California's Department of Toxic Substances Control, which oversees the ongoing cleanup of a toxic site in Chino Hills which for years had been an Aerojet manufacturing facility, is collecting public comment on its efforts through April 10. Some testimony will be gathered at a hearing Thursday concerning the closing of a unit used to destroy ordnance.
There have been fears that spilled rocket fuel and other nasty stuff from the facility has leeched into the Santa Ana River and Orange County's drinking water. Santa Monica freelance reporter Michael Collins has written extensively about the clean-up, contributing a piece that appeared in the Weekly nearly nine years ago titled “Russians, Rockets and the Santa Ana River.” His reporting, and public outcry, helped prod the state into demanding a more comprehensive cleanup of the polluted site.
Thursday's hearing–which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at McCoy Equestrian Center, 14280 Peyton Drive, Chino Hills–centers on the state certifying the closure of the Open Burn/Open Detonation Unit, which was used to burn or destroy ordnance that did not meet government standards back in the day. Aeroject operated on the site from 1954 to 1995. More hearing details are here.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.