FEAR OF THE TRUTH NOTHING NEW; WORRIES OVER CANCER, COVER-UP BY ROCKETDYNE SURFACED IN '89.

Byline: Terri Hardy Sacramento Bureau

Questions about the safety of operations at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the Simi Hills and the role of the state health department date back a decade - when they were raised in a 1989 series in the Daily News.

The critical disclosure was that radioactive and toxic contamination of soil was found after 40 years of nuclear reactor and rocket fuel research at Rockwell International's Rocketdyne Division in the hills between Simi Valley and Chatsworth.

The Daily News report led the U.S. Department of Energy to order a full survey of the Field Laboratory and a costly environmental cleanup effort that is ongoing.

Hundreds of stories and editorials about the Rocketdyne site, now owned by Boeing, kept public attention focused on potential health impacts on workers and the nearby communities.

Citizens panel

In 1991, then-Assemblyman Richard Katz pushed for setting up a citizens panel after a survey of Los Angeles County residents around the laboratory showed higher-than-normal rates of bladder cancer - a fact that had been kept from the public by the state Department of Health Services.

``We first found collusion in 1991 between Rocketdyne, the DHS and the Department of Energy, when it was discovered that the bladder survey had been given to Rocketdyne for cleansing before it was released to the public,'' Katz said last week.

Thirteen people were named to the oversight panel, including technical experts, scientists, physicians and five community representatives. The committee's makeup and qualifications have become an issue now that its scope has broadened from Rocketdyne workers to the surrounding community.

Committee members and lawmakers said that despite the presence of the oversight panel, questions about the relationship between the DHS and Rocketdyne have persisted.

Got an advance copy

Oversight committee member Barbara Johnson and others recalled how, in 1997, the DHS gave Rocketdyne an advance copy of a landmark University of California, Los Angeles, study that linked on-the-job radiation exposure to higher-than-normal rates of fatal cancers among workers at the laboratory.

UCLA's second study, released earlier this month, found higher-than-normal lung cancer numbers among workers at the laboratory. Once again, against the wishes of the committee and lawmakers, Rocketdyne got an advance copy - a courtesy that gave Rocketdyne time to prepare and fly in a team of experts to dispute the report.

``Rocketdyne has had too much influence,'' Johnson said. ``I think it's an inbred thing with our government. Large corporations are so influential that they have more influence on the public agenda than they rightfully should.''

Earlier this month, a 1997 census tract survey of areas around the laboratory was found in DHS files by critics and publicly released. It showed that health officials were aware of the higher-than-normal levels of lung cancer.

Raymond Neutra, chief of the DHS's Environmental and Occupational Disease Control division, said that survey was withheld from the oversight committee and the UCLA researchers because it was ``uninformative.''

``From a technical view it was the proper thing to do. But to be sensitive to community concerns, it was a mistake,'' he said.

Behind-the-scenes relationship

Concerns have heightened, with just-released documents showing a tight, behind-the-scenes relationship between the DHS and Rocketdyne.

In March 1997, Peggy Reynolds, a Ph.D. working for the DHS, sent an e-mail to Robert Kreutzer, chief of the DHS environmental health investigations branch, saying state officials needed to meet with Rocketdyne to plan strategy before the first UCLA study was released. Reynolds said she had talked to Rocketdyne consultant Susan Santos and Phil Rutherford, manager of Rockedyne's environmental remediation, to discuss ``what may be feasible and appropriate'' regarding a community health study.

Two days later, Robert Harrison, chief of the DHS occupational health surveillance and evaluation program, sent Kreutzer an e-mail that began, ``As the worker health studies near release, Rocketdyne management has been worried that they face growing litigation from community residents regarding cancer and radiation exposure from SSFL.''

Harrison wondered if the DHS should begin its own environmental study, adding that the ``community doesn't trust DHS.''

After UCLA released its first study in September 1997, critics said plans to overthrow the committee began in earnest at a time when Rocketdyne was faced with the possibility that the citizens group would push for a community health study.

Neutra said the discussions between the two groups were appropriate. ``Rocketdyne was trying to get out behind the eight ball; they were going to come forth and offer money to do a study of their own. We were perfectly willing to listen and bring it to the committee.''

