RECLAIMING LAND; MUNITIONS SITE CLEANUP SLOW, CAREFUL.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer SAUGUS - Most notable about Wednesday's tour of one of the largest private environmental cleanups The process of removing solid, liquid, and hazardous wastes, except for unexploded ordnance, resulting from the joint operation of US forces to a condition that approaches the one existing prior to operation as determined by the environmental baseline survey, if one was conducted. in the nation was the natural beauty of this acreage in the middle of Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, and the stunning views of the city below. And there was that feeling that things are moving along - albeit slowly - for developers who envision the community of Porta Bella on this land where workers toiled for three-quarters of a century manufacturing explosives for the Department of Defense. Battle plans are being drawn to clean the surface and groundwater contamination resulting from the defunct DEFUNCT. A term used for one that is deceased or dead. In some acts of assembly in Pennsylvania, such deceased person is called a decedent. (q.v.) Whitaker-Bermite munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. plant. And road construction has begun on a corner of the abandoned property where city officials and developers envision neighborhood streets with spectacular vistas. ``People think there's stuff oozing oozing exudation of fluid. from the ground up here. It's not like that,'' said Santa Clarita Planning Director Jeff Lambert, one of about 35 people who toured the site of the former Whitaker-Bermite munitions factory. The tour was staged at the request of U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, a former mayor of Santa Clarita who is pushing for federal funding to study groundwater contamination linked to the Whitaker-Bermite property. Joining McKeon were representatives of the development team orchestrating the cleanup and officials of the state Environmental Protection Agency's Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is monitoring the work. The Whitaker-Bermite land is the ``hole in the doughnut'' in Santa Clarita, relatively undeveloped land in the heart of one of the state's fastest-growing cities, said McKeon, touring the site for the first time. The din DIN - Deutsche Institut fuer Normung. The German standardisation body, a member of ISO. from bulldozers carving Golden Valley Road through the eastern corner of the property, about 12 acres approved for use by the state, made the possibility of eventually developing this tainted taint v. taint·ed, taint·ing, taints v.tr. 1. To affect with or as if with a disease. 2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil. See Synonyms at contaminate. 3. land more real. ``It's good to see things moving so quickly,'' McKeon said. ``It makes you realize that this can be done. The group stopped on two plateaus on the 1,000 acres where the city of Santa Clarita has approved the 3,000-home Porta Bella development, pending state certification that the land is safe. A huge oak tree, a sweeping canyon wall, a surveyor's post and nearby homes were among the landmarks representatives of the landowner, Remediation Financial Inc., used to describe future development. What wasn't highlighted was the black tarp that covered a patch of soil in the distance. Such tarps are an effort to keep tainted areas dry to avoid chemical runoff Runoff The procedure of printing the end-of-day prices for every stock on an exchange onto ticker tape. Notes: If the "tape is late" then it can take a long time to print off all the closing prices. and groundwater penetration after heavy rain, said Hamid Saebfar, chief of the DTSC's regional operations branch. ``Things are progressing,'' Saebfar said, ``but they're not going as fast as everyone wants. It takes a long time.'' The cleanup is still in the study phase, with DTSC DTSC Department of Toxic Substances Control DTSC DARCOM Technical Steering Committee experts and private consultants scanning Whitaker-Bermite documents to find out where chemicals and ordnance were present. A number of makeshift landfills - volatile dumping grounds created long before environmental laws were on the books - have been identified. ``This is a very, very complex site,'' Saebfar said. ``What makes it different from other situations is the unexploded ordnance "UXO" redirects here. For the cancelled video game, see . Unexploded ordnance (or UXOs/UXBs, sometimes acronymized as UO) are explosive weapons (bombs, bullets, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, etc. issues.'' Before teams perform the actual cleanup, crews using metal detectors that can scan as deep as 10 feet below the surface will cover the property in search of explosives. ``Before we dig sites, we want to make sure there's nothing there that can cause a safety issue,'' he said. ``That is a very time-consuming and expensive process.'' Saebfar is convinced a cleanup is possible, with enough money to finance the work. After the tour of the property, he asked the RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) High-frequency electromagnetic waves that emanate from electronic devices such as chips. RFI - Radio Frequency Interference for a comprehensive cleanup schedule. CAPTION(S): photo, map Photo: (color) U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, second from right, and city officials look at a map of the proposed Porta Bella project while touring the former Whitaker-Bermite site Wednesday morning. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News Map: FORMER BERMITE SITE |
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