Mike,

Seems like the traffic at your blog is really picking up. Did Shop Simi Valley pay you to put up their stuff or did you do it for free to help local businesses?

That white material percolates up through the ground over on the field of Sinaloa Jr High School. The kids are playing on that stuff every day and all the soccer leagues on the weekend do the same. Maybe the Radiation Rangers ought to investigate the school?

If their mission is truly environmental then I would suppose that they would be interested in more than just the Runkle site.

I think the State DTSC should be given the chance to do their job, make their recommendations and proceed from that point.

Hi Brian... Traffic has really increased since the elections, a big thanks to your efforts for that.

No, Shop Simi isn't paying me. As a business owner, I'm compelled to contribute to the cause at no cost. I believe in the program, I just don't believe in the cost to tax payers.

The Rangers are about finished. DTSC has concluded that the alleged contamination just isn't there. All that is left is an explanation of some early bad data in one case. Otherwise, DTSC has concluded that metals are within background limits. Perchlorate isn't there. Contaminated water isn't an issue. And, funniest of all, the "white stuff" is naturally occurring salt. Like the Lone Ranger, it is time for the Radiation Rangers to ride off into the sunset.

If the claims made by the radiation rangers are true then that entire area is a radioactive/toxic wasteland that jeopardizes the safety and welfare of the surrounding community. Which begs the question, if they really believe this stuff then why do these families choose to continue to live in the area? If it is so unsafe you would think that they would not only be demanding that no new development be built, but that the existing homes in that area also be evacuated. It is a contradiction. Using their own arguments you could make the case that their own homes are unsafe and should be torn down.

I'll say it again: I am NOT against development, and the Radiation Rangers are NOT poster children for not-in-my-backyard selfishness.

We have one simple objective, which is to determine whether or not it is safe to live in Runkle BEFORE the houses are built. In order to achieve this objective, a complete, unbiased chemical and radiological characterization of the property is needed. If testing shows that Runkle Canyon is safe, then by all means, proceed!

The fact, however, is that there WERE at least two significant nuclear meltdowns at Rocketdyne during the 1950s and the 1960s, that there IS an 11-acre drainage from Area 4 (which housed a number of unshielded nuclear reactors) directly into Runkle Canyon, and stuff DOES roll down hill.

It is also a fact that high levels of strontium-90 have been found in Runkle Canyon, and that testing for heavy metals has not been done.

Boeing-Rocketdyne and the DOD wanted this development to be a done deal four years ago, because the minute that the houses are built, the contractor (Boeing) and the Department of Defense are off the hook for the contamination.

Before you dismiss the Rangers as rabble rousers, or label me as hysterical, go and read the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Panel Report, which you can find a link to from the web site, committeetobridgethegap.org.

Patty,

You have more than one simple objective regarding safety. Your website paints city council like hoodlums who accept bribes to look the other way. You even take a shot at Glen Becerra's wife, suggesting she has a personal financial interest being a realtor. And then you paint KB Homes as untrustworthy cheats, despite the fact that they've been cooperative all these years. And yes, two years ago when I first read about this I BELIEVED YOU. I was even talking to a documentary film maker about making a website to support his film on the topic.

Turns out you're all full of it. Frankly, I don't know how the City Council can treat you with such respect as they did Monday night. They're better people than I am.

What is scary for me is I lived 22 years of my life in the Mobile home park which is not far from where that Sodium reactor melted down. I always wondered why those potato bugs I would dig up as a kid were so big.
Has anyone ever taken a radiation detector there to se how radioactive it is?

Chandler says, "I believed you..." Look, this isn't about believing - it's about looking at facts, which Chandler clearly hasn't spent more than a few minutes doing. His blog was full of errors, and I frankly don't know why Dennert would give him any publicity at all especially about this issue.

Don't waste your words, Patty. People like this don't want to put in the kind of time that it takes to go through the reports, look at testing methods, background levels, etc. They'd rather make accusations informed by city politics that, believe me, would really make your head spin. The Council was only polite because Riley was there, and because his report backed up the Rangers' initial assertion that all is not right in Runkle Canyon. They've been plenty rude before, engaged in name-calling and accusations and all that nasty stuff. But they were decent on Monday and that was good.

I wrote a longer post on Chandlers' blog though I knew it would be a waste of time. I am so TIRED of people who don't bother to read up on the issue or pay attention to what's actually been said. DTSC did NOT declare the land safe, and DTSC did NOT say that the heavy metals were within background limits. DTSC did not test for heavy metals, and they haven't reviewed the City's or the Ranger's tests which showed high heavy metals in the creek. Riley mentioned the developer's test, but the developer tested for heavy metals in asphalt and not the creek. Riley pledged to review these reports and do more testing if necessary.

