Over the past year as Chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee I have witnessed first-hand the harm to the public’s confidence that was wrought by the duplicitous actions of officials in the City of Bell. Since then I have proposed reform measures aimed at bringing more transparency to local governance in an effort to restore that confidence.
That is why I was surprised to learn of current efforts in the Capitol to use the delicate budget negotiations to circumvent the public collaboration process currently under way in Ventura County to decide the future of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site. The item in question is a proposed resources trailer bill, RN 11 12008, which would effectively squash years of hard work between the community, the state and federal government and Boeing by codifying two administrative orders issued by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.
This effort is disturbing on many levels. First, the original spirit of SB 990, which I strongly supported, was intended to initiate a transparent process that allowed the California Department of Toxic and Substance Control (DTSC) to work with all involved parties to remediate the contamination at SSFL. Senator Kuehl, the author of SB 990, herself employed a very transparent process over the course of several years before gaining the broad support she needed to enact clean-up standards – it was not maneuvered through the Legislature behind the cloak of oft-maligned budget negotiations.
Further, by codifying these administrative orders we would take away the ability to modify those orders at future dates, thereby eliminating any potential for badly needed flexibility to deal with the complexities inherent at a site such as Santa Susana. This would forever extinguish any hope to implement any practical use of the property in the future, such as the vision I have shared and fought for the last three years of a state park.
Santa Susana teems with cultural artifacts and educational opportunities. Where else in the world can a person find on one site the historical juxtaposition of ancient indigenous cave paintings dating back hundreds of years resting in the shadows of space-age stands that tested the rockets used to take the first people to the Moon and the main engines for the first reusable spacecraft? We simply cannot allow these rich cultural and historical artifacts to potentially be eliminated by allowing the evasion of a more thorough vetting through an open legislative process.
Additionally, a state park at SSFL will allow for the possibility of re-establishing critical wildlife corridors that have been dissected by the field lab for years. On a trip to the site just last year I was told of a mountain lion that was spotted on the lab’s property, something that had not been seen in many years. This sighting demonstrates the pressing need to restore natural ecological links, but codifying the administrative orders threatens that by limiting the scope of mitigation measures that can be considered under CEQA.
Seeing the whole picture is the only way to ensure that the local community and the state and federal governments will ever find an equitable resolution to the effective remediation of SSFL, which includes preservation of significant historical artifacts and the possibility of restoring the natural habitat. Enacting this trailer bill will unnecessarily limit the flexibility and vision needed to do this site justice and is a misuse of our legislative powers.
Aside from the initial and direct impact this trailer bill will have on SSFL, the dangerous precedence this establishes for future decisions made across the state should be equally weighed. My colleagues who are considering casting an “aye” vote for the budget should consider this trailer bill as a point of contention and should urge it to be left out of the budget process.
Assemblyman Cameron Smyth is Chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee and represents the 38th Assembly District, which includes Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, Simi Valley and Glendale.