U.S. Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), who represents the congressional district that borders the Santa Susana Field Laboratory cleanup site, resigned from Congress on Sunday, only days after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into whether she violated congressional rules.
The panel announced plans Oct. 23 to investigate allegations that the first-term lawmaker engaged in a sexual relationship with a member of her congressional staff.
Hill “has acknowledged errors in judgment that made her continued service as a Member untenable,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a Sunday statement. “We must ensure a climate of integrity and dignity in the Congress, and in all workplaces.”
Hill’s her last day is today. National news outlets reported she gave her last floor speech yesterday.
Since winning more than 54% of the vote against two-term incumbent Rep. Stephen Knight (R-Calif.) in November 2018, 32-year-old Hill was seen as a rising political star and landed seats on the House Armed Services and Science, Space, and Technology committees.
During a hearing of the latter committee in June, Hill questioned Energy Secretary Rick Perry – who himself is leaving office by Dec. 1 – on whether his agency is living up to its prior commitments to California for remediation of its portion of the former 2,850-acre rocket testing and nuclear research complex in Ventura County.
“Congresswoman Hill’s resignation is really unfortunate, as the community was thrilled to finally have a member of Congress in the 25th district who joined with other elected officials in the area to demand the full, promised cleanup of SSFL,” said Denise Duffield, associate director for Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles. The advocacy group has frequently questioned DOE’s rigor in approaching remediation of the site.
Fortunately, for local landowners the state of California and two other members of Congress, Reps. Julia Brownley and Brad Sherman (both D-Calif.) are also pressing hard for full Santa Susana cleanup, Duffield said in an email.
The U.S. Energy Department is responsible for remediation of up 470 acres at SSFL that includes the agency’s former Energy Technology Engineering Center. The DOE site hosted nuclear power-related research from the mid-1960s until 1988.
The agency issued an environmental impact statement (EIS) in December 2018 on remediation of contaminated soil within the DOE area at Santa Susana. The Energy Department plans to remove about 38,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil rather than extracting hundreds of thousands of additional cubic yards, as lawmakers and public interest groups expected. Perry said during the June hearing that the contamination was not as bad as expected.
The Ventura County Star reported that a number of people interested in the seat. They include: Knight, seeking to reclaim his former congressional seat; already declared GOP candidate Mike Garcia of Valencia, a former Navy pilot; declared Democratic Party candidate David Rudnick of Lancaster, a real estate investor and former Marine; and California Assembly member Christy Smith (D-Santa Clarita), a former U.S. Department of Education analyst elected to the state legislature a year ago.
Hill’s successor will chosen via a special election March 3, 2020, according to the Ballotpedia website.
