The official comment period to submit remarks on NASA's 'scoping' of its Environmental Impact Statement ended September 19, 2011. If you have questions on any aspect of NASA's EIS process or about NASA's cleanup of the site, or if you would like to be added to the distribution list for future electronic updates, please contact Merrilee Fellows at 818.393.0754 or by email at mfellows@nasa.gov.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)’s required Notice of Intent (NOI) to conduct public scoping meetings and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the NASA-administered portion of Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) has been published in the Federal Register.
Federal Register Publication: 76 FR 39443 - National Environmental Policy Act; Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Additional information describing the EIS process and progress will be posted on this site in the near future.
News Release: NASA Announces Public “Scoping” Meetings for Environmental Impact Statement at Santa Susana Field Laboratory, California
For more information on the NEPA process and NASA’s NEPA Program: https://www.nasa.gov/green/nepa
You may email SSFL NEPA and EIS related comments to: SSFL EIS (Note: Since the scoping period has ended, this email address has been disabled)
NASA is pleased to announce our selection of Peter Zorba as NASA’s Remedial Project Manager for Santa Susana Field Lab. This selection reflects the need for a highly qualified full-time NASA presence at the site as we continue to move into increasingly active remediation of the site.
Prior to this position Peter was the Environmental Engineer and Compliance Officer for the City of Lancaster. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Soil Science, with a Philosophy Minor from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and is a Registered Environmental Assessor (REA), a professional registration administered by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. He has a strong background in remediation efforts, having worked on environmental cleanup projects in California, Colorado and Russia. Zorba is a reserve officer in the Marine Corps, and served two tours in Iraq before returning to the environmental field in 2006.
“I’m very proud to be working for NASA,” Zorba says. “Public service really appeals to me and I feel this job will be a great fit, as though my previous experiences have all come together. I am excited about this new endeavor and I look forward to capitalizing on my strengths to advance cleanup at Santa Susana.”
Peter can be reached by email at peter.zorba@nasa.gov or by phone at SSFL at (818) 466-8843.
The April edition of the SSFL FieldNOTES newsletter is now available online.
Boeing, NASA, and DOE invite you to attend a bus tour of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory on Saturday, April 16, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Please read the Santa Susana Community Tour flyer (04/16/2011) for more details.
Note: Seating is limited and an RSVP is mandatory.
NASA reviews a year of progress in the cleanup of federally-administered lands at Santa Susana Field Lab. We are grateful for the involvement of so many local residents and we look forward to an active year of cleanup in 2011. The Year in Review 2010 contains a brief summary of highlights of the past year.
NASA signed an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on Dec 6, 2010. The AOC defines the process for characterization and the cleanup of soils at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL).
"NASA is pleased to join with the Department of Energy and the State of California in signing these agreements and will do its part to assist with the Santa Susana cleanup,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “We are committed to working with these partners to address the environmental concerns at this former test site.”
In recent months, NASA has been excavating soils on the federally-administered property known as the Ash Pile/Sewage Treatment Plant area. The initial excavations were completed in October and confirmation samples were taken to confirm that all soils with levels above the targeted levels (known as “soil remediation goals” or, more colloquially, “ISRA cleanup goals”) had been removed. Those sampling results required a few additional removals. That was completed and again confirmation samples were taken. On November 22, 2010, NASA presented this most recent ISRA confirmation sample data to the RWQCB and DTSC. Results for NASA primary samples and split samples analyzed by the RWQCB were below (that is, better than) ISRA cleanup goals. Site restoration (recontouring the excavated areas and hydroseeding) for these ISRA excavations is planned to be completed by early December.
On November 9, 2010, NASA presented an update on recent and future Interim Soil Removal Action ("ISRA") actions. The presentation, by Randy Dean, a NASA contractor with CH2M Hill, emphasized recent actions at the area known as AP/STP (Ash Pile, Sewage Treatment Plant) which targeted dioxin removal. The work is nearly completed, awaiting the results of confirmation samples. Should the samples indicate that minor excavation is still necessary, that will be performed, followed again by confirmation samples. The three targeted "removal" areas each contained some oak trees or included area below the drip lines of oak trees. In response to requests from the public, this presentation shows the particular care that was taken to protect the oak trees as excavations were performed.
NASA Press Release SSFL10-002 announcing additional soil cleanup at Santa Susana Field Lab.
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