All language subtitles for In.The.Dark.of.the.Valley.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG

Woman: To let a
former Boeing consultant

on your board have influence
over these matters

is of huge concern to me.

And to let Boeing continue
to pollute, and get away with

failing to adhere to the
Clean-up Agreement is wrong.

To fail to protect
our water source is wrong.

Thank you.

Bumstead: Hi. My name
is Melissa Bumstead.

I've live --
it's okay. Thank you.

I live in West Hills.

I'm the mom who started
the change.org petition

that now has
over 600,000 signatures,

for the full cleanup of
the Santa Susanna Field Lab.

You're going to hear
a lot today.

We've got a lot of facts.
We know the facts.

We're all
intelligent people, here.

But I think what is lacking is
courage to do the right thing.

And so, I wanted to bring you
my daughter's beads of courage.

My daughter is a two-time cancer
survivor at 9 years old.

[ Giggling ]

Can you do it?
Achoo!

-Hachoo.
-Achoo.

[ Giggles ]

Would you like to go
to Disneyland today?

-Yeah!
-Okay.

Bumstead:
Let's go to Disneyland.

Oh, yeah!

Are you gonna
come, too?

Man: I'm coming, too.

Oh, yeah!

Bumstead: She earned
all these beads

through her cancer
treatment program.

Each bead represents
something different.

For example,
red represents

when she had a blood
transfusion,

black when she got poked
with a needle,

yellow for inpatient stays,
white for chemotherapy.

[ Babbbling ]

This is what she earned
the first month.

I'd like to share with you
what she has earned

over the last two times
fighting cancer.

A few of the photos I just want
to fly through real quick.

Just some of the children
that we've met who are local.

I went to camp with this
little boy last weekend.

He's about to lose
his second eye.

This little boy
has a T-cell leukemia.

He's doing alright.
He's in remission.

We've had several
who have passed away.

We need you to step in,
and protect us,

and protect
our children.

Do the right thing.

Thank you.

Woman: Thank you.

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Hi.

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Bumstead:
My daughter, Grace Ellen,
had just turned 4 years old

when we found bruises
all over her body.

Took her to the pediatrician,
and quickly found out

that she had an incredibly rare
and aggressive form

of childhood leukemia.

¶¶

She had a 20%
survival rate.

She really endured a lot
of suffering that first year.

Princess flying experiment,
take two.

And then,
she had a year and a half

of just wonderful,
cancer-free childhood.

[ Cheering ]

[ Bell ringing ]

[ Cheering ]

¶¶

And then,
Gracie's cancer relapsed,

and it came back.

¶¶

¶¶

Hammersley: It was April 2013,
and my daughter, Hazel, was 2.

And I was noticing that
she was not quite herself.

And I kept calling
the doctors,

but everybody was going,
"Probably just the flu."

And I turned to my husband,
and I said, "My mommy instincts

are telling me
that something's really wrong."

I said, "I don't know why,
but I think she has cancer."

They performed
some bloodwork tests,

and then, an ultrasound.

After several days of tests,
we knew it was neuroblastoma.

Alright, Hazel,
you ready to play Simon Says?

-Yeah!
-Okay.

Simon says
touch your nose.

Simon says
touch your head.

Simon says
touch your mouth.

Simon says
touch your ears.

Simon says
blow a kiss.

Simon says says "I love you."
-I love you.

Simon says sing
"Twinkle Twinkle."

Hazel [Singing]:
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

¶¶

[ Bell ringing ]

[ Cheering ]

Hammersley:
Hazel was in remission
for two and a half years.

I beat cancer!

Yay!

In 2016, she relapsed.

Bumstead: Good job.

The first time
Grace had cancer,

we lived over 100 days
that first year

at Children's Hospital
of Los Angeles.

How cool is that?

Yeah.

And as we were
meeting families,

we'd just casually ask you,
"Oh, where are you from?"

That's exactly what happened
with the Bumstead family.

They were at the hospital
the same time that we were,

and then, Grace,
her daughter, and Hazel,

like, immediately
became friends.

They're so similar
in so many ways.

And so, it just felt great
to have that connection.

[Singing]
Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday
dear Gracie.

And we found out
that we lived

within 20 minutes
of each other.

And I kept meeting
other families,

and they'd say,
"Oh, how about that?

We just let you, know around,
the corner, two blocks over,

as the bird flies,
3 miles, 5 miles."

And then, several other moms
and dads in Simi Valley,

in West Hills,
in Thousand Oaks.

And we were really, at the time,
just thankful for it.

But I think, as time went on,
we were going, "Wait a second."

Like "How is it that so many
of us who live nearby?"

We're going to Children's
Hospital of Los Angeles,

a world-renowned hospital.

People are coming
from all over the world

to come there
for treatment,

and yet, we're meeting people
that live on our street.

I just kept pushing back
against my own mental red flags.

And so, I met a family
that said,

"Oh, we live on
your street."

And granted,
we live on a long boulevard.

It's 3 miles.

But they lived
on our street.

And she said, "And my neighbor
had the same exact brain cancer

that my son had."

And there were
two of them.

Neighbors, plus my daughter,
that's three on the same street.

So, I panicked,
and I set up a Facebook group

for all the local
cancer parents.

And we started mapping
ourselves out by Google Maps.

And for a long time,
we couldn't find the connection.

We couldn't see
what was going on.

But we could tell that
there were too many of us.

And it was about
a year after that

that someone mentioned,
for the first time,

the Santa Susanna
Field Lab.

I had never
heard of it.

We'd already lived here
for seven years.

We all had to start
wrestling with the fact that

maybe our children's cancers
could have been avoided.

Many other children
were in danger.

Maybe our government
hadn't protected us

the way that
they should have.

And maybe our whole community
had been hiding

this giant secret.

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Hirsch: Awareness breeds
compassion,

and compassion
leads to right action.

That is what
we're missing.

¶¶

I'm Daniel Hirsch.

I'm president of the Committee
to Bridge the Gap,

and I recently retired
as the director

of the Program on Environmental
and Nuclear Policy

at the University of California,
Santa Cruz.

¶¶

Duffield:
My name is Denise Duffield.

I'm the associate director

for Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Los Angeles.

In the mid to late 1940s,
the U.S. government

was trying to find a location
in Southern California

to do nuclear reactor
development testing,

and also rocket testing.

The field lab was originally
selected as a location

to be away
from populated areas,

because they knew they were
going to be doing research

that could be
potentially dangerous.

Hirsch: They did
a marvelous study

to determine what would be
the least dangerous place

to put a reactor
testing facility.

And the Santa Susanna facility
ranked very poorly.

They were concerned that
any radioactivity

that was released could readily
get to populated areas nearby.

They chose to site
in Santa Susanna anyway.

Duffield: Santa Susanna ranked
fifth or sixth

because of the
meteorological conditions.

But it was
selected anyway,

because of the driving time
to UCLA.

At the time that
the Santa Susanna facility

was established,
there was relatively low

population density
around it.

Man:
This is a quiet place.

The atom at work for peace
is quiet.

So, over the years,
they built 10 nuclear reactors

and plutonium fuel
fabrication facility,

which took plutonium --

the most dangerous material
on Earth --

and made nuclear fuel
out of it.

And a hot lab,
in which they shift in

irradiated nuclear fuel
to be cut apart.

None of those reactors,
by the way,

had a containment
structure.

Those domes that you associate
with the power plants,

they were just
regular rooms.

The most well-known of those
is a reactor

what's called
the "Sodium Reactor Experiment."

