Exclusive 2019 Update: VICTORY AT THE VA – West LA Veterans Administration master plan protects old nuclear dump from development
The crew was diligent in its work boring core samples in the main arroyo of the dump. VA maps of the dump, however, seem to indicate that the men were working outside of the known part of four bordering contamination areas. Even though the phase one tests conducted in 2006 concluded that the so-called “Eastern Arroyo” or wash in the dump emitted high radiation readings, the land itself is the product of 5,000 truckloads of inert fill dirt according to a VA report.
On a nearby hillside in the dump, soldiers’ tombstones protruded in plain view like a ghoulish graveyard. Unwilling to identify themselves or their company, the men referred all questions to the VA. The man in charge of the crew, who gave his name as “Jay,” asked this reporter if I knew of a report of the debris removed from the heart of the dump, quite a distance from where we were standing, that was dug up when excavating for the Barrington Dog Park. I did not have such a report but did tell Jay exactly where the mysterious mounds of debris may have been deposited.
While talking with Jay, a VA man who identified himself as “Mark” arrived and also said I’d need permission to talk to the men. Mark also confirmed that he was at a February 24, 2009 Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of the VA and the dump that this reporter overheard and photographed.
I also told Mark that the VA’s Ben Spivey, then chief of occupational health and safety in 2006, had told me about the mound within plain view and that it was the remains of biomedical debris from Brentwood School’s excavation.
Upon leaving the dump, I invited Mark to tell West LA VA honcho Ralph Tillman and his deputy Jim Duvall to give me a call. They have not. Repeated telephone and e-mail requests for comment have gone unanswered. EnviroReporter.com and the LA Weekly would certainly welcome a look at the phase two plans and why they had, so far, seemed to direct Jay’s crew to test in an area far from where the real contamination was.
(Click thumbnail to view entire photograph)
The crew stood around a field table that held core samples
The ghoulish graveyard of intact and broken soldiers' tombstones were visible on a nearby hillside.
The coring machine.
A man named Jay sits at the field table in this photograph from Barrington Recreation Center in Brentwood.
Core samples.
Ironically, the men were set up next to a known dumping mound related to Brentwood School excavation.
One worker on a cell phone stands just feet away from the tombstones.
Core Probe, out of San Gabriel, refused to identify who they were working for when called by a reporter later that day.
Now the expensive part: shipping the dirt cores to lab for analysis.
Core samples lying on plywood next to Brentwood School's lower soccer field.
The spot chosen to core samples was far from the known parts of the dump which lay in the background, right.
The men appeared unaware of the mound behind them that the VA said contained biomedical wastes from the excavation of Brentwood School's athletic fields.
Left to right: Brentwood School's lower soccer field that the Phase One report said tested higher than normal radiation.
The men were on top of the dumped fill of 5,000 truckloads, making finding any radioactive of chemical debris unlikely.
Exclusive 2019 Update: VICTORY AT THE VA – West LA Veterans Administration master plan protects old nuclear dump from development
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