West LA Veterans Administration master plan protects old nuclear dump from development
The decades-long battle over the Brentwood biomedical nuclear and chemical dump may finally be over. Gone are any ideas of building a park with bike and walking paths over the dump EnviroReporter.com first exposed just over thirteen years ago.
Department of Veterans Affairs officials say their final master plan, due by the end of the month, will exclude the dump, adjacent arroyos and rare wetlands from any development. The West LA VA master plan is remarkable in that, for the first time, the VA comprehensively documents the dump’s location and condition with an eye to leaving it, the adjacent wetlands and 11 acres of land alone.
CBG was first in raising questions about the mysterious nuclear dump on VA property back in the early 1980s. “However, prudence dictates that monitoring remain to assure no contamination migrates offsite or to ground water and remedial measures apply in the event detection takes place,” advises Ramberg.
The master plan also recognizes the heretofore ignored over $2 million worth of VA scientific assessments of the site in 2007 and 2010 precipitated by EnviroReporter.com‘s investigation of the waste disposal site.
Currently, the West LA VA is reviewing, and hopefully incorporating, the final comments on its Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). The candor of the master plan is striking as in the section entitled “WLA Landscape Survey Report.”
That may well be true, if the dump is left undisturbed or removed with all the attendant rules and protocols regarding radioactive hazardous waste remediation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The VA’s intention to forgo developing the dump was reaffirmed in a January 17 PEIS public meeting that included the West LA VA’s director Ann Brown and Glenn Elliott, VA environmental engineer and program manager who stressed that VA “will follow state and federal law.”
“Any activity within there will have to follow NRC, it will have to go through State regulatory requirements and that’s why it’s presented in there [PEIS],” Elliott said in response to an EnviroReporter.com question. “The information is in there about the arroyo.”
The PEIS landscape report describes a period from 1923 to 1952 when the arroyos’ significance “was aesthetic and part of the feeling of being within a peaceful respite in the burgeoning urbanization of West Los Angeles.”
The report recommends removing the arroyos from the historic district and to continue to use the undeveloped 11-acre land as a buffer to tony Brentwood, one of the richest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. “It would be more fitting to note the setback of the hospital buildings from the adjacent neighborhood as a feature of the NRHD,” the study says.
The “WLA Wetland Survey Report” further confirms that the dump will lay undisturbed for the foreseeable future, at least the 30 years the master plan intends to be in effect. “As part of the PEIS/PEIR, no development is being proposed for the arroyo area, and no permits or reviews are being requested from Federal or State agencies for the area,” the wetlands study says. “Past environmental studies documented that the arroyo has been used for disposal of waste from VA facilities and other sources. The identified buried waste sites were covered with clean fill to depths of 5 to 30 feet (or more) as protective measures during the storm drain construction and other project activities. One buried waste site appears to be within the northern portion of the wetland area.”
Those elevated gases were found in areas currently leased by exclusive Brentwood School and used as a soccer and baseball field. The PEIR also mischaracterized the extent of the dump area’s groundwater radioactivity which was noted in EnviroReporter.com‘s comments as well.
“The 2010 study report showed that Radium-226 (Ra-226) and Radium-228 (Ra-228) in dump groundwater exceeded California’s Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for drinking water by 60.6 percent,” this reporter’s comments read. ”The VA was required to notify state water authorities of the MCL violation as the VA’s groundwater has beneficial users and is protected at the source. That did not happen which is not that big a deal in this circumstance. But it should be noted in this section of the PEIS that Ra-226 and Ra-228 are in the groundwater.”
“So the bike path that was being mentioned here, that was part of the original master plan that was previously developed,” Elliott said. “Currently, that is not being looked at.”
After the meeting director Brown chatted with audience members and this reporter was struck by how different she is from her predecessor Ralph Tillman who is now doing a stretch in federal prison for taking bribes at the VA while defrauding it out of over $13 million. This was while Tillman simultaneously dismissed any notion that the dump could be a hazard even as part of it lay under Barrington Park which includes an off-leash dog run.
