BOXER VOWS FIGHT FOR FIELD LAB CLEANUP.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer accused the Bush administration of reneging on its promise to clean up nuclear contamination at the former Santa Susana Field Laboratory, and vowed to step up her own efforts on residents' behalf.

Boxer, D-Calif., said federal policies - as well as promises made to her by top environmental officials - either have been unfulfilled or could be supplanted if the Department of Energy decides to leave behind nearly 99 percent - or about 30,000 truckloads - of contaminated soil in the hills between Chatsworth and Simi Valley.

``If they are going to leave 99 percent, there is going to be an enormous struggle,'' Boxer said during an afternoon meeting with a couple dozen community activists, many whom have fought nearly two decades for a thorough cleanup of the lab.

``In this one, there is no gray area,'' Boxer said. ``People dumped dangerous contaminants in your neighborhood. There is going to be no fun until (they) clean it up. No one is going to line their pockets. It's wrong.''

More than a year ago, Boxer said, she was assured by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman that Rocketdyne's lab would be cleaned up to Superfund cleanup standards. The EPA's policy preference is to clean up property to a cancer risk rate 300 times lower than the DOE is recommending for the lab.

``The bottom line, I had a commitment (from Whitman), I thought the problem was solved, and here it is a year later,'' Boxer said. ``This administration has backed down.''

``I'm not going to let them get away with this,'' added Boxer, who said she would support possible litigation and to help lobby local officials on potential land restrictions.

John Beach, EPA's Region 9 project officer in San Francisco, said the EPA ``prefers'' contaminated properties be cleaned up to a cancer risk rate of 1 in a million.

The DOE and The Boeing Co., which owns Rocketdyne, support a cleanup that would allow a much greater cancer risk. The Energy Department recommended in January cleaning up the lab to allow a risk rate of 300 per million, saying it would avoid hauling nearly 400,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil from the site.

DOE officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Boxer said higher cancer risk rates are unacceptable, particularly since the land ultimately could be released for home construction. The Boeing Co. has not disclosed its plans for the property.

Steve Lafflam, the company's division director for safety, health and environmental affairs, said cleaning the site to the lowest cancer risk rate is ``not necessarily good science,'' and that the higher cleanup levels would not pose any health risks.

``The science is lost in the debate,'' Lafflam said. ``We really need the scientists' debate, not local politicians making decisions without the science.''

Lafflam said that the recommended cleanup - DOE wants to remove about 7,500 cubic meters of contaminated soil from a 90-acre portion of the 270-acre former DOE site - recognizes both a cost-benefit analysis and the technical difficulties of removing soil that, in some instances, could contain naturally occurring background radioactivity at levels higher than the cleanup standard.

``These are taxpayer dollars,'' Lafflam said of a cleanup that will cost taxpayers an estimated $258 million through 2008.

Daniel Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap, a nonprofit nuclear watchdog group and a monitor of the site for years, said Boxer's personnel intercession is a ``huge shot in the arm to a community that's been fighting for a decade to get the government to live up to its cleanup promises.''

Said Jeanne Londe, a Reseda resident who has been an activist with Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition since 1986, said, ``This is the first time I've felt hope.''

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Sen. Barbara Boxer visits a Chatsworth home to hear concerns about the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News