2012 SSFL FoLAR photos

The highly contaminated Alpha rocket test stands are the headwaters of the Los Angeles River beginning in eastern Ventura County. Friends of the Los Angeles River, FoLAR, has fought since 1985 to “protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the Los Angeles River and its riparian habitat through inclusive planning, education and wise stewardship,” according to its website. One of its co-founders is Lewis MacAdams, a much-lauded poet, activist, journalist, and the L.A. River’s most powerful advocate. Last February, MacAdams went with Bill Bowling to look at the headwaters of the Los Angeles River itself, Rocketdyne. Accompanied by Merrilee Fellows, a manager in Risk Communications at NASA, they explored rocket test stand complexes and runoff waste “ponds,” one even equipped with an old Rockwell International row boat nevertheless kept shipshape. This was the first time MacAdams had been to the river’s headwaters and he was none too pleased. “Speaking for myself, the headwaters of the L.A. River are a stinking cesspool visually,” MacAdams told EnviroReporter.com, “and can’t help but have negative implications for the river downstream.” All photos by William Preston Bowling 2012

NASA rocket test stands

Rockwell's Navy is one boat on a polluted pond

No fishing

No swimming

The "water" appears unclean

Rocketdyne "pond" at the headwaters of the LA River

NASA's part of SSFL in hugely polluted

ALFA Rocket Engine Test Stand

Lewis MacAdams surveying SSFL rocket test stands

FoLAR's Lewis MacAdams next to Rocketdyne boat

FoLAR's Lewis MacAdams listens to NASA's Merrilee Fellows

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of the solvent TCE were used to hose down the rocket engines inside and out after test firings seeping into the dirt and groundwater.

Coca huge exhaust duct deflected the flame of the rocket firing above

Coca test stands

This is the actual headwaters of the Los Angeles River. The soil and groundwater are heavily contaminated with a cornucopia of chemicals including trichloroethylene and monomethylhydrazine

Awesome in stature, this test stand has astronomical amounts of contaminants beneath and all around it.

The head waters of the Los Angeles River include the Alpha test stand complex

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