ONCE-OUTRAGED GALLEGLY LESS VOCAL ON ROCKETDYNE : SERIOUS CONCERNS.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

When the news broke a decade ago that nuclear contamination had seeped into the soil and groundwater at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab, Congressman Elton Gallegly was among the first to demand answers.

``There is more than idle reason to ask some hard questions,'' Gallegly said in January 1990. ``And they will be asked by my office.''

But in the past decade, the politician who was Simi Valley's first mayor has adopted a much lower profile on the issue that is among the most sweeping concerns in the 23rd Congressional District he calls home.

There was none of the same outrage in 1997, when UCLA researchers linked radiation exposure to higher cancer deaths among workers at the experimental nuclear lab. Or when community members were battling with government agencies to provide better oversight of cleanup activities. Or when a UCLA study released this spring further linked cancer deaths to the lab.

But the six-term congressman says it's just not his style to promote himself or his staff - but that doesn't mean they haven't been working on Rocketdyne.

``I'm not a big guy on holding press conferences and waving the flag and saying, `Hey, look what I'm doing for you,' '' he said.

``Why wasn't I the lead person on the impeachment?'' he said, referring to his being a member of the House Judiciary Committee. ``I was asked every day why wasn't I out there? That isn't my style. I go out and roll up my sleeves.''

These days, it's a state legislator who lives in Santa Monica and a U.S. senator from California who are at the forefront of the issues surrounding cleanup at the lab in the hills between Chatsworth and Simi Valley, where experiments using radioactive material and toxic chemicals were conducted for decades.

Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino, has been battling the state Department of Health Services, which she claims was colluding with Rocketdyne officials on aspects of the cleanup. And Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been pushing the Department of Energy to consider using stricter standards as it works to rid the Rocketdyne site of known carcinogens.

Along with state Sen. Cathie Wright, a Simi Valley Republican and early cleanup watchdog, the trio have taken the lead among a group of elected officials concerned about a range of issues around the lab and a community health study.

``With Sen. Feinstein's office taking the lead on a federal role, and Kuehl and Wright, as a group, they're all trying to push toward the same goal, which is pretty helpful to make it occur,'' said Tom Kelly, EPA project manager for Rocketdyne and chairman of the work group monitoring the cleanup.

Gallegly's office, Kelly added, is regularly involved with those efforts and is often among the first he turns to when it comes to Rocketdyne - as he did last year when problems erupted over canceled meetings of the public work group that Gallegly founded a decade ago to monitor the cleanup.

``His staff is the most knowledgeable,'' said Kelly. ``Because they've been involved so long, they understand the complexity. They probably have the best knowledge, Congressman Gallegly and his staff.''

Decisive action

In 1989, the day after the Daily News first reported about the contamination at the field lab, Gallegly demanded that a copy of what had been an unpublicized report be on his desk by 10 a.m.

He hauled Department of Energy officials into his Washington office for explanations as further problems unfolded at the lab. And by 1990, he had helped to set up the work group, chaired by the EPA, which provides a main venue for public monitoring of the cleanup.

Still, as buildings at the lab have been closed down and contaminated soil and water removed, Gallegly has shied from flexing his political muscle in the kind of public way that grabs headlines.

In recent months, for example, calls to create EPA radiation standards that would be 300 times more strict than those being used by the Energy Department at the site have come from Feinstein's office in letters to the Energy secretary and to President Clinton.

Gallegly said he is interested in hearing more about the proposed standards from experts who can say what kind of impact they would have on the cleanup.

``I'm not prepared to take a hard position,'' he said. ``Conceptually, I think it makes sense. I don't want to do anything that interferes and slows down the track we have in place.''

Similarly, the push for a preliminary health study of the community - which Gallegly supports - has come over the past year from Kuehl and Wright, who secured $150,000 in last year's state budget, only to have it vetoed last summer by then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

Successful cleanup

For his part, Gallegly said several contaminated areas have been cleared for use, and that the cleanup is on schedule for completion by 2006.

``The process has been progressing in a timely fashion,'' said Gallegly, adding that among the 4,000 monthly inquiries from constituents, there is rarely a murmur about Rocketdyne.

``We have been moving along, maybe not as quick as everyone hoped,'' he said. ``If anyone has any specific information that the job was not being done . . . would they please let me know? Because I don't have any indication that that is the case.''

He added, ``If they have concerns, I would like to hear specifics.''

On one issue, Gallegly said, he would have liked to have seen a different turn of events.

The work group he formed of state and federal agencies was supposed to meet quarterly in a public forum to monitor cleanup. But the panel has not met for a year because of infighting over the format and makeup of the sessions.

A meeting has now been scheduled for late June, which Gallegly said puts his concerns to rest.

``If there has been any area that has really broken down in the past two or three years, that has really not satisfied me, (it) has not been the cleanup but the agencies working together - the fact that they have not been meeting as regularly as we hoped,'' he said. ``The whole idea of getting together and talking and holding public hearings, I think to a large degree, would help calm the concerns of the public.''

Frustrated citizens

Community activists who have been pressing for the past decade for more attention to be paid to the site say they have faced frustration over the years that more elected officials have not championed the issue.

``The only people who can step up, who can say we want this to be really clean, is an elected (official),'' said Dan Hirsch, a work group member and part of the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap.

``If the Congress people could weigh in, be consistent and stay in the fight and not take a nonanswer from anyone, then the public has a chance to be protected,'' he said.

Simi Valley resident Barbara Johnson, who has been active with the Rocketdyne cleanup from the early days and is a member of the work group, has often worked directly with Gallegly and his staff, providing insight from the community.

She said she gives a lot of credit to Gallegly for forming the work group and to his staffers, who are just a telephone call away.

Perhaps, she said, she has not done as good a job as she could have in notifying the congressman and his staff of the range of problems the community has faced as they pressed for better cleanup - from concerns over canceled meetings to funding for the community health study.

``I think maybe they didn't realize the enormity of the problem,'' she said.

``Maybe I was remiss in not lobbying Elton Gallegly a little stronger.''

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Photo: (color) ``I'm not a big guy on...saying, Hey, look what I'm doing for you,'' said Rep. Elton Gallegly.