RESIDENTS FILE SUIT IN RADIATION, TOXIN LEAKS; PLAINTIFFS TARGET LOCATIONS OF ROCKETDYNE, HUGHES.Byline: Tony Knight Daily News Staff Writer A lawsuit filed Friday alleges that two aerospace firms in the west San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. harmed residents and depressed property values because of toxic and nuclear contamination. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. federal court, names Boeing Co.'s Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park, which also operates the Santa Susana Santa Susana can refer to several places:
Simi Hills is located on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, United States. They run east-west and they extend 26 miles east-west, and 7 miles north-south. west of Chatsworth. It also names Hughes Aircraft Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The group was based near Ballona Creek, in Culver City, California, USA, on the Pacific Coast. Hughes Aircraft was acquired by General Motors in 1985. Co., which operated a guided-missile plant in West Hills until the early 1990s. Lawyers for about 30 plaintiffs who live within 5 miles of the Rocketdyne field laboratory said they will file two additional briefs in coming weeks as they expand the lawsuit. A spokesman for Hughes said Friday that the company could not comment on the lawsuit because it had not been reviewed by the company. A Rocketdyne spokesman said it is company policy not to comment on lawsuits. The suit alleges that the residents were exposed years ago to toxic solvents that spilled from the plants and entered into groundwater. The lawsuit also claims that published reports about chemical and nuclear contamination at the field laboratory depressed property values. The lawsuit seeks a court order prohibiting the companies from conducting operations that might result in chemical or nuclear contamination problems. The residents also want funding for medical monitoring to detect any diseases, and compensation for lost property values. ``The reality is that lenders and buyers view contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. land and land in close proximity to seriously contaminated land different than they do other properties,'' said attorney Helen Zukin. The lawsuit stems from widely reported environmental contamination problems at the field laboratory 3 miles west of Chatsworth, where a major groundwater cleanup program has been in place since the late 1980s. The 2,600-acre lab is also the site of a major cleanup of low-level nuclear contamination in an area where research was done with experimental reactors in past decades. A recent health study of Rocketdyne nuclear workers concluded there were elevated cancer levels among workers who were exposed to radiation even though exposure levels were within federal safety guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. . The lawsuit also cites the Rocketdyne plant in Canoga Park and the Hughes site as areas where regulatory agencies regulatory agency Independent government commission charged by the legislature with setting and enforcing standards for specific industries in the private sector. The concept was invented by the U.S. have ordered the cleanup of toxic solvents in the soil and where there is a record of air emissions from manufacturing processes. |
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