NASA Reaffirms Commitment to SSFL Cleanup Agreement, Will Clean Up Contamination to Background

Published July 20, 2012

NASA announced that it will fully comply with the Agreement on Consent (AOC) signed in December 2010 to cleanup its portion of SSFL to background levels and set the scope of its Environmental Impact Statement to be in compliance with the AOC.

NASA released the following statement:

July 18, 2012

Update on NASA’s National Environmental Policy Act Compliance for Santa Susana Field Laboratory

NASA remains committed to a proposed cleanup to background that will meet the Administrative Order on Consent between DTSC and NASA.

We received comments from Senator Boxer and the Council on Environmental Quality regarding the evaluation of alternatives for the preparation of our Environmental Impact Statement. As a result, NASA has chosen to streamline its review in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and analyze only the alternatives of (a) cleanup to background and (b) the “no-action” alternative.

NASA is moving forward with preparation of its DEIS and anticipates providing the DEIS for public comment this autumn.

We soon will be posting to our website at http://ssfl.msfc.nasa.gov this update along with recent correspondence between NASA and Director Raphael, between NASA and Senator Boxer and between the Council on Environmental Quality and Senator Boxer.

Allen Elliott
Project Director, Santa Susana Field Laboratory