Waste Going to Unlicensed Site, Protesters Say

A handful of protesters yelled and waved signs Monday as trucks loaded with hazardous waste drove past outside Boeing’s Rocketdyne division’s Santa Susana Field near Chatsworth.

For the next three to five months, trucks will transport 14,000 tons of chemically contaminated dirt from the former Santa Susana sodium disposal facility to a dump in Kern County, said Rocketdyne spokesman Dan Beck.

The action is part of an effort by Boeing to remove contaminants left by past owners at the site, Beck said.

“We’re delivering the hazardous soil to the appropriate facility and taking it out of this community,” Beck said.

Although the protesters were glad the material was being removed, they said they disapproved of where the dirt was being taken. Their signs expressed their sentiments: “Stop Rocketdyne’s Illegal Dumping” and “Gov. Davis, We Are Fed Up.”

“They’re taking it to an unlicensed facility,” said Lorraine Scott of Encino. “They need to take it to a facility licensed in toxic waste.”

But Boeing and California Department of Health officials said the waste is not radioactive or toxic, as the protesters claim.

“No landfill in California is licensed to take toxic waste,” said Leah Brooks, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Health. “That waste is not radioactive, it is hazardous.”