Mile Island catastrophe, and may actually have been worse.

In 2007, then-State Senator Sheila Kuehl and Assemblymember Julia Brownley as joint authors succeeded in getting legislation passed – SB990 – setting a very high standard for cleanup of the site.  The Boeing Company, current owner of the site, has fought to overturn SB990 from the day it passed, and filed suit against California last year.

However, today the Department of Energy and NASA reached a historic agreement with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to clean up the site to background levels and in full compliance with SB990.  The Environmental Protection Agency will do monitoring of the radiation cleanup.  This will be one of the highest levels of cleanup of any contaminated site in the country.

“Today’s unprecedented agreement caps 30 years of struggle by the community to get this site cleaned up,” Assemblymember Brownley said.  “Finally we have a deal with these two Federal entities.  Too many people have gotten sick.  Reports of radiation-associated cancers over the decades cannot be ignored.  The importance of this deal cannot be overstated, and the community that has been so severely impacted by the presence of the SSFL virtually in their back yards will have the important opportunity to comment on the deal before the final signatures are put on paper.

“It’s also imperative that key people who have been working exhaustively over the years to reach this point get the recognition they deserve.  State Senator Kuehl kept carrying legislation to get this cleanup done, never giving up after the special interests killed bill after bill until SB990, which I was proud to jointly author, was signed into law.  CalEPA Secretary Linda Adams has been nothing short of heroic, and was hands-on every step of the way to insure that the public health and safety is fully protected to the highest level possible, and I am grateful to Governor Schwarzenegger for this newest expression of his commitment to environmental protection.