“From our perspective, there’s nothing to get out,” Tillman told Hena Cuevas of KCET‘s “Life & Times” in a 2007 segment called Brentwood’s Forgotten VA Dump. “In other words, it’s a safe environment. The land is safe, the surface is safe.”
That was before the Bush Administration’s VA ran into the buzz saw of information on EnviroReporter.com on the Brentwood dump that upended the whole plan. During the 2007 CARES meeting, Bush-VA Secretary Nicholson’s Special Assistant Jay Halpern said the nuke dump delayed Bush Administration plans for development. “There were other issues that we ran into that were much more complicated,” said Halpern. “Certainly the issue around the radiation of Barrington Park.”
EnviroReporter.com began on May 18, 2006, when this reporter and his future bride, Denise Duffield, built the site to back up the explosive VA nuke dump exposé for the simple reason that we didn’t think anyone would believe that there was a substantial biomedical nuclear and chemical dump in Brentwood, California if we didn’t kick with it and show reams of supporting documents and photos.
Duffield and this reporter were subsequently rewarded with several awards for this journalism including Online Journalists of the Year from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. The greatest reward for this journalist, however, was even meeting Duffield with whom I had my first date exactly 15 years ago today on May 20, 2004. We married in 2008, wed in 2010 and have shared many adventures ever since.
“While plaudits may be due the Trump administration for signing off on resolution of the VA dump, the major credit for success goes to the relentless efforts of Committee to Bridge the Gap and the EnviroReporter.com/CityBeat for keeping the issue alive year after year pressing career government employees to do the evaluations that recommended keeping the site undisturbed,” adds Ramberg.
That credit goes to Brown, Elliott and a host of government servants who appear to have finally stopped any foolish development plans for the dump. The final master plan will most likely confirm this wise choice soon enough if Elliott’s parting words are any measure. “Leave it alone.”
READ 2019 EnviroReporter.com Comments on West LA VA Master Plan Environmental Impact Statement
We received this message yesterday from the folks at VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and are more than pleased to share it with you:
Good afternoon,
The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) is announcing the issuance of the Record of Decision (ROD) associated with the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the VA West Los Angeles (WLA) Medical Center Campus Proposed Master Plan for Improvements and Reconfiguration. The Final PEIS was released in June 2019 and identified, analyzed, and documented the potential environmental, cultural, socioeconomic, and cumulative impacts of the proposed improvements and alternatives for redevelopment as set forth in the WLA Draft Master Plan and identified VA’s preferred alternative (Alternative D). The ROD, issued after at least 30 days from publication of the Final PEIS, approves the implementation of Alternative D for the proposed improvements and reconfiguration of the WLA Medical Center Campus.
This decision adopts all of the measures identified in the Final EIS to avoid or minimize potential adverse effects from the preferred alternative. In addition, this ROD also incorporates the Programmatic Agreement (PA) executed on May 1, 2019, with the California State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and other consulting parties to address potential adverse impacts on cultural resources, in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
The ROD and the Final PEIS are available at http://www.losangeles.va.gov/masterplan/.
Very respectfully,
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
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When EnviroReporter.com debuted in 2006 with our West LA VA dump cover story Real Hot Property, in concert with a cover story of the same name in then-alternative news weekly Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat, it had come after a VA dump investigation begun in 2001. Now, 19 years later, this Record of Decision codifies the WLA Draft Master Plan which incorporates most of EnviroReporter.com‘s comprehensive comments on the dump and the need to clearly exempt it from any development until the time comes to safely remove the dump’s waste under strict state and federal guidelines.
This tremendous environmental victory, which in its course saw EnviroReporter.com beat back a $4 billion plan to privatize much of the West LA VA, was accomplished primarily through alternative news media coverage (including LA Weekly) and the creation of EnviroReporter.com with its continued coverage for the last 13 years. Of course, the people at West LA VA that made this happen are to be heartily thanked for safeguarding the health and well-being of the Veterans who would have been impacted by the dump’s development as would have the Brentwood community.
