ETEC Shares New Proposed Soils Cleanup Alternatives With Public

About 40 people attended the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s in-person open house March 18 for its Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for cleanup at Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Attendees had the opportunity to engage one-on-one with experts, share ideas and provide comments on the SEIS. Photo courtesy of Lucas Ray

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Why now, what’s changed?

This was the main question from many community members at recent public scoping meetings for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL).

Joshua Mengers, EM’s federal project director for SSFL, said the SEIS builds on the 2018 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) that includes cleanup alternatives for soils and groundwater and building removal at the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC).

“Since 2018, we have made a lot of progress at ETEC: EM demolished all our remaining buildings, accelerated groundwater remediation and conducted additional soils studies,” Mengers said.

Other changes prompting a SEIS include the state regulator, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, certifying its Final Program Environmental Impact Report and proposing a new soil remediation alternative based on multiple lines of evidence.

Preparing a SEIS is part of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for EM to evaluate additional alternatives for soils cleanup at SSFL.

EM is charged with cleaning up residual contamination remaining in Area IV, including ETEC, and the Northern Buffer Zone at the 2,850-acre former rocket engine testing and nuclear research facility located in Ventura County, adjacent to Los Angeles County.

Although additional alternatives are being considered, EM is committed to its agreements and a safe cleanup protective of human health and the environment, Mengers said.

“We want to make sure we don’t needlessly remove clean soil and destroy habitats and cultural sites,” he said.

EM is pursuing a SEIS to find solutions to challenges in implementing a background cleanup standard that were outlined in its FEIS. The SEIS will include soils remediation alternatives not previously evaluated in the FEIS.

“Nothing has been decided. We are proposing solutions so EM can continue the cleanup the community deserves,” Mengers said.

EM held a virtual meeting on March 6 to present the alternatives to the public and gather comments. An in-person open house was held March 18, where attendees could engage with experts one-on-one, share ideas and provide comments.

“It was great to see all the public engagement, allowing opportunity for our stakeholders to provide their input in developing alternatives to keep this project moving forward,” Mengers said about the scoping period, which closed March 27.

Comments collected during the scoping period will be reviewed and incorporated into the draft SEIS. Once the draft SEIS is released, the public will have another chance to provide comments.

Community feedback will help EM get to a final, implementable soils cleanup plan at SSFL.

More information on the SEIS is available on the Department of Energy’s NEPA website.

-Contributor: Melissa Simon