Man: SRE --
the Sodium Reactor Experiment --

was radically different
from other reactor concepts.

Man #2:
Sustained atomic fission

has been obtained
in this nuclear reactor,

created and built
for industrial applications,

medical research,
and scientific exploration.

Man #3: On the first full power
run of the reactor steam plant,

all systems
operated smoothly,

and full power
was obtained with ease.

Man #4: For the first time
in the United States,

an entire community
was illuminated

by electricity generated
by an atomic reactor.

When we lived here
before we learned the news,

it was just utopia.

Kowalski :We had a rural
atmosphere close to the city.

We had children who loved
playing in the creeks.

And I thought we'd found
a dream place.

Tyler: You know, it was
the '50's and the '60's.

It was magical.

In those days,
we'd go out the door,

Mom would say, "Come back,"
you know, "before dinner."

And it was
totally safe.

Nobody locked
their doors.

We just played outdoors
all day, all the time.

Man:
This is how American families
are living in their new homes.

Tyler: The Valley was
the ideal place to go.

It was agricultural,
at that time.

It was rural.

And it would
have been, really,

the most idyllic place
to raise a child,

before the story
that's unfolding now.

Klea: I think I was 19 years old
when I came to California.

I started working at Atomics
International in Santa Susanna

in 1963.

I felt a sense of pride
to be there, and be involved.

And every worker
felt a sense of pride.

I didn't know anything
about what they were doing

where I worked,
except it was secret.

Blaze: The employees of
Santa Susanna Field Laboratory

and Canoga and DeSoto facility
changed the face of humanity.

My father was employed
by Rocketdyne

between 1962 and 1969.

He was the senior propulsion
test inspector

on the Saturn V
rocket engine program.

I was never concerned
about what my dad did

for a living
as a young child.

He didn't really elaborate
on what his job duties were

at the worksite.

They were sworn
to secrecy.

We didn't know what we had
really been dealing with

all these years, what was really
going on up there.

And it just changed, because
then, we didn't know if we came,

and brought our children

to a place that could be
harmful to them,

because how would we know?

My girls loved
climbing in creeks,

and getting frogs.

And it was scary.
It was scary.

And so, as time went on,

it was even worse
than we could even imagine.

¶¶

Face: My name
is John Face.

I was there at the time of
the worst nuclear accident

in the history
of the United States.

I was 19 when I was hired there
in 1959.

I didn't even know
what a reactor was

when I first went
to work there.

Man: The fella who was
sitting at the controls

certainly looked
young to me.

Are these young men
in your organization?

Yes. All these operators
are fairly young fellows,

but all they need is
a high-school education

with some major
in science.

It was the Cold War time
at that time,

and they was trying
to help the United States

outdo the Russians.

Man: On the one side,
the forces of freedom,

on the other,
the forces of Communism.

It was an honor
to work there.

I was working with
the very best scientists

in the nuclear business.

In fact, the person that had
overseen the SRE reactor,

for Atomics International
was Dr. Marvin J. Fox.

He's the one that helped
invent the atomic bomb

that was dropped
on Hiroshima, there.

On July 13th...

...it was probably
about eleven o'clock

was then I got there on
that particular graveyard shift.

Went in the building.

I pulled up to
the control room.

Looking through the door,

and I seen my crew
was already there.

Then, I looked even closer,
and I seen Dr. Marvin J. Fox.

And he had two others
with him

that I wasn't sure
quite who they were.

And I said,
"Man, there's something

that's just not right."

So, I got brave,
and opened the door, real quiet.

And as I stood there,

I heard the words
coming out of Dr Fox's mouth.

I heard
my supervisor ask,

"Can we tell our families
what happened today?"

The three looked at each other
for a minute.

Dr. Fox,
he turned around real quick,

staring me in the eyes,
almost nose to nose.

"Nobody will say a word."

From that point on, there was
a cover-up of what happened.

Man: It was the first step
in a nuclear nightmare,

when a government official
said that a breakdown

in an atomic power plant
in Pennsylvania today

is probably the worst nuclear
reactor accident to date.

Hirsch:
I was teaching at UCLA in 1979,
and there was an accident

at a nuclear power plant
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,

called "Three Mile Island."

And my students
wanted to research

whether there were
nuclear activities

in the Los Angeles area,

and whether they had
any problems.

And I said,
"Sure. Go ahead."

I didn't think
they'd find anything.

And within a period
of a few weeks,

they discovered
that there had been

a partial meltdown
in the reactor,

at what we now call

"the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory."

They obtained documents,
and photos,

and also film footage
of the incident.

Man: 13 of the 43 uranium
fuel elements

eventually became
overheated.

The fuel swelled in size,

and structural damage
was sustained.

Hirsch: The partial meltdown
occurred in a reactor

that had no
containment structure.

The radioactivity
was so high

that they had to open
this huge garage-type door

to try to vent
the radioactivity

out towards Simi Valley,

and for that matter,
the rest of L.A.

One scholar,
Dr. Andre Nakatani,

had estimated that
the radioactive iodine

released from meltdown
could have been

250 times greater
than the amount

released from the
Three Mile Island accident.

TMI was a much
larger reactor,

but it had
a containment structure.

This is
a smaller reactor,

but it had nothing to prevent
greater activity.

Face: The radiation was clear
off of scales.

Wherever the wind is blowing,
whichever direction,

that's where the radiation
travels, of course,

just like smoke
with a fire.

The man that was working there,
they were so disturbed about it,

because all that radiation
went over their own homes.

Five weeks after
the accident occurred,

they issued
a news release

embargoed for the Saturday
morning paper.

And the press release
didn't say

there had been
a partial meltdown,

didn't said there was
a serious accident,

didn't say there was
any radiation.

They said
just the opposite.

At the very moment that they
issued that press release,

they were venting radioactive
gases into the environment.

Reporter: Despite the
seriousness of the accident,

the official news release
claimed there was

no indication
of unsafe reactor conditions.

They lied.

and I couldn't say
a word.

20 years
I was silenced.

¶¶

¶¶

Man: Good evening,
everybody.

[Indistinct]
has been showing us films

of a nuclear mishap

that occurred near Los Angeles
20 years ago,

but which has not been revealed
to the public before.

Thank you, John.

The reactor was located 35 miles
from downtown Los Angeles.

It was called The "Sodium
Reactor Experiment," or SRE.

But in 1959, when it suffered
its fuel rod melting,

the general public
was not informed.

Local public safety officials
weren't told much, either.

Today is the first time
that I've heard

of the '59 incident, when you
mentioned it a while ago.

Industry experts tell us
that certain risks were taken.

Well, I was really
appalled at the --

sort of the cavalier attitude
that they demonstrated.

It was actually
very undramatic.

It did not appear to be a hazard
to the public

or to our employees.

O feel less concerned about it
than I would

the long-term effect
of the smog of Los Angeles.

The potential hazard
of a major release

into the environment
was just not there.

Man: And it's taken until
this week, 20 years later,

for the details
to be widely broadcast.

Olney:
We all have the idea,

all of us who were involved
in this project,

that it had been
a cover-up.

We know that we had to approach
this in a very,

very careful way,
because we knew that

we were looking at
a very powerful industry

that had not been challenged
in the way

that we were prepared
to challenge it ever before.

It was a scary
proposition,

to take on
the nuclear industry --

a very scary
proposition.

So, the accident at
Santa Susanna was serious,

and yet, there's room for debate
on how well it was handled.

We knew we had something
that was really important,

particularly in the context
of what was going on

at Three Mile Island.

I think what it reveals is
that this great guarantee

of the ultimate safety
of the industry was a phony.