Curiously, in the final months leading up to this momentous day, efforts to exploit EnviroReporter.com‘s investigation to find new fault with the West LA VA have emerged. One attempts to weakly claim that a theater company was evicted from the VA perhaps because the land it operated on was impacted by the dump. It wasn’t – nothing was buried there from our investigation’s findings which included a close look at this part of the West LA VA. Another somewhat unhinged non-Veteran is vigorously hounding EnviroReporter.com to expose illegal leases at the VA, something we first did 13 years ago, and has harassed VA officials and media with oft-times incoherent ramblings demanding action. No matter. My former editor at LA Weekly, Gale Holland, and the Los Angeles Times have done an excellent job of covering this important issue.
The importance of this victory at the VA cannot be overstated. It shows that persistent long-term investigative journalism and eventual good governance can end up working hand in hand to form a more perfect result.
Victory at the VA for everyone especially America’s Veterans is finalized. DONE.
The West LA VA Draft Master Plan Team kindly sent us notice of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PEIS) for the property and save for some small scientific details, it valiantly fulfills the promise of the Master Plan as reported here. Gone are the maps detailing development of the dump in various ways. Highlighted clearly are the commitments to leaving the dump alone for about next three decades unless it is properly removed and remediated according to exacting federal and state environmental regulations. This protects Veterans, VA workers, the public and Brentwood’s environment.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and its Draft Master Plan Team are deserving of EnviroReporter.com‘s congratulations and thanks. Thank you.
And thank you to the people who helped EnviroReporter.com over the course of this investigation which began in 2001 and was first published May 18, 2006 with Real Hot Property in Los Angeles CityBeat and in EnviroReporter.com, our online news organization’s website inaugural cover story.
Hi Michael:
I nearly forgot to followup and correct myself about my concern the BWS site may have been underrepresented in your latest report. Shorlty after that post I read through (as opposed to glanced) over your latest coverage and noticed, as you said; accurate representation of waste under the BWS “lease” area. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you again for your exceptional work.
@Ryan Thompson: Perhaps you missed the entire section on Brentwood School’s leased area where benzene and chloroform gases emanating from the ground is discussed. As linked to in this piece, our “2019 EnviroReporter.com Comments on West LA VA Master Plan Environmental Impact Statement” also explores this “toxic waster.” Also, do let us know when your (linked) VA timeline is completed with full coverage of the issues you have outlined so far, such as the environmental ones we have reported on for the last 13 years.
Always appreciate your brave investigative journalism but must admit it’s peculiar this is the first on topic to avoid coverage of the toxic waster under Brentwood School’s illicit 22-acre “lease” at WLA VA. Your prior work uncovered some of the most critical evidence on this in suppliment to several independent and significant studies confirming such. Did I miss something?
@Julie Bien, Xochitl Jiménez & K Hill,
Thank you for the kind words especially coming from you three though I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Xochitl. I do know the superb scribe and CSUN journalism professor Julie whose late mother Joan Bien brought me in to partner on 50 YEARS AFTER AMERICA’S WORST NUCLEAR MELTDOWN ten years ago. “K” is Kraig and this effervescent environmental activist and musician from Malibu has been a longtime pal going back to our Samohi days! These are the ties that bind.
This is far from over, however, and we don’t want to generate premature good tidings that could be interpreted as ‘fake news’ considering how unlikely it may seem that Trump’s VA actually did something good for Vets and the public alike. We are this taking VA at its word as we report here, knowing that its backsliding on the dump issue would not be good. It will take the VA producing its Final Environmental Impact Statement with the needed corrections we advised in comments to make sure this is the real deal. Then VA will deserve even more credit.
Michael – Great work in bringing this to the public eye and keeping it there. Good on ya! – K
Thirteen years of effort — and victory! This is outstanding news!! You kept a lot of people from getting poisoned, and you deserve our thanks, so THANK YOU!!!
Congrats! And thank you to you both for all the hard work!
Congratulations Michael Collins, and to everyone who helped raise awareness on the hazards present at the West L.A. VA! Great job, and thanks are due for the years of effort you invested in this series of articles. Sometimes the good guys win, and future visitors to this area will be protected by limiting development and access to these areas. Thank you once again, it really matters that you have steadfastly worked to expose environmental hazards at the West L.A. VA, as well as many other locations around the world.