Site Mitigation & Restoration Program

We protect and maintain California’s land and places
by setting strict standards for land restoration and cleanup

Santa Susana Field Laboratory What’s New

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) project team regularly releases materials and reports. These materials include monitoring data, information from investigations, proposed cleanup measures, information related to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), correspondence, community outreach and other topics. Listed below are the most recently published SSFL documents. If you are looking for older documents and reports, please visit the searchable SSFL Document Library.

We encourage public participation and comments and are always searching for ways to collaborate on our efforts. Please contact the Public Participation Manager Jamie Slaughter at Jamie.Slaughter@dtsc.ca.gov.

Monthly Updates

Cleanup Status

Community Involvement & Surveys

SSFL Schedules

Key Updates:

Area I Burn Pit Interim Cleanup started in March 2024 and is ongoing. (See Cleanup Status above)
Shooting Range Interim Cleanup started in June 2023 and are are anticipated to be complete in late Fall of 2024. (See Cleanup Status above)
DTSC hosted two workshops in Fall of 2024 on the next phase of cleanup at SSFL. (See Community Involvement above)
DTSC hosted a series of Groundwater Workshops early 2024. (See Community Updates/Involvement above)

Monthly Status Reports

DTSC posts monthly updates of the SSFL webpages to keep the public inform on the progress and activities for the project. These updates provide an overview of the site, what work was completed by each Responsible party (Boeing, DOE, and NASA), what work that was completed by DTSC, public outreach topics, and upcoming scheduled activities.

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SSFL Cleanup

The DTSC is committed to a comprehensive cleanup of contamination at the SSFL. Current cleanup activities are being conducted under the Corrective Action Program of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which provides a framework to clean up hazardous waste sites in the United States. Though final cleanup decisions have not been made for SSFL, these interim measure cleanup activities are being conducted at the Area I Burn Pit to remove soil that represents an immediate threat to ecological receptors and at the Former Rocketdyne Shooting Range to remove soil contaminated with lead from the Sage Ranch Loop public hiking trail. Details for these interim measures are provided below.

Area I Burn Pit Interim Measures

The purpose of the 2023 interim measure at the Area I Burn Pit (AIBP) is to remove soil Contamination, with cadmium, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, zinc, PCBs, dioxins, PCP, and TCE that present a risk to wildlife and other ecological receptors and with radionuclides that exceed background. Contamination in this area is the result of burn pit operations conducted from 1958 to 1971 when chemicals were destroyed by combustion and detonation.

In 2022 DTSC issued an Imminent and Substantial Endangerment (IS&E) Order for the AIBP. Soil excavation and removal activities related to the IS&E Order began in March of 2024 and are anticipated to remove an estimated 10,500 cy of contaminated soil from the site. These interim measures are being conducted in accordance with a DTSC-approved AIBP Final Removal Action Work Plan (RAW). Excavation activities are anticipated to be completed by December 2024.

Former Rocketdyne Shooting Range Interim Measures

The 2023-2024 Interim action at the Former Rocketdyne Shooting Range (Shooting Range) was conducted to remove soils contaminated by lead from shot and clay pigeon target fragments left behind at a former recreational shooting range that once operated on the Sage Ranch Park property. This cleanup was conducted to protect bird species that may consume lead shot remnants and that may be eaten by other wildlife, from the potential exposure to lead and to allow the reopening of the North Loop hiking trail to the public. The Shooting Range operated from approximately 1972 to 1991 on land located north of SSFL that was owned by the Sage Family and leased by the Gun Club.

In 2022, DTSC issued an IS&E Order for the Shooting Range to address the risks posed by the contamination and soil excavation and removal activities began in June of 2023 in accordance with a DTSC-approved Shooting Range RAW (2022) and Addendum (2024). These activities include erosion control and soil stabilization and are anticipated to be complete by late Fall, 2024.

Additional information regarding these IS&E activities can be found on DTSC’s Interim Measures webpage.

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Community Involvement/Surveys

Community Involvement

DTSC hosted a two-part educational workshop series in November and December, “Soil Smarts,” on the next phase of implementing the soil cleanup at SSFL, focusing on the DOE and NASA background cleanup of chemical contaminants in soils. DTSC is committed to a soil cleanup to local background levels for the DOE and NASA areas of SSFL. More information on these workshops can be found on the SSFL Meetings page and SSFL Soil Smarts page.

Fact Sheets and Community Updates:

SSFL Confirmation Sampling Fact Sheet – October 2024
SSFL Soil Smarts Workshops Community Update – October 2024

Community Surveys

Public Participation staff use survey results to inform decisions regarding workshops, meetings, and other related community communication and participation activities. The results of these SSFL Community Surveys, as well as other Community Involvement and Public Participation documents, can also be accessed on the Community Updates and Public Involvement Documents page.

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