It was a fake.

It was wrong.

¶¶

¶¶

Hirsch: It was one of the worst
nuclear accidents in history,

to that point.

No one knew until my students
uncovered the documents

two decades later,

Man: The material
that we got

mostly came from an outfit
in in Westwood

called "Bridge the Gap,"
which is an anti-nuclear group.

What happened
at Santa Susanna

would not happen
at a well-run facility.

This was a case of tremendous
environmental negligence.

They cut corners over
and over and over again.

The risks continued
for many decades.

Duffield: The nuclear work
was over four decades.

The other aerospace work
really didn't cease until 2006.

So, over the course of decades,
in the course of accidents,

spills, releases,
some intentional,

the soil, and the groundwater,
and surface water runoff

has become
very contaminated.

Man: Produced by Rocketdyne,
a division of North American,

in the canyons
of Southern California,

the engine -- sometimes
called a "rocket,"

sometimes called
a "power plant,"

sometimes "the booster" --
is on.

¶¶

Kowalski: We'd all lived knowing
that there were rocket tests.

We used to have
big booms.

And we would see, like, mushroom
clouds above the facility.

I would play outside with
my friends until it got dark.

I'd be in the cul de sac,
and we'd all look up, and...

We could hear those roars.

Man: In California's
Santa Susanna Mountains,

Rocketdyne engineers
that created

America's largest
propulsion field laboratory.

The whole of the Valley
would shudder.

[ Man speaking indistinctly ]

¶¶

Tens of thousands
of rocket tests.

And those would
produce huge plumes

of contamination
that would be spreading

at substantial distance.

Man:
On the ashes of campfires

built here
by [indistinct],

engines poured forth
their pillars of flame.

Over 30,000
rocket engine tests.

And a lot of
the chemical contamination

on the site
is a result of that.

Hirsch: They ended up flushing
out rocket test engines

with a very toxic solvent
called "TCE" --

hundreds of thousands
of gallons,

leaving half a million gallons
of TCE in the groundwater.

Duffield: There was
a hot lab there,

there they would re-process
nuclear fuel

that was shipped in
from around the country.

That lab had fires.

Man: Gamma radiation is hard
to work with sometimes.

They also had
open burn pits.

There, they would take,
each month,

100 or so 55-gallon drums
of toxic chemicals,

and they would shoot at them
with rifles, to ignite them.

And they would
catch fire.

Huge plumes
of toxic smoke.

Workers were killed
because they were

illegally disposing
of hazardous materials

by blowing them up
on the property.

Duffield:
10 Nuclear reactors,

three of which
suffered accidents.

These activities went on
for decades.

¶¶

Hirsch: During that period,
the population just mushroomed.

[Indistinct]

And I think anyone
who has a fear

of anything like that,
they should be told,

given a chance to say, "No,
I don't want to live here."

Man: It did not appear
to be a hazard to the public

or to our employees.

The potential hazard
of a major release

into the environment
was just not there.

¶¶

Dodge: The Santa Susanna
Field Lab hill

is contaminated with
a veritable who's who

of toxic chemicals,
from heavy metals,

to dioxins, to percolate,
to volatile organic acids,

and multiple
radioactive neuclides,

which come from
the nuclear partial meltdown,

and also numerous accidents
over the years

with the other reactors
on site.

When it comes to
radioneuclides,

we actually describe
not the half life --

which is the time where, after
which it would be half as potent

as it was,
as it degrades.

We describe something called
its "hazardous life,"

which is actually equivalent
to 20 half-lives.

So, these are
the most dangerous,

which we have well studied,
and well --

a high awareness
of their health impacts

that go on for these hundreds,
if not half a million years.

Duffield: Right now,
half a million people

live within 10 miles
of the site.

Hirsch: I'm asked over and over
again, "Where is it safe?

Where would it
be dangerous?"

And after studying this
for almost 40 years,

I'm afraid
I can't answer that.

People need
to understand that

the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

is on a mountain.

Gravity wants to carry
that contamination downhill.

There is not a glass wall
surrounding Santa Susanna

that prevents contaminants

from being blown off-site
by the wind.

The wind will carry
the contaminants.

There is not some kind of a dam
built around this site,

so that,
when it rains,

the rainfall won't carry
the contaminants.

So, when it rains,
the surface water

carries the radioactivity
down intermittent streams.

It's the headwaters
of the Los Angeles River.

So, in terms of
L.A. County,

you're contaminating
everything along the L.A. river

and the various streams
that lead to it.

There was
a children's camp

called the "Brandeis-Bardin
Institute,"

a Jewish training institute
for young children

and for college students.

It is right beneath the
Santa Susanna Field Laboratory.

There has been
some contamination found

on the Brandeis property,

and there is concern about
the health of the children

who have been
or are going to that facility.

Soil contamination goes down
through the Brandeis camp,

and into the arroyo,
where that contaminated water

then percolates
into the groundwater.

Man: It's like gel.

Man #2: Ew, dude.

Man: What is that?

[ Indistinct talking ]

Woman: Do you feel good
about [indistinct]?

[ Indistinct talking ]

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Ready?
Ow, wow.

That's fancy.

¶¶

[ Cheers and applause ]

I don't know if you know,
but pH-positive leukemia

is extremely rare.

Melissa, will you tell me
what the statistic is?

Do you remember?

One in million.

And while we already know
that Grace is one in a million,

she shouldn't have
that kind of diagnosis.

You've taught all of us here
how to keep going

in the face
of something difficult,

and we'd like to present you
with our Ever After Ball award.

[ Applause ]

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Bumstead:
My daughter's a fighter.

She's incredibly strong.

I could not be
more proud of her,

and yet, part of me
still grieves

that she has to be
that way.

You know, I wish more than
anything she could have

just had
a normal childhood.

You know, she was diagnosed
when she was 4.

That's almost before anyone
can have a memory.

She was immediately limited
from being around other kids

because of
the germ factor.

But also, my son
was so emotionally impacted.

Both of my children lost
a big part of their childhood,

and that's not fair.

We can never
give that back.

My husband and I are trying
to heal our marriage

from all the separation and pain
that we went through.

And then,
what's left over is me.

But I have a lot of friends
whose kids are still suffering.

She didn't get to make a choice
if she wanted her child

to live next to
this radiation.

She'd probably never
heard of it before.

¶¶

I don't think
any of us should have had

to have picked up
this burden.

But I can't unlearn
what I know.

So, the -- the...
we'll have to wait for the...

You know what?
Why don't you tell him

I'm being interviewed for
a documentary on Santa Susanna,

and that I'll call her
when I'm done.

and put the fear of
[bleep] God into her.

The site has three
responsible parties.

There's the Department
of Energy,

which leased part of
its property from Boeing.

There's Nassau,

and then,
there is Boeing itself,

which owns
most of the site.

Hirsch: At some point,
Rocketdyne was sold

to Rockwell International,

And Rockwell International
eventually sold

its Rocketdyne division
to Boeing.

And Boeing
assumed the liabilities

of Rocketdyne
for the contamination

of Santa Susanna.

Reiser: The ultimate regulator
of the Santa Susanna field site

is California,

and specifically the Department
of Toxic Substances Control,

which is a subdivision
of the California EPA.

California is the one
who gets to say,

"This is how much
gets cleaned up."

We have the authority
to shut down a business

when we feel like the health
of the community is at risk,

and when we see
evidence of harm

to the environment,
or to human health.

Grover: There were a lot
of people that had a stake

in keeping this story
under wraps.

