Members of the Rocketdyne Cleanup Coalition, who have worked for two decades to achieve today’s historic development, expressed great joy over the signing of the breakthrough agreements with the Department of Energy and NASA for the cleanup of contamination at the Santa Susana Field Lab. The Coalition has fought since 1989 to get the site cleaned up.

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, State Senator Fran Pavley, Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and LA City Councilman Greig Smith have expressed their support for the final Agreements on Consent reached between the California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Department of Energy.

The Federal-State Agreements in Principle are an historic breakthrough in the community’s efforts to clean up Rocketdyne. The Agreements’ key provisions include: cleanup to local background, EPA perform the radiation surveys, cleanup standard not to be exceeded, wastes to be disposed of in licensed disposal sites, measures to expedite the cleanup, and more.

Support for the SSFL cleanup agreements was overwhelming—1700+ comments in favor, compared to a handful of comments that raised some questions. Even those few questions, however, were largely due to misconceptions about the agreements, or about matters that were addressed in more detail in the subsequent draft Agreement on Consent. These questions are briefly discussed in this post.

An astonishing 1700-plus comments were received in support of the cleanup agreements for the nuclear and rocket-testing SSFL, the state announced late yesterday. However, the Department of Energy (DOE) has requested an additional 30-day comment period on the legal language drafted to incorporate the agreement into a binding, enforceable form. [Updated to include supporting documents.]