It's clear that DTSC needs some time to catch up. They've admittedly confused some information, like the fact that the Rangers and the City tested creek water, not white evaporate. I just about this on the EnviroReporter. It is a glaring mistake anyone can see in DTSC's Oct. 17 letter. Apparently, Riley was informed and admitted it was a mistake and said he would tell his staff, whatever that means.

And also it was DTSC's own lab that came up with the high chromium reading in the evaporate in the first place. To me, Riley's slide show of white stuff in other locations was an insult to this City's intelligence. THAT is sound science? To assume that because something is white, it's all the same is just childish. I want to know where he tested and I want to see the reports, but I won't hold my breath because I don't think he did.

Really, people need to understand what they are talking about before spouting off. Oh, and by the way, I notice that my water report from Golden State doesn't include chromium in it. That seems odd, considering that LA and numerous other cities do.

Can anyone, of some measure of authority on the matter, please explain in simple terms and without referring us to volumes of studies, just WHAT is being done right now to wade through the opposing claims?

It seems to me that both sides of the issue have offered evidence, right or wrong, that is befuddling most readers. Who or what agency is now trying to make sense of that evidence and offer a clear picture of what's happening on Runkle Ranch (and presumably elsewhere in the Valley)?

GS, it is quite simply this. It is very easy to point a finger at the boogieman. But the boogieman doesn't exist. When one contaminant is proven to not exceed regulatory levels, the Rangers point at still another one. DTSC is the lead agency to sourt it all out. They are reviewing the available data and requiring that additional data be prepared as necessary. The saga that the Rangers have attempted to piece together is now down to just a couple of issues. In both cases, DTSC believes that these issues will also be put to rest in the near future. In the case of the dangerous white powder, it has been identified as indigenous salt. In the case of the radiation, additional testing will be conducted to identify the reason for the very early anomalously high results, never to be repeated again. In the case of heavy metals, all are in acceptable ranges. These are all the issues, GS, and soon the Rangers will have to ride into the sunset.

Can't argue with what you're saying, simply because I don't know enough about the issues.

When does DTSC expect to offer its conclusions? I can't believe any amount of toxic substance testing should take this long. Are there problems with the samples? The methodology? Are politics at work? If so, is it the DOD, Boeing, others putting pressure on DTSC?

As Nostrodemus said, (para)"It's WHO counts the numbers that's important."

Alara,

My blog recapped the council meeting and pointed out the phantom conspiracy theory that the ranger's pissy little website paints.

Quote from pissy website: "Council Member Glen Becerra, whose wife is a realtor, Mayor Paul Miller, and council members Steve Sojka, Barbra Williamson, and Michele Foster, all of whom have mocked our attempts to uncover the truth about Runkle Canyon's pollution, have their hands in the cookie jar taking thousands of dollars in contributions from KB Home, the Runkle developers, and Boeing."

This suggests that you have definitive evidence that Runkle is unsafe to build on, which is false. It suggests that city council is accepting bribes, which is also false.

Nobody in their right mind would EVER debate the fact that contaminants can cause illness!!! No one, NO ONE, not me or city council or anyone on this blog, would EVER say that people suffering from cancer resulting from lab contaminants is worth ignoring!!

I dislike the rangers because they've suggested the land is contaminated BEFORE receiving factual evidence, while the DTSC says its NOT and because they've led me to believe the council was lying and accepting bribes when they were NOT. I believe the Rangers made these outrageous claims to get headlines and put their names on the radar. I don't even think THEY believe their nonsense!

GS, the final round of sampling is to clear up a couple of final questions. Early radiation levels reported one element and not the daughter element that should have been present. This absence of a contaminant is weird and DTSC is troubled. Most likely, the early data are flawed. The final report should be in a couple of months. DTSC does go slowly, especially since Boeing is paying their salaries during this period. When complete, DTSC will say that the site is safe for residential use and the City will most likely require a supplemental EIR be completed to summarize all of the issues and findings.

It was a good exercise, but lacked a factual basis from the start. The Rangers were good at the game, but lack credibility; especially after their performance at the City Council on Monday.

Mike Chandler, good job!