I had a number of insiders
at DTSC tell me,

"The people that run
this agency have no interest

in telling the truth
about Santa Susanna."

My station broke a huge story
back in 1979.

A few years ago,
the producer of that 1979 report

came to see me at KNBC,
and he said,

"There is a lot more to the
story that we broke back in '79.

You have to continue
our work.

You have to dig deeper."

You might be wondering
why we should care about

a nuclear accident that happened
more than half a century ago --

because, as you're
about to see,

thousands of people
in the San Fernando

and Simi valleys
have been secretly exposed

to dangerous
radioactive fallout.

It was pretty clear to me
that there were people

inside certain government
agencies, like the DTSC,

who were very close
with Boeing.

Tucker: That was a very
effective way for Boeing

to buy protection
for themselves.

I was looking into
the Department

of Toxic
Substances Control,

and I decided to look into, how
is it really regulating toxins?

And we did get
very revealing material

that showed us that the DTSC is
what I call a "captured agency."

It's captured
by the polluters

but it's actually
supposed to be regulating.

Insiders at the

State Department of Toxic
Substance Control.

Told us that they were often
too lenient with polluters

who didn't clean up
contamination.

Boeing maintains
that there have been

no adverse health impacts from
contamination at Santa Susanna.

The DTSC has, while admitting
the contamination

has gotten off site,

they'll say "it's not
getting off site at levels

that are harmful
to human health."

And that's just
not true.

Tucker: Polluters are very adept
at flattering regulators,

at grooming them,

taking them by the hand
when they didn't know that much.

Kind of showed them
the direction

of what they wanted things
to look like.

I also, as you know,
represent many private companies

who have also found [indistinct]
to be balanced,

to be thorough, and to be just
as open as she claims to be.

Santa Susanna is kind of
a textbook civics lesson

in the way
government works.

People work in government
on an issue --

in this case, Santa Susanna --
and then, they leave government,

and they can make a lot
more money becoming a lobbyist

for the company
involved in the issue --

In this case, Boeing.

The flotilla of fixers
that were hired by Boeing,

many of them had direct
connections to Jerry Brown,

or had worked for him.

Reporter: It's been like a game
of musical chairs.

A former environmental aide
to Governor Brown,

a former head
of the state EPA,

and the former chief lawyer
of the DTSC,

have all switched sides,
and worked on behalf of Boeing

to kill a full cleanup
of Santa Susanna.

The Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

is a really
complex cleanup.

It costs
a lot of money.

And any time
it costs a lot of money,

there's going to be
politics at play.

That leads to delay.

In 2007, there was a consent
order signed between the DTSC

and the responsible parties

that basically did not establish
much of a cleanup standard.

It was very weak.

And it was exactly
what Boeing wanted.

Duffield:
A recreational space cleanup,
which is what Boeing is pushing,

is based off of people being
on a site very infrequently.

That would result in 98%
of the contamination

not being cleaned up.

People who live near
Santa Susanna

do not live
in recreational areas.

They live in
residential areas.

All through the 2000s,
there was an effort

to require full cleanup.

Then-state senator
Sheila Kuehl

represented the area.

Introduced bill
after bill.

Workers and neighbors
have become sick,

and too many
have died.

It's time to require
full and complete cleanup.

I ask for your "aye" vote
on SB-990.

And in 2007, she finally got
her legislation through.

Tucker: Believe it or not,
under Schwarzenegger,

there was an actual serious
effort to clean up that site.

But after Governor Brown
came to office,

things shifted
very dramatically.

Boeing, however, went to court
to overturn the law.

And through some exceedingly
troubling action

by the Brown administration,
that lawsuit was lost.

Within five weeks of Jerry Brown
being sworn in, in 2011,

a secret stipulation
was entered into

between the state and Boeing
in that lawsuit.

The state of California
actually stipulated

that they would not contest
any material fact

that Boeing would put forward
in the suit.

And they actually agreed
to that stipulation,

it's my understanding,
before ever having seen

the material facts that
Boeing was going to put forward.

The judge found it very easy
to overturn the law.

The state waived the right
to dispute anything

that Boeing might say

without knowing
what those things would be.

It was a major blow.

And it was exactly
what Boeing wanted.

And they got it.

There are those that think your
agency is too cozy with Boeing.

I haven't seen it,

And I've looked
for it.

NASA and the Department
of Energy

also signed 2010 agreements
with the State of California.

And these were actually
really historic agreements.

And what they do is,

they say the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

has to be cleaned up
to background levels.

And essentially,
what that means is that,

if there's contamination
on site, it gets cleaned up.

From your vantage point,
what is the status

of NASA's actions,
with respect to the cleanup?

Yes, Congressman, all the
information you just relayed,

it is my understanding,
as well, that's where we are.

And NASA's committed
to fulfilling

our obligations
under the AOC.

I'm tired of fighting.

Let's clean up
the background.

Let's get
this site closed.

Yes, things happen.

Yes, they are unfortunate.

And we've made a commitment
to clean it up.

That cleanup was supposed to
already have been concluded

by 2017.

And Boeing
and the federal agencies

have ensured
it hasn't even started.

And I'm certain that
these federal agencies

do not want to set
a precedent,

in terms of really cleaning up
to a proper standard.

And what happens when you cut
your corners on safety is

you kill people.

And that's exactly what
Boeing did with the 737 MAX.

That is their style.

The Department of Energy,
NASA, and Boeing

have made repeated promises
to clean it up,

as has the state Toxics agency
that oversees them.

And those promises have been
broken over and over again.

Will anyone from your agency
talk to us at all?

My policy people
have talked to you.

We've made a commitment
to clean it up.

I've said all
I'm going to say.

At the end of the day, because
it's the right thing to do.

You've said nothing.

And that means that there
have been years and years

of additional migration possible
that wouldn't have been possible

if they had lived up
to their commitments.

It's my commitment to the people
of California that,

when I'm gone,

I've left in place a system
that is robust,

defensible, and meaningful
for the future.

Can you see how
some people

would think this is
more lip service?

I would hope
they wouldn't.

Woman: You're going about
everything is different.rom,

And it is truly
the biggest nightmare

any parent
could ever imagine.

¶¶

Duffield: In 2006, there was
a cluster of retinoblastoma.

This is a rare eye cancer
affecting young children.

There is just under 300
diagnosed in the United States,

and there were 11 cases
right near the site.

We have very,
very strong evidence

that the first group
of mothers

whose children suffered from
retinoblastoma did sue Boeing,

and did settle,

and as part of
that settlement,

were no longer allowed to talk
to the media, or get involved.

If you have a child with cancer,
it's very expensive.

I know one mother in particular
I talked to recently who,

their family is bankrupt, now,
caring for their daughter.

So, I can understand,
if I was one of those mothers,

why they might have went
with that agreement.

And now, several years later,
we're seeing new cases

of pediatric cancers
that are near the site.

Any amount of exposure
to some increased risk

over background cancer,

particularly for pregnant women
and children.

Dodge: The [Indistinct] report,
which came out in 2006,

that landmark study
ended up showing

that there is no linear
threshold --

that any level, any level of
radionuclide exposure

above background

had an inherent increased risk
of cancer.

There is a dramatic increase
in very rare and bizarre cancers

that typically may happen
a few times across the nation.

And what we've been noting
over the years is,

we have children --

not one, but two, or three,
or four children

within the community
surrounding the test lab

have these
unusual cancers.

Hirsch: Boeing itself
did risk assessments

of what the risk
would be

if someone were to live
on the property.

