A former rocket testing and improvement web site in Canoga Park is below elevated scrutiny after latest checks confirmed excessive ranges of two poisonous chemical compounds in surrounding houses and companies.
The report, delivered on behalf of RTX Corp. to the California State Water Sources Management Board in June, detailed soil vapor and groundwater inspections at seven areas close to the now vacant lot that was as soon as house to the Rocketdyne testing and improvement web site. It’s adjoining to the Westfield Topanga mall.
At every of the seven areas, the checks recorded ranges of poisonous cleansing solvents that had been above environmental screening ranges that would pose a long-term menace to human well being and the surroundings.
The report suggests additional testing at residential and business areas north and east of the previous Rocketdyne web site, as groundwater flows have a tendency to hold the poisonous chemical compounds in that path.
A number of neighbors whose house constructing was screened spoke to The Instances on situation of anonymity and stated they’d not been notified of the take a look at outcomes and had been unaware that the testing had taken place in any respect.
One resident of a constructing north of the location the place elevated ranges had been detected stated he had not been notified. He has seen safety on the vacant lot, but when something has modified not too long ago, he stated it might be “onerous for me to note it.”
One other resident of the constructing stated she was unaware of any testing, and requested additional data. It was unclear whether or not RTX or the state water board deliberate to inform residents.
RTX, previously referred to as Raytheon Applied sciences Corp., didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The state water board confirmed that the company is reviewing the findings from RTX and consulting with toxicologists from the state Environmental Safety Company’s Workplace of Environmental Well being Hazard Evaluation.
The water board stated in written responses that it had notified some 7,000 residents and events close to the location, “together with residences and companies inside a 500-foot radius of the property boundary.”
The 56-acre Rocketdyne web site opened in 1955 and produced hundreds of rocket engines. Engines produced on the web site helped put the primary man on the moon in 1969 and powered NASA area shuttles. Boeing acquired the corporate in 1996.
On the peak of the U.S. area race with Russia, the Canoga Park plant employed 22,000 individuals. By 2010, it was starting to close down, forsaking the remnants of its industrial processes, together with chemical compounds referred to as TCE and PCE.
Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a colorless liquid that has been used to take away gunk from jet engines, strip paint and take away stains from shirts dropped off on the dry cleaners. Many years of widespread use within the U.S. have left hundreds of web sites contaminated with TCE, and a latest paper suggests a connection between the chemical and Parkinson’s illness.
Perchloroethylene, or PCE, is a cleansing solvent that has been linked to a number of sorts of most cancers. California banned using PCE at dry cleaners in 2023, after many years of use as a dirt- and stain-removing agent.
In all, the report carried out for RTX by Haley & Aldrich Inc. included 66 soil vapor and 18 groundwater samples between October 2023 and Could 2024.
“The presence of a chemical at concentrations exceeding an [environmental screening level] doesn’t essentially point out adversarial results on human well being or the surroundings,” the report acknowledged, “however reasonably that further analysis is warranted.”
One other infamous web site related to the Rocketdyne identify within the close by Ventura County hills has additionally nervous residents. The Santa Susana Discipline Laboratory, one of many state’s most poisonous websites, is the topic of a documentary movie by a mom who believes publicity to the toxicity induced her baby and neighbors’ kids to develop most cancers.
The Santa Susana cleanup has been controversial and topic to vital delays. The smaller Rocketdyne web site in Canoga Park has acquired much less consideration.
Moreover, the state water board has notified some 4,000 residents close to a former Litton Industries web site northeast of the Rocketdyne web site and likewise in Canoga Park about publicity to poisonous chemical compounds, stated Jane Williams, government director of California Communities In opposition to Toxics.
She believes that sewer traces could also be connecting the 2 poisonous websites, inflicting them to change into comingled.
“We’re fairly positive that these two websites are going to come back collectively,” she stated, characterizing vapor intrusion websites just like the Litton Industries and Rocketdyne websites as “very alarming.”
“The truth that individuals close to these websites usually are not being notified,” Williams stated, “is a matter of grave concern to us.”
