Federal Team to Investigate Rocketdyne Field Lab Site

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Saturday, August 28, 1999

Federal Team to Investigate Rocketdyne Field Lab Site

Probe: Public health study, sought by elected officials, could result.

Suspicion about possible toxic contamination lingers.

By HOLLY J. WOLCOTT, Special to The Times

Responding to long-held fears that people living near Rocketdyne's Santa

a Field Laboratory are being exposed to cancer risks, a team of federal

health officials will be sent to the site to investigate and perhaps

recommend a full-blown public health study, it was announced Friday.

A team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to

arrive Sept. 15 at the 2,700-acre field lab in the hills between Simi Valley

and Chatsworth to review data, talk to other federal officials and interview

residents, federal officials said.

" After a recent worker health study found elevated cases of cancer in

Rocketdyne employees, the surrounding community is rightfully concerned, "

said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), whose office made the

announcement.

Members of the health team, from the federal agency's Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry, will spend five to 10 days at the site. The team will

determine what, if any, actions should be taken, officials said.

One possible option is a community health study--something that Rocketdyne

critics have long called for, Gallegly's office said. The team's findings

will be presented to Gallegly and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) by

mid-November.

Both elected officials have pushed for the federal investigation for more

than a year.

" Given the proximity of the site to homes and people, I believe the

residents have a right to know whether they, too, are at high risk of

getting cancer, " Feinstein said in the short statement released by

Gallegly's office.

Rocketdyne officials could not be reached late Friday for comment.

Simi Valley resident J. Sheehan, who has lived half a mile from the

Rocketdyne plant for 15 years, applauded the legislators' efforts.

" We're fighting the big boys, " Sheehan said. " All the help we can get is

appreciated. They should have done this years ago. "

Sheehan, 70, has cancer of the esophagus and his wife has cancer of the

kidney. Both believe their illnesses are related to the toxins produced by

the lab.

Sheehan is a plaintiff in one of several class-action lawsuits filed against

Rocketdyne alleging health and property damage related to pollutants at its

Santa a lab.

A federal suit filed last summer states that residents believe chemicals and

radioactive waste from Cold War research have left their air, water and soil

a toxic mess.

The field laboratory was used to conduct nuclear research and chemical

testing for decades.

The area possibly affected includes neighborhoods in Simi Valley, West

Hills, Woodland Hills, the Santa a Knolls, Chatsworth and Box and Bell

canyons.

Nuclear-fuel handling at the lab was discontinued in 1989. The federal

government has so far spent $55 million to remove radioactive soil, concrete

and building materials from the western portion of the site.

Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times.