West Hills Neighborhood Council

WHNC Board accepts proposal minimizing SSFL cleanup trucks

At its March 2 meeting, the West Hills Neighborhood Council Board of Directors voted to approve a resolution submitted by the Environment Committee relating to the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) cleanup of its portion of the Santa Susana Field Lab site west of West Hills.

The Environment Committee reviewed four cleanup plans proposed by the DOE in its recent Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and selected the “conservation of resources” plan. This plan would require the least amount of traffic of soil-bearing trucks to and from the cleanup site through the streets of West Hills.

In his comments to the WHNC board, Environment Committee Co-Chair Alec Uzemeck said more extensive cleanup alternatives would endanger the health and safety of residents near the truck routes while providing the same level of safety for human use of the SSFL property as open space. He also said the “conservation of resources” alternative was less likely to damage sensitive natural habitats and historically significant Native American and Space Age artifacts on the site.

Critics of the resolution said the proposed cleanup standard would leave too many contaminants in the soil at the SSFL site.

To see a copy of our resolution, CLICK HERE