The Energy Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact statement for soil and groundwater cleanup at the former rocket and atomic test site at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley, Calif.
The overdue draft — DOE once thought it would finish the Santa Susana environmental impact process last year — examines a range of approaches to clean up contamination at Area IV and the Northern Buffer Zone of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, including the former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC), DOE wrote in a press release.
Under a 2010 administrative order on consent with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, DOE must finish ETEC soil cleanup this year. The agency is also on the hook to complete and groundwater cleanup by June 30, 2017, under the terms of a separate 2007 consent order with California.
DOE owns 18 buildings at Santa Susana, but no land there. The agency splits cleanup responsibilities at the site with NASA and Boeing.
A mandatory 60-day public-comment period for the new draft environmental impact statement wraps up March 14, DOE said. Public hearings on the cleanup are slated for Feb. 18 in Simi Valley and Feb. 21 in Van Nuys.
