The state commission’s ultimate decision will be forwarded to the U.S. “The board,” it said, “remains committed to preserving Native American historical and cultural resources to the extent doing so is consistent with protecting public health.” The Ventura County Board of Supervisors in July recommended that the state commission reject NASA’s nomination. That includes a natural cave festooned with prehistoric rock art and portions of the property still visited by Native Americans for religious purposes. The agreement, which applies to all the facility property controlled by its owners - NASA, the Department of Energy and Boeing - exempts officially recognized archaeological artifacts and sacred sites from its otherwise stringent cleanup requirements. The move has been opposed by critics, who fear that strict laws protecting Native American artifacts, combined with terms of the 2010 agreement, could make it difficult to clean up contamination. Now, NASA and a coalition of Native American groups have proposed the area be designated a traditional cultural district. More recently, it was the ignition point for the 2018 Woolsey fire, which caused devastation in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties.ĭespite the pleas of area residents, who say they’ve suffered cancer and other ailments as a result of the lab’s activities, cleanup efforts have stalled for decades. The partial meltdown released radioactive gasses that the public was never warned about, and spent rocket fuel, heavy metals and other toxins contaminated the soil and groundwater. Hidden within the chaparral and rocky peaks of the Simi Hills, the Santa Susana Field Lab conducted research that was critical to the nation’s Cold War ambitions, yet toxic to the Earth. Nothing at the site should be considered for the registry, they say, until after nuclear and other contaminants have been removed, as required under a 2010 agreement signed by NASA and the U.S. The proposal, announced in June, shocked area residents who had spent years demanding a cleanup. The listing, according to the space agency, would protect Native American archaeological relics and cultural resources within the contaminated 2,850-acre research facility in the hills overlooking the west San Fernando Valley. The nomination is expected to be taken up by the state Historic Resources Commission on Friday. government agency to avoid a long-promised cleanup of toxic and radioactive contaminants, NASA has nominated the Santa Susana Field Laboratory for official listing as a traditional cultural property. In what some have described as a cynical attempt by a U.S. The site of America’s first nuclear meltdown - and subsequent cover-up - in the picturesque hills of Ventura County may soon join Hearst Castle, the cable cars of San Francisco, and the Santa Barbara Mission as an official landmark in the National Register of Historic Places.
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