SANTA CLARITA TO BE TESTED FOR CHEMICALS DEFENSE CONTRACTOR ALLOWS SEARCH FOR CONTAMINANTS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- A defense contractor that conducted secret testing projects in what is now the center of Santa Clarita has agreed to allow a state environmental agency to test the property for contaminants.

National Technical Systems signed a voluntary cleanup agreement Nov. 16 with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, a company official said Monday.

The specifics of how many samples would be taken and from where are being worked out.

``It would be a systematic approach, looking at historical activities on the site and sampling for potential contaminants of concern,'' said Jose Diaz, a project manager for the DTSC who is also overseeing the cleanup of the nearby contaminated Whittaker Bermite property. ``At this point there is no reason to think they need to go to the groundwater.

Soil would be tested first, and should contamination be found, the extent would determine whether groundwater needs to be investigated.

He said the agency would likely test for perchlorate, solvents, metals and perchlorate, a by-product of rocket fuel that in large doses has been linked to thyroid problems.

Preliminary tests done by the DTSC in 2003 found perchlorate in the soil at NTS but water agencies have said the chemicals have not contaminated public water sources. The NTS property -- where products and components were tested for aerospace, telecommunications and military uses -- has since been converted to commercial uses.

NTS property abutted the contaminated Bermite property until last year, when Golden Valley Road was built between the two. The DTSC has begun its cleanup of Bermite, where contaminants in the soil and groundwater remain from five decades of weapons manufacture and testing on the 996-acre site.

Lloyd Blonder, senior vice president and chief financial officer for NTS, said if there is perchlorate on the NTS property it must have migrated from Bermite.

``The only one in the area that ever used perchlorate is Whittaker, in the manufacture of fireworks and ammunition for the military,'' Blonder said. ``We never manufactured anything. In areas on the NTS side of the road the only way it could get there is if it leached from the Whittaker site.''

In May, NTS announced it was selling about 120 acres of its 150-acre parcel for $40 million, but the acreage lies in a buffer zone where no testing was done. Blonder would not disclose information about the sale, but said no potential buyers have asked ``at this point'' for clearances on the property.

Testing could begin in early 2007 and could take a couple of weeks, Diaz said.

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