And why is there always confusion over which agency is in charge of what aspect of the cleanup?

We who live in the possibly affected areas have no confidence in the cleanup and worry about the site being declared “clean” and future generations being affected. There must be an independent environmental impact report.

BARBARA JOHNSON

Susana Knolls