And their own estimate
for some of the locations

was that the cancer risk

was as high as 96
out of 100 --

meaning, if 100 people
live there,

96 would get cancer
from the contamination.

The EPA and DTSC
normally require

that the risk be kept at
one in a million.

So, you can see how serious
the contamination is,

and how large the problem
would be if they left it behind.

Man:
We found documents that show the
radiation has moved off site,

including at
the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

Bycel:
My name is Lee Bycel,

and I was the president
of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute

from spring of 2000
to June of 2003.

Prior to accepting the job,
I asked the chair of the board

if there was anything
that I needed to be worry about.

And she said,
"It's all good.

We've had a settlement,
and everything in that land

has been cleaned up, and
there's nothing to worry about."

I think one of the most
surprising documents

we unearthed was an internal
report commissioned by the camp

that proved there was a lot of
contamination from Santa Susanna

that ran down into
this children's camp.

And it was the basis
for the camp

suing the owners
of the field lab,

and then secretly settling
that lawsuit.

So, when I hear about
a settlement,

what comes to mind is that
there's liability there.

We don't often want to hear
the dark side of things.

We don't often want to hear
that there's something wrong.

They have not
been transparent

in exactly what's going on
up there -- even now.

How can one person be diagnosed
with thyroid cancer at age 4,

with two recurrences,

and then end up with
an extremely rare uterine cancer

with no family history
of any kind?

Kowalski: We were four women,
were all cancer-free.

And now, fast forward,
we're only one cancer-free.

I had stage three to four
bladder cancer.

I just was shocked.

And then,
I was so angry.

My mother was diagnosed
with glioblastoma in 2001.

She passed away seven weeks
later, at the age of 58.

And my father was diagnosed with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia

in 2003.

He passed away
in 2010.

Tyler: My middle sister
developed a goiter

when she was
11 years old.

And that later turned into
thyroid cancer.

My father survived his cancer,
and my mother suffered

with ovarian cancer
and colon cancer.

And she couldn't take it,

so my mom actually ended up
committing suicide.

My oldest sister was diagnosed
with brain cancer

and glioblastoma.

As she was dying,
two years later,

her own daughter was diagnosed
with cancer, too.

And she passed just eight months
after my sister.

To hear that your child
has a life-threatening disease

absolutely shakes you
to your core.

It was really, really
devastating to the family.

Every day, it was like
the rug was

being taken out
from under us.

Our world ended
on that day.

And this new reality
had to come into existence.

I thought she was
gonna beat it.

I really did.

She didn't.

I think we're just
in denial.

Endy: Which is a beautiful
thing, to be in denial,

because you get to enjoy
every moment, you know?

So, that's the
best thing.

¶¶

Huff:
I can't just leave.

It's hard to
give everything up

because somebody can't do
the right thing.

Where do you go that
you really know you're safe?

You know, I mean, I moved here
thinking I was safe.

And why should we leave?

We came here
in good faith.

Why should we leave?

They need to
clean up their crap.

You can't sit back,
and pretend it's not real.

You have to
do something.

Woman: Who is the person
who could make a difference

in all of this?

Who can make
a difference?

Melissa: I'm never
not thinking about it.

And I'm never not thinking about
how we can --

we can change things because
it's not only my community

I'm trying to protect.

I mean, we live here.

My -- My kids live here.

Okay, Grace, you ready?
Look both ways.

Good. Let's cross.

I will not.

I never thought I was smart
growing up.

I never trusted myself

and I never really
valued myself.

One of your presents,

you're gonna want
to open sooner.

I do feel
incredibly small.

And it's hard to say that
because

with that comes
the lack of control that I feel.

When Gracie got diagnosed,

there was this one moment
in the hospital

where, you know, she had
a port underneath her skin

and they had to pierce the port
with a needle

to get her, you know, chemo
or blood transfusions

or whatever it was she needed.

But they had a very specific
process of cleaning

and sterilizing
all the equipment

before you attach the two.

And I had, two days earlier,

had had a huge lesson
on how to do it properly

because we had to
do that at home.

And we're in the operating room,

and I saw the nurse
wipe it twice.

And they were supposed to do
at least 10 seconds of that.

And then they're supposed to
let it dry for 20 seconds.

And in that one second,
I realized,

"I need to say something.
I need to stop this woman,

because if she does that
and there's bacteria,

it can go straight
into Gracie's bloodstream

through her heart,
it can kill her."

In that same exact second,
I thought,

"If I say something,
she'll say,

'What do you know?
You're not trained.

I'm a nurse, you're not.
How dare you.

I'm an authority figure.
You're not.

I'm gonna embarrass you
for bringing this up

and rocking the boat.'"

And as she's going together,

I didn't --
I didn't do anything.

Because I ended up
being more afraid

of what she would say
than protecting my daughter.

And thank God nothing happened,

but I swore that moment

I will never,
ever let my children

be put in danger because
I was too scared to speak up.

And I think that was the day
I decided

I'm gonna hurt either way.

I might as well
make a difference.

I have
Melissa Bumstead.

-Melissa Bumstead...
-Melissa Bumstead...

I hope I'm not talking too fast,
but I'm pretty nervous.

This is alarming,
and we are concerned --

the cancer moms in my community.

I mean, these children
are on my street.

I've had it.

[ Singing indistinctly ]

A group of seven mothers and I,

not really understanding
what we were doing,

came to our first DTSC,

Department of
Toxic Substance Control,

meeting to find out
what is wrong?

Are we in danger?

And that was the first day
I realized we are in danger.

Through the change.org petition,

we started to get traction
and people started to care,

and I realized we weren't
alone in this fight.

We're here because of numerous
failures of regulators

to protect the public.

Reasonable people look at this
and say

"This -- This should not
be happening."

I got up there
and I was shaking my hand.

"How dare you do this
to my community?

You have lied about this,
tried to confuse all of us.

Why would you do this to us?"

Because it's cheaper for Boeing

to pay the relatively measly
fees your board imposes

than to clean up their mess.

You regulate Boeing,
not the other way around.

We are a force
to be reckoned with.

¶ Papa was a rolling stone ¶

¶ Wherever he laid his hat
was his home ¶

I've really changed.
I've really healed.

And now I'm willing to
have confrontation,

not for confrontation's sake,

but to protect people
that I care about.

You know, I still
wanted to throw up afterwards.

She's always been fierce.

Her motivation to never stop

just keeps getting stronger
and stronger.

Melissa Bumstead
is a superhero.

I've never met
anyone like her.

She's the face of this cleanup.

She's got to keep going.

People like Melissa will
change the tide of this fight,

and I know that
she has changed it already.

There's nothing like a mom
wanting to protect her children.

There's no force on Earth
that is more powerful.

Melissa: My daughter went
through excruciating pain,

and she buried two
of her friends last year.

We are praying to God
that we finally get the cleanup

because sometimes
I can't sleep at night

worrying that my children
are in danger.

And I know that
I'm not the only one.

Esparza: But what people maybe
don't remember

is that we're fitting a lifetime
into a year

or two
or three or five.

-Yes.
-And that, you know...

-So powerful, Gillian.
-...predict the future.

And that's true.
It's true for all of us.

Hammersley: One of the things
that I wish we could have done

because she was in the process
of getting a second wish granted

and her wish was to go was to go
to Kleinfeld's in New York

and try on wedding dresses
because her favorite show

was "Say Yes to the Dress."
-Right.

And we would watch it
in the hospital all the time.

And we got approved
and we were planning it

in January of last year.

And we were gonna
try to go in April.

Yeah.

