Federal Funds for Rocketdyne Cleanup Could Be Slashed in Upcoming Budget

The U.S. Department of Energy said this week it is proposing to slash more than $3 million from its upcoming budget for cleanup operations at the federal government’s former nuclear testing facility near Simi Valley.

Environmentalists worry that if the reduction is approved by Congress it could mean soil, water supplies and research buildings contaminated during four decades of nuclear testing at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory would remain at the site.

“It seems incomprehensible that the federal government, which created the contamination at this federal facility through decades of sloppy practices, would attempt to weasel out of its obligation to clean up the mess it made,” nuclear policy activist Daniel Hirsch said.

Representatives from Boeing Co., which owns the land where the contamination occurred, said the proposed reduction--from $17.2 million to about $13.7 million in fiscal 2002-03--would not dramatically affect cleanup efforts.

Rocketdyne, a division of Boeing, has contracted with the government to perform the cleanup. Since the $250-million restoration project began in 1989, several dozen contaminated buildings have been razed, but the tainted soil remains.

“Less money means less cleanup activity.... But our commitment remains to complete the cleanup in a timely manner so that it is protective of people’s health and the environment,” said Dan Beck, a Boeing spokesman.

This is at least the second time federal officials have attempted to slash funding for the cleanup. Last fiscal year, federal legislators from Ventura County successfully led a push to return $3.7 million to the cleanup budget that had been proposed for elimination.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a longtime advocate for the cleanup, said Tuesday she will again fight to have the funding restored.

“I was shocked to hear that funding for the cleanup of the Rocketdyne site was cut in the president’s budget proposal. The proposed funding is not enough to clean up the site,” Boxer said.

The government began nuclear testing at the Rocketdyne site in the mid-1950s and continued until 1989. A partial fuel meltdown occurred at the lab in 1959.

The cleanup aims to rid soil, buildings and water from contamination that occurred during the nuclear research, but budget cuts over the years have slowed the effort, and some critics believe a 2007 completion date will not be met.

Hirsch believes there is a strong possibility the Department of Energy will dramatically scale back its cleanup efforts in order to more quickly return the property to Boeing, which could then sell the land.

Early last month federal energy officials announced they were considering three alternatives for the remainder of the cleanup, records show.

A leading proposal would be to remove only enough contamination from the property so the possible risk of cancer would be about 1 in 3,000, Hirsch said. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has said the preferred ratio should be 1 in a million.

Hirsch said he believes it could be only a matter of time before energy officials walk away from the cleanup effort for good.

A public comment period on the energy department’s options runs through Feb. 25.