Not a Ranger, the heavy metals are not within acceptable ranges. That is why the City instructed DTSC to include the Tetra Tech report and the PatChem report in its evaluation of the creek water. I'm not sure who you are working for but maybe they should pay you more because you aren't doing a very good job.

GS, you really should get the information yourself, it's actually not that hard to understand. Many sites have good info., but EnviroReporter.com has it listed in the most comprehensive way.

Chandler, your blog did not recap the meeting, you got it all wrong as I pointed out on your "pissy little blog." For everyone else, I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote in Chandler's blog because I don't feel like writing it twice and most of it applies here.

"Oh God I promised myself I wouldn't get into it with people who don't bother to do any real research so I am going to restrain myself here and post just once more.

Chandler, you’ve mentioned Becerra’s wife a few times and I’m just going to leave that one alone… The fact is that, yes, the Rangers’ have made statements about the City Council that weren't pretty, but the City also made ridiculous accusations toward the Rangers. That's all old news, at least a year old, though if you don't bother to check the dates you could be confused I guess. The latest news is that, on Monday, the City praised the Rangers, the Rangers praised the city, as well as KB Home and DTSC. Everyone is on the same page here except for you most pleasant folks.

I've spent hours reading all of this, days in fact, and I'm not going to spoon feed it to you now. You want me to send you all the documents? Puhleez. I don’t have that kind of time and they’re easy enough for you to go get yourself. There’s a lot of sites with the information but probably the easiest is EnviroReporter.com – it has a great interactive timeline that links to pdfs of all the developer's and government reports. This is required reading for anyone who wants to opine on Runkle Canyon intelligently.

Otherwise, get with the program and realize that all the players are working harmoniously even though there are serious issues still to be resolved. Take care."

Alara

More Ranger hype Alara. Funny how you move from one hot subject to another. Not much talk about the white powder anymore. A guess salt just isn't a bad enough contaminant. Now, now, don't confuse metal in water to metal in soil. Your new fear that the surface water is going to be consumed is without logic. All the blended and unblended drinking water is tested and passes State Drinking Water Standards with flying colors. Again, just more hype. I buy the small tar like material. Yep, someone spilled some oil at the rock quarry. It is being cleaned up. The rest of your nonsense is just that. Nonsense. How about the melting glove? Haven't heard that one in quite awhile. What's next? Gophers that glow in the dark?

Alara sure does have an attitude problem, doesn't she? Mike Chandler, you must be doing something right. She sure is bothered by what you have to say. The City Council played nice-nice Monday night just as they were leading the Rangers to the slaughter. Poor Rangers are going to see a whole bunch of houses at the end of Sequoia just as soon and KB wants to build. High barium in soil? How about a barium enema, Alara?

Does anybody know if this last minute Bush push through, will lessen Rocketdyne's need to clean up? Will it have an effect on future clean up?

----
EPA–HQ–OW–2008–0068; FRL–8727–6]
RIN 2040–ZA02
Drinking Water: Preliminary Regulatory
Determination on Perchlorate

This action presents EPA’s preliminary regulatory determination for perchlorate in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The Agency has determined that a national primary drinking water regulation
(NPDWR) for perchlorate would not
present ‘‘a meaningful opportunity for
health risk reduction for persons served
by public water systems.’’ The SDWA
requires EPA to make determinations
every five years of whether to regulate
at least five contaminants on the
Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). EPA
included perchlorate on the first and
second CCLs that were published in the
Federal Register on March 2, 1998 and
February 24, 2005. Most recently, EPA
presented final regulatory
determinations regarding 11
contaminants on the second CCL in a
notice published in the Federal Register
on July 30, 2008. In today’s action, EPA
presents supporting rationale and
requests public comment on its preliminary regulatory determination
for perchlorate. EPA will make a final
regulatory determination for perchlorate
after considering comments and
information provided in the 30-day
comment period following this notice.
EPA plans to publish a health advisory
for perchlorate at the time the Agency
publishes its final regulatory
determination to provide State and local
public health officials with technical
information that they may use in
addressing local contamination.

Alara said this to 'NotaRanger':

"I'm not sure who you are working for but maybe they should pay you more because you aren't doing a very good job."

Alara, I suspect NotaRanger is part of the same organization with a vested interest that pays me large sums of cold hard cash to think you and your Ranger buddies are witch hunters. I'll ask around at the next staff meeting. Good catch! It must be that off the charts intellect and your keen researching skills.

Good response Mike. Rangers don't like anyone to disagree with them. Only the Rangers have the facts; like the glove that went into solution when placed into the cattle trough.