But --
But she didn't get to,

and it sometimes is really hard
because I go, "Gosh,

she never got
to try on a wedding dress.

She never -- She'll never get to
walk down the aisle."

Like you said, we're trying
to fit in a lifetime.

Right.
In just a small
number of years,

and that's --
that's so powerful.

¶¶

The day she passed away,
my husband and I,

we weren't -- we weren't ready
to go home.

We left her at the hospital
and that was the hardest thing

we ever had to do
was to leave there without her.

It was so hard
to trust in anything,

because all you feel
is that tangible loss.

Keep praying and stay strong.

Hammersley: I tried to get to
a protest the other day,

but my body wouldn't let me.

Melissa and I
tell each other all the time,

like, "Just do what you can,
and that's okay.

And don't feel bad."

But it was hard because
I continued to feel guilty

because I was like,

"This -- This fight doesn't stop
just because I do."

But watching what Melissa
has done over this last year

has just been remarkable.

Being a mom is hard enough.

Being a mom of a childhood
cancer makes it harder.

Then being a mom who's trying
to protect all the kids

in her community from
some insidious exposure --

the level of responsibility
you end up taking on and feeling

is daunting and draining
and overwhelming.

I've seen the toll
that it's taken on her

because it's frustrating
when people don't listen.

But she still gets up
and she still fights,

and she still
is pushing so hard

because she's watched
her friends

bury their children.

¶¶

¶¶

Duffield: Melissa is the key
to the cleanup.

Melissa now is leading
the community in this effort,

and her voice is critical

and the leadership
that she's shown

in organizing her community
is critical,

and that will make
or break everything.

Anything else that is worth
putting a flag on?

I was thinking
something like this

might even be good
to put out to the community

who are trying to figure out
how to message it

to hit the right target,

and we don't really know
what the right next target is.

Right.
And then randomly,
she had an idea...

Hirsch: I admire Melissa
more than I can begin to say.

She's taken
this personal tragedy

and used that as motivation

and energy to try
to protect others.

And I've been in meetings
where Melissa and Grace

have gone to meet
with state senators,

and they touched their hearts
some.

It becomes much easier to do
what a polluter wants you to do

if you don't see
who gets hurt from it.

Duffield: We really have to
look to our decision makers

to commit to us that the site
will be fully cleaned up

in a timely manner and that
they will make that a priority.

How did you feel
about the meeting, Melissa?

These hundreds of thousands
of signatures on the petition

have turned things around
quite a bit.

The question is, is it enough?

[ Speaking indistinctly
on telephone ]

Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Well, it sounds like
they're driving through

the campaign trail,
and we fit in it.

He said that they're gonna bring
a lot of film cameras,

national news.

Okay, and so what if they say
he's not ready to sign?

Like they already know
he's not ready to sign?

But that's the conversation
that he might go to immediately

because I'm going to call him.
He asked that I would call.

Hi, hon.
How you doing?

Right.

Yep. Yep, yep.

[ Speaking indistinctly
on telephone ]

[ Water running ]

Okay. Okay. Right.

Okay.

Okay, yeah.

Good, I mean,
at least I --

Okay. Thanks so much, you guys.
I so appreciate you.

All right. All right.
Bye.

[ Sighs ]

Hey, hon.

Melissa: I got a call from
John Cox's campaign manager.

They weren't really making
a huge effort,

and now it's four days
before the election,

and all of a sudden
they're, like, hounding me

to come to host this thing
where Cox can step in

with all these,
you know, crying cancer moms.

And it was just so much pressure
in such a short amount of time

to try to figure things out.

You know, Denise has been great
and she's saying,

"Melissa, you know, in the end,
this has to be your call

because this is your community

and you need to do
what you feel is right."

And then Dan's going like,
"You can't do this.

You know, you're walking
into a trap," essentially.

And so when I got that word,

I called them up and said,

"I prayed about it.
I don't feel good about it.

I'm sorry. I just can't do it."

And so I canceled.

I hate that.
I hate that politics

has to be part of anything I do,
to be honest.

I just like to be honest
and do what I feel is right

and kind of always
have my cards out.

I don't even know
if I made the right choice,

and now people are mad at me,
and I don't even know

if they're right or wrong.
And I don't know anything.

I just feel like
I don't know anything.

And then Dan saying, like --

I know he was trying to be nice,
but I kind of wish he hadn't.

He said, "You know, it's kind of
on your shoulders now, Melissa.

You've got to make this happen
or we're all gonna lose."

And I was like...

You know, some people
are trying to say, like,

"Oh, these people are using you
and these people are using you."

And I'm a very small person.

You know, I'm --

This is not what I thought
my life would be.

And I feel so little
and I feel so powerless

right now, and doesn't stop.

And then I have these
little times of melting down,

and then I pack it up
and wash my face.

And then I go pick up
the kids from school

and life just moves on.

I think that's all
I have to say.

¶¶

I've been dealing with
the Santa Susana facility

for 39 years.

I tried to walk away
from the Santa Susana issue

several years ago.

After the AOC was signed,

I thought there was no real need
for me to continue,

it was gonna get cleaned up.

And then when
the Brown administration

started to undo it,
I failed at trying to stop them.

But I have not been able
to somehow break what I feel

is a promise I made
to those people.

Even though it was a promise I
had no idea could take so long.

Duffield: Santa Susana is not
for the faint-hearted.

It's a long,
complicated struggle.

I'm an advocate.

We've been working for 30 years
with other groups

who've invested
a similar amount of time.

And so it's hard to not also
wonder, you know, what more --

is there anything more
that could have been done?

Hirsch: It's a fight between
those who have conscience

and those who whose concern
is primarily power and profit.

These fights never end.

And if you don't fight them,
you always lose.

¶¶

¶¶

¶¶

Reporter:
Right now, this fire is still
growing pretty quickly here,

blowing out of
the north-northeast.

And it's still continuing
at about 35 to 40 miles an hour.

We're watching
and we're looking at

some of these hotspots out here,
and it is very disheartening

for any of these folks
that are here living nearby.

¶¶

Reporter #2: The Woolsey Fire,
now over 30000 acres burnt.

Reporter #3: It's just
a monster, a nightmare out here.

Reporter #4:
This entire neighborhood
has been obliterated.

All the mountains
around here are scorched.

Reporter #5: Winds out here not
really helping the situation.

Reporter #6: This fire is fast.

It is fueled by
those Santa Ana winds.

Reporter #7:
Flames continuing to burn.

We have been this really
just run down the hillside.

You really can see how vast
this wildfire is,

threatening tens of thousands
of homes.

Reporter #8: Firefighters are
doing everything they can

to slow this thing down.

This fire here is still
being very stubborn.

Working its way out of
the Rocketdyne complex

over in the Bell Canyon.

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

¶¶

And just see how terrible the
air quality is out here as well.

We had to get up to about
10,000 feet just to get some

clear air
to breathe around here.

Our worst fear for 15 years,

that if a fire ever happened
at the lab,

it would be the easiest way
for those contaminants

to get to the public.

And here it's happened.

Reporter:
There are three questions
that we're investigating

about the devastating
Woolsey Fire --

where and how
did the fire start,

and is the smoke,
the smoke that is still

rising from the ground, toxic?

There is mounting evidence
that the fire started

at the Santa Susana Field Lab.

There is growing concern tonight

over toxic fallout
from the Woolsey Fire.

Reporter #2:
Government officials say

testing shows the air is safe.

Some doctors and advocates
call that a smoke screen.

Dodge: Smoke from any brush fire
is dangerous to inhale.

In this case, with these added,
very hazardous elements,

it makes it far more dangerous.