Daniel Hirsch, co-chairman of the oversight panel, said no one from the committee heard about the offer. But if they had, they would have rejected any Rocketdyne involvement. He believes that Rocketdyne and the DHS made a deal: overthrow the current citizens group and eliminate the chance of a community study. In return, the DHS would get back control of the health investigation.

Funding further studies

Records show that the DHS has continued to seek funding for further studies - something that concerns both the oversight group and lawmakers.

Neutra said he believed that the DHS had the authority to seek more funding but added that it was often unclear what authority the state and oversight committee had.

Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino, said that sounded like a ``hollow excuse'' but pointed the way for further action. ``I might need to clarify it with legislation; it may just take some meetings.''

State Sen. Cathie Wright, R-Simi Valley, a longtime watchdog of the Rocketdyne situation, added, ``I'm leery about putting money for a study in the hands of the DHS and having them dole it out - they've lost their credibility with the people.''

Wright said any back-room deal to put in place another oversight panel will not work out well for anyone. ``If that happens, then we'll have a nice little war on our hands.''

Rocketdyne: A decade of disclosures

Here are the key events involving a health study of nuclear workers at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory located in the Simi Hills three miles west of Chatsworth.

May 17, 1989: The Daily News reports that an environmental survey by the U.S. Department of Energy found low levels of radioactive contamination in soil and water on the 290-acre nuclear research portion of the field lab.

Aug. 2, 1989: The U.S. EPA steps in and assumes oversight, reporting no evidence of a public health threat, but charging that past environmental monitoring at the field lab had been inadequate.

Oct. 17, 1989: With a $55 million cleanup program under way, three Assembly members from the San Fernando Valley accuse state regulators of not adequately monitoring the site. An expanded monitoring program is put in place.

Jan. 9, 1990: Then Assemblywoman Cathie Wright, R-Simi Valley, introduces urgency legislation requiring the state Health Department to conduct a full-scale health study of Rocketdyne workers.

Oct. 10, 1990: A state Health Department survey of cancer registry records finds elevated levels of bladder cancer in five census tracts closest to the field lab.

Nov. 27, 1990: Rocketdyne agrees to pay $280,000 to settle state Health Department hazardous waste violations.

Feb. 15, 1991: State health officials inform Rocketdyne that they will fund a thorough health study of the company's nuclear workers.

March 27, 1992: A state Halth Department review of the bladder cancer data finds no link between the elevated bladder cancer levels and Rocketdyne operations.

Feb. 19, 1993: An advisory panel of community activists and nationally recognized medical experts chooses UCLA epidemiologist Hal Morgenstern and his associates to conduct the health study.

March 10, 1993: An exhaustive sampling of property adjacent to the field laboratory finds evidence that extremely low levels of radioactive contamination had moved off the plant site. The levels are too low to pose a health threat, officials say.

June 2, 1994: UCLA researchers report they are analyzing radiation exposure records for about 5,000 active and former Rocketdyne employees out of the 40,000 past and present employees who worked at the field lab.

Sept. 11, 1997: After an exhaustive review by members of the advisory panel and Rocketdyne officials, the health study findings of linkage between work place radiation exposure and worker cancer deaths are scheduled for public release.

July 13, 1998: A federal judge rules at least 200,000 people in the San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks are eligible to join a class-action lawsuit that claims decades of rocket engine research at Rocketdyne left a toxic legacy.

April 15, 1999: A report, compiled in 1997 but never publicly disclosed, is released, showing moderately higher than normal incidences of lung and other cancers were found among people living around Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab.

April 16, 1999: A University of California, Los Angeles, study is released which concludes that workers exposed to high levels of a rocket fuel chemical at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab were twice as likely to have died from lung and other cancers as unexposed co-workers. Company officials strongly challenge the study's conclusion.

April 25, 1999: Memos, e-mails and correspondence obtained from files of the state Department of Health Services describe efforts involving the department and Rocketdyne to hand-pick members for a new group that would replace the independent panel overseeing investigations into whether pollution from the lab caused cancer in workers and residents.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: (color) no caption (Santa Susana Field Laboratory with photo montage of Daily News headlines)

Photo by Craig Mailloux/Daily News

Box: Rocketdyne: a decade of disclosures (see text)