The Acorn October 17, 2025
Photos by MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers
Carrying candles and dressed in black, Simi Valley residents gathered at the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center on Oct. 7 to mourn what they called “the death of a full cleanup” at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
The vigil and mock funeral, complete with tombstones, came shortly before California regulators unveiled Boeing’s newly proposed soil cleanup plan, which community members object to because they say it leaves most toxins in place and abandons the decades-long promise of full restoration.
During the virtual public meeting Oct. 7 hosted by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, officials detailed Boeing’s Corrective Measures Study and DTSC’s Statement of Proposed Remedy for contaminated soil and soil vapor across Boeing-owned areas of the 2,850-acre site.
DTSC’s Thanne Berg, deputy director of site mitigation and restoration, said the plan, which stems from a 2022 Boeing settlement, aims to speed cleanup without reducing environmental protection, and uses tools such as excavation, treatment and preservation to limit contamination while safeguarding cultural and biological resources.
RIP—William Bowling places a rose on a casket during the Oct. 7 mock SSFL funeral.
The plan addresses only the field lab soil, with a separate groundwater cleanup study expected for public comment in winter 2026.
The proposal calls for Boeing to scrub 78 acres of soil, treat vapor on 31 acres, and remediate about two acres in Sage Ranch Park, while leaving 19 acres—including rare plant and cultural areas— mostly untouched. Excavation could reach 10 feet and vapor extraction 20 feet, mainly in former operational areas, with ongoing site monitoring.
DTSC’s engineering geologist Bill Martinez noted the site’s steep terrain and history of rocket and nuclear testing from 1948 to 2006. Boeing owns about 80% of the 2,400-acre Santa Susana Field Lab— including Area IV, which DOE handles— while NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy oversee the rest.
Dozens of residents and environmental advocates, including Tri-Valley CAREs and Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, spoke against the plan, urging regulators to uphold a 2007 agreement calling for full restoration. Speakers said the new plan abandons the community after years of illness and loss. Speakers also said Boeing’s proposal leaves most contamination in place, ignores independent evidence of off-site migration, relies on company-funded science, and fails to consider erosion, wind and gravity in their analysis. They said the plan it would leave 90% of contaminants onsite permanently.
Haakon Williams, deputy director at Committee to Bridge the Gap, called the plan “the final nail in the coffin for the community’s hope,” accusing DTSC of protecting Boeing over the public. He criticized leaving pollution to protect oak trees and tar plants that can regrow from seeds, calling the plan mostly “a few piddly spots of so-called targeted cleanup.”
Simi Valley resident Steve Andrews tearfully linked his granddaughter’s 2014 cancer diagnosis to the contaminated site.
“How much cancer-causing chemicals are there on that hill and you don’t want to clean them up? In the meantime children are suffering,” Andrews said.
Other residents highlighted personal losses tied to the site. Rebecca Bertram said she lost her husband to glioblastoma tumors within two months, while West Hills resident Pamela Carlisle noted widespread cancers in her neighborhood, including her own.
“You need to tell me where all these cancers are coming from. This is not a coincidence,” Carlisle said.
Lauren Hammersley of Simi Valley, whose daughter Hazel died of cancer at age 7, said no one at the meeting supported the plan.
“You are hearing from the community themselves and every single one of us does not support this,” she said. “Please do your job and listen to us.”
Earlier that day, demonstrators at Rancho Simi Community Park and outside a Boeing facility in Van Nuys arranged flowers spelling “SSFL” beside a black hearse to symbolize what they called broken promises in the site’s cleanup.
The daughter of Melissa Bumstead, co-director of Parents Against SSFL, also spent her childhood fighting cancer.
“They know our community is hurting, but they care more about profit than people,” she said, noting Boeing’s full cleanup could cost $300 million versus $5 million for the lesser plan.
Boeing’s proposal acknowledges the divided community feedback. DTSC will review comments, complete the soil cleanup plan, and release a final decision on exactly what to do in winter 2026.
Details on how to submit comments or review the draft documents are available at tinyurl.com/5ddjuxdz.
The public comment period runs through Oct. 30.