Reporter #3: A statement today

from the Department of
Toxic Substances Control

says initial tests show...

Reporter #4: ...official news
release claimed there was no --

Reporter #3: ...no risk
to people living nearby.

It did not appear
to be a hazard to the public.

No discernible signs of
radiation.

The potential hazard
of major release

into the environment
was just not there.

What was significant about
the Woolsey Fire

is that it started
on the property

of the Santa Susana
Field Laboratory.

It's very distressing
when you know how terribly

polluted it is to then turn on
the television

and see it in flames.

After the fire, you know,
80% of the site burned.

We have learned since then that
NASA took down tanks and piping

and had moved a fire station
that, had they been in place,

could have put that fire out.

Regardless of what happens
to the site,

it's always going to be
in a fire-risk area.

So why one would remove
water tanks and piping,

I don't know.

Duffield: And after the fire,
DTSC released an interim report.

For them to release a report

that shows them doing
air monitoring after the fire

is silly.

The greatest risk
was during a fire.

They have now admitted that
the burned vegetation

made the contaminants
in the soil more mobile,

and that's part of the reason
why we have these 57 exceedances

in storm water runoff
after the fire.

But the bottom line is
if it had been cleaned up

as it should have been by 2017,

we wouldn't be having
this conversation.

Dodge: The vegetation on site
is contaminated.

And as the vegetation burned,

it then aerosolized high up
into the atmosphere

and then was able to spread
across the basin.

Our concern, admittedly
for the fire

was that the contamination

probably spread mainly
the toxic chemicals,

which come from
the burning of fuels

and the rocket engine firings.

The dangerous levels of exposure
to chemical contaminants

somewhat follow a similar
pattern to the radionuclides.

Every level increases the risk.

My name is Mike Stenstrom.

I'm a member of
the expert panel.

And so I'd like to say that
we've been involved in this,

the panel has, since almost
the inception of the fire.

We are an independent panel.

We are funded by Boeing,

and we've been using
Geosyntec to assist us.

But, you see, there's a trend
of decreasing exceedances

as we move forward in time.

Man: Concentrations over
the course of the season

are returning
to pre-fire levels.

We have what we have here
is a lot of exceedances

in areas where you don't see
a lot of legacy contamination.

So the system's
already recovering,

and we're happy about that.

My name is Denise Duffield.
I'm the associate director

at Physicians for Social
Responsibility of Los Angeles.

I feel like I'm living
in an alternate universe,

though, after this very
Orwellian presentation.

57 exceedances and violations
is astonishing.

The expert panel
is paid by Boeing.

That begs a lot of credulity
on their independence.

It's an open, seeping wound
in our community

that threatens our public health
every time it rains

or the wind blows
or the fires burn.

I live in Simi Valley.

I have a 3-year-old.

I'm a Golden State Water
customer.

I've got groundwater
from below SSFL

being pumped into my home
with every bath,

with every meal.

It's your job to protect
my water source.

You regulate Boeing,
not the other way around.

Woman: Thank you.

I'm a little disappointed today.

I had actually assumed
that it would be

an independent panel,
expert panel speaking today.

I didn't know anything
about politics

until the last five years,
and I've learned

that you always have
to follow the money.

That's the basic understanding
of how America works these days,

unfortunately,
and I was very disappointed.

I'm sure their intellect is --

is better than mine, hands down.

However,
that's not an independent panel,

and the people of Los Angeles
deserve better

on such a critically
important issue.

We've got a lot of facts.
We know the facts.

We're all
intelligent people here.

But I think what is lacking is
courage to do the right thing.

And so I wanted to bring you
my daughter's beads of courage.

My daughter is a two-time cancer
survivor at 9 years old.

¶¶

I heard a lot of good news
about nominal exceedances,

but you need to understand that
these exceedances affect us.

We've come to find out
that our area

is above the national average
for childhood cancers.

We've had several
who've passed away

and this is the cost
of exceedances,

and I really ask you
to have the courage

to do the right thing.
Thank you.

Woman: Thank you.

Grover: This was part
of what was so amazing

about this story to me.

I grew up near the Field Lab.

Thousands of people have lived
near the Field Lab,

and most people
have never heard of it.

The Santa Susana issue
was almost dead,

and that fire jumpstarted
a whole new round of attention.

[ Tweeting sound ]

¶¶

Millions are learning
about the toxic threat

from the contaminated
Santa Susana Field Lab,

all because of tweets from
the Kardashians.

When the Woolsey Fire hit,
it blew up.

Without a doubt,
there's new life.

-People are paying attention.
-People are listening.

The community support
has radically changed.

Kim Kardashian tweeted.

All of a sudden, we've got
100,000 shares on a tweet.

Man: Kim Kardashian telling her
58 million Twitter followers

she's shocked and furious
to learn that Woolsey Fire

started at Santa Susana
and is potentially radioactive.

The reporting we did brought
some attention,

but of course, the Kardashians

can bring the issue
way more attention.

-People are believing in this,
you know,

like, this is the real thing.

We're not just
playing games anymore.

Come on, guys,

we're going on the other side of
the side, okay?

These are all
my other children here.

I'm seeing enough changes
happening that I am hopeful

it could be ripped out from
underneath us at any moment.

I know what it's like
to lose a child with cancer,

and nobody should ever have
to face that again.

The Killers:
¶ You can't break me down ¶

¶ I got gas in the tank ¶

¶ I got money in the bank ¶

¶ I got news for you, baby,
you're looking at the man ¶

It has gone so fast
that I'm still out of breath.

We're trying to put together
a coalition

with all
of our elected officials.

People need to stop passing
the ball, take leadership.

¶ Who's the man?
Who's the man? ¶

¶ I'm the man, I'm the man ¶

¶ Who's the man with the plan? ¶

¶ I'm the man ¶

Knack: They are counting on us,
not goodness.

They're counting on us,
not being able to see

the bigger picture.

I really hope we're not
sitting here in 10 years,

with the follow up of why this
damn thing's been happening.

We never know what domino
we're setting into effect

when we just do what we can.

Secretary, so you're supposed
to be completed by 2017,

haven't started by 2019.

Will you come
to the San Fernando Valley

and explain to people
when this site

will be cleaned up?

Man: The clean up timeline
was 2017.

Back in 2010, it is 2019,
and we haven't even got started,

There's a level of toxicity,

the history
that is just depressing.

I mean, it's a complete mess.

When I got to say I'm the mom
who started

the change.org petition,

we have 650,000 signatures.

It was like, I'm sorry,
did you say, 250,000?

No, 650,000.

All of a sudden they're like,
"Oh, come to the door.

What was your name again?
Where are you from?"

It's not about winning
or being right.

It's about children.

It's about families,
it's about quality of life.

¶¶

I know that there's a risk

of a large segment
of this community

and maybe even the larger
Los Angeles area

looking at this

and questioning our sanity.

But I would urge anybody

to put on your reading glasses
and whip out that 13 pages,

it's only 13 pages,
2007 EPA report,

preliminary report at
the Santa Susana Field Lab

and then call me crazy.

It is if the officials
have not read the data

as if they are completely
unaware that we,

the citizens, could be at risk.

And that was alarming to me

because I felt like we weren't
being taken seriously.

It makes me sick that
these women have given

so selflessly of themselves

and a fight -- have fought
and continue to fight.

This is not what they want
to talk about over dinner.

They don't want to sit up
and read EPA documents.

They want to have a good time,
they don't have a barbecue

and they want to watch
their kids play in the yard.

And I want that, too.

