DOE PLEDGES TO MEET CALIFORNIA CLEANUP LEVELS AT KEY WASTE SITE
DEFENSE ENVIRONMENT ALERT - www.lnsideEPA.com - September 30, 2008

A key Energy Department environment official is promising that the department will abide by strict California state standards for cleanup of a controversial DOE site that is expected to set a precedent for the department's cleanup approach at hundreds of other similar sites nationally.

The new commitment is significant because it appears to commit DOE to meeting EPA Superfund standards required by a 2007-passed California law, S.B. 990 - despite recent actions by DOE to apply weaker cleanup standards for radiological work at the site. EPA Region IX in July raised concerns that DOE in a key report was relying on screening levels for radiological work that were dramatically weaker than EPA's default agricultural preliminary remediation goals it had previously stated it would use.

But under pressing questions from Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) during a Sept. 18 oversight hearing on toxic waste cleanups at federal facilities, DOE appeared to re-commit to the stricter standards. Boxer stated her frustration with DOE's past cleanup-related actions at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, CA.

"Do I have DOE's commitment today that it will strictly comply with California law and the federal laws
including Superfund law in all ofits cleanup actions at this site?" Boxer pressed Frank Marcinowski, deputy assistant secretary for regulatory compliance in DOE's office of environmental management.

After Marcinowski replied "yes," Boxer remarked, "That's a good answer and I'll hold you to it."
One activist says DOE's commitment to the state law is a "dramatic piece of news" because the department has previously indicated it may ignore S.B. 990.

At the same time, Boxer expressed concern in response to testimony given by the activist, Dan Hirsch of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, indicating that if the Santa Susana site is listed on EPA's National Priorities List, the list of the most hazardous waste sites in the country - EPA "has been sending signals to the state" that it would not abide by S.B. 990. Boxer asked Hirsch to provide her evidence of that EPA position.

She then alluded to new directions that might come from a "new" EPA under the next administration. She said the committee would not only pursue oversight of the problems surfacing at federal facility cleanup sites but "we also are hoping and working toward the day that the new EPA understands that its mission is to protect the people, not to make matters worse and not to work to the lowest common denominator."