PFAS at Santa Susana Seep Through Regulatory Cracks

PEER | September 19, 2023

Read the full article by PEER

“Despite historic use of toxic PFAS chemicals at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, California’s public health agencies are not monitoring the migration of these chemicals and have no plans to clean them up, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) contamination has become a major public health concern in California, the nation, and across the globe but has been ignored at one of the nation’s most polluted sites sitting at the headwaters of the LA River, with 700,000 residents living within 10 miles of the site.

On January 6, 2021, the National Atmospheric & Space Administration transmitted to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) a ‘Preliminary Assessment for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Ventura County, California.’ NASA, along with the Department of Energy and the Boeing Co., are the three owners of Santa Susana Field Lab. This report found ‘PFAS-containing materials are documented to have been located in the NASA administered areas,’ which it ‘recommended for further investigation.’

However, that further investigation never occurred. Moreover –

Neither the current water permit nor the proposed renewed permit contain any limit on PFAS discharge or any requirement to monitor migration of the chemical into groundwater or surface waters. The LA Regional Water Board is slated to consider renewal of the five-year discharge permit at a hearing on September 28th;
The site cleanup plan DTSC hatched in secret negotiations with Boeing does not mention PFAS; and
This year, Boeing has proposed to begin monitoring groundwater on the site for PFAS on a voluntary basis, but its agreement with DTSC allows Boeing to allow the groundwater to remain polluted for ‘an indeterminate amount of time.’

This content provided by the PFAS Project.