NASA said Friday it will publish a supplemental environmental impact statement for cleanup of its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) in Ventura County, Calif.
The agency posted the notice of intent in the Federal Register. The supplement to the March 2014 final environmental impact statement will address soil remediation from demolition and cleanup of NASA facilities at the site.
A supplement is needed because the estimated amount of soil that must be removed has significantly increased since the 2014 EIS and subsequent record of decision on building removal, according to the notice.
The public will have the opportunity to comment following publication of the draft supplemental EIS, NASA said. The agency did not list a target date for publication of the draft. For more information, contact Peter Zorba, NASA project director for Santa Susana, at [email protected].
NASA, Boeing, and the U.S. Energy Department are the three parties responsible for cleanup of the site, which is regulated by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Boeing owns 2,400 acres of the 2,850-acre site. NASA administers about 42 acres within Area I and all 410 acres of Area II. While it does not own any land, the Energy Department is responsible for building demolition and remediating soil and groundwater in Area IV and the Northern Buffer Zone.
The Energy Department issued the final EIS for its portion of Santa Susana in December. This includes tearing down buildings and conducting other environmental work on its former Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC), which DOE used for decades of research on liquid metal technology and nuclear power.
The state of California and local advocacy groups have leveled said the EIS does not live up to prior DOE commitments on the amount of soil and water remediation that will be done.