I'm sorry. I want that, too,

and I want that
for my family, but, um...

I can read.

I'm not going to pretend
that I didn't read it.

Sorry.

Santa Claus is coming!
Santa Claus is coming!

[ Humming ]

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

-Can I have a chocolate?
-Can I have a chocolate?

You're a good boy!
You're a good boy.

¶¶

[ Child speaking indistinctly ]

[ Indistinct conversations ]

¶¶

¶¶

Blumenfeld: The time is now
to get the ball moving.

My goal has been to change
and improve, I would say,

the culture of the Department
of Toxic Substance Control.

They are the regulator,
they set the clean up standards,

this is not
a ongoing negotiation.

The polluters have a role,
they have to pay for it,

and they have to adhere to
the standards that we have here.

These entities going in 2007,

Department of Energy and NASA
in 2010 entered into agreements.

Those are legally
binding agreements.

We will hold them
to those agreements.

-We'll see.
-We'll see. I have no faith.

Given the length of time
that the cleanup plans

have been made and broken,
it's always a concern

that this will go into
another administration.

They signed a legal
binding document in 2010

when we thought we won
the victory.

Additionally, studies performed
after signing the AOC

identified less contamination
than previously projected.

We had no idea it was all
going to get thrown upon.

Child: I am a two-time
cancer survivor.

It has turned my life upside
down, and I never feel safe

living here.

I want to feel safe.

Folks, this way.

We're here at the NASA
meeting right now.

They're trying to justify
why they should be able to lead

contaminated waste
in our community.

I want to show you one of

these justifications
that I can't believe,

and I've seen a lot of
falsehoods --
Oh, my gosh.

SEIS found
no discernible differences

to health and safety.

Across the action alternatives.
That's absurd.

NASA claims that under federal
environmental law,

that they have to look
at different alternative ways

to clean up the Santa Susana
Field Laboratory.

They're wrong.

California has been clear
over the years

that the level that the site
has to be cleaned up

to is to background.

If there is contamination,
it gets cleaned up.

We clearly signed an agreement
for full cleanup.

And they have proposed in these
two meetings to break those

and walk away
from the contamination.

If they found contamination
on the surface,

they're saying
we're going to have to dig all

20 feet down to bedrock

and that's going to moonscape
the property.

You don't have to dig 20 feet
down to remove contamination

that's on the surface.

They're doing that to try
to scare people about trucks

and moonscaping
and all of that stuff.

What NASA and Department
of Energy

have been doing
in the last few years

is looking at different
levels of cleanup

rather than different ways

of reaching the standards
that California has set.

Their stated thing
is, oh, we did more work,

we found more contamination

that would result in
even more damage.

So we want to do
the recreational cleanup.

It's not okay to just
clean it up a little bit,

it's kind of like you can't
be just a little bit pregnant.

Either you're radioactive
or you're not.

NASA's says that it will take
25 years

to remove this soil that needs
to be removed in order to comply

with the administrative order
on consent.

For the Department of Energy
and NASA

to be successful in walking away
from Santa Susana Field Lab,

All that has to happen is
that nobody stands in their way.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

In order to make informed
public commentary,

we need to have some visuals.

When you go to a public place

and everybody else has
their exhibits set up to come in

and set up another one.

I'm on the board of supervisors

and what we do during
public comments

is we give an opportunity
a platform.

If they have a PowerPoint
so they can show these power --
They have an opportunity.

In public hearings,

when they were done the way
they used to do them,

we would stand
in front of the microphone

and people
before the responsible party,

before their community members
speak for two minutes,

and give their input on
the proposal before them.

And NASA just destroyed
all of that.

This whole thing was set up
intentionally to prevent people

from making
informed public comment.

No presentation only posters
with NASA's propaganda spin.

The community needs to hear
the truth, and we're the only

ones who can do it.
I understand that but --

But we do it as part
of our public comment.

Great, but they put
the public thing on

for their
display and everything.

So all the things
that they set up here --

This is math that they're not
going to show people.

What they feel is
it's going to take away from --

It's a public...
[ speaks indistinctly ]

Everybody, NASA is preventing
public comment on their EIS

that breaks
their clean up commitments.

If people want to be able to
show you

how they're violating the law

and NASA's physically blocking
you from seeing it.

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

Woman: Free speech!

-Free speech!
-Free speech!

Free speech!

This is live right now,
you guys, this is crazy.

They set this up in this --
in this kind of a situation

where we don't have
a microphone

like we normally do
to say our problems.

And as the "L.A. Times"
reported...
The court reporter,

is at a little table
in the corner

that's not marked trying to
limit public participation,

prevent the media from knowing

how much we didn't like
the proposal

and prevent elected officials
from knowing that, too.

There's a protocol for how
the public hearings are handled,

and that's not it.

The only -- the only option
we have right now

is to try to read our comments
loudly and that's --

that's just absurd.

Man: The majority of its
contamination not cleaned up.

This is illegal and a direct
threat to public health

and the environment.

NASA's search is preparing
the supplemental EIF...

You should be able to give

three minutes and then
you can do what you want.

Woman: Free speech!

Trespassing?

This is a public meeting.

[ Cheering ]

[ Chanting ] Free speech,
free speech, free speech,

free speech, free speech!

In 50 years of
this kind of work,

I have never experienced
such a thing.

What NASA knows that what its
proposing to do is indefensible.

And they took every measure that
they could to prevent the public

from hearing about it.

For the responsible parties,

this is a game.

NASA and Boeing continue to put
forth a storyline

that their recommendations,

their offerings of cleanup
are adequate.

And we know,
as we've alluded to,

that so many of the agents there
is absolutely no safe level.

Again, if there's no safe level

and you far exceed those levels
on site and again,

and we know that those
contaminants migrate off site

under the appropriate
environmental conditions,

there's no way that can
protect the community around.

¶¶

An emenuclear reservationlared
at the Hanford

in southeastern
Washington state.

An emergency response
at the Savannah River site.

Potential exposure
to people living

near Coldwater Creek
in North St. Louis County.

Enriched uranium was detected

inside Zahn's Corner
Middle School.

Botched cleanup
at San Francisco's

Hunter's Point
has residents taking matters

into their own hands.

There are calls tonight
for a new investigation

into another possible cancer
cluster in central Indiana.

Just sit and think that over
and over again,

this was brought to you
and over and over again

and we said our kids are sick.

Something that felt like a very
isolated problem

in my community,

it's a little bit
terrifying to realize

this is happening
all over the country.

We sat in a room and listened
to people from other areas

with the exact same issues
the poorly or unlined pits,

massive dumping,
open air tests.

I was completely
chilled to my core

because I realized
this isn't an accident

nor is it a mistake.

There are many Santas Susana's
all across this country

that remain highly contaminated
and threatening communities

and has not been cleaned up.

It's all across America.

It's the same players,
different humans,

but the same agencies,
the same attitudes.

But let's face it,

this community
has been traumatized enough.

That wasn't for this group
of moms

that made this Facebook page,
I would've not known.

There's an endemic problem
with the whole system.

You can have wonderful
environmental laws

and we have really
powerful ones,

but if they're not enforced,
they're useless.

And that has happened
at dozens and dozens

of toxic sites in the state
of California

and probably is emblematic
of what goes on,

unfortunately,
all over the country.

Woman:
The Committee on Oversight

and Investigations would
now come to order.

I would now like to introduce
the honorable Anne White,

who is the Assistant Secretary,

Office of Environmental
Management,

Department of Energy.

Madam Chair, the government's
nuclear defense programs

played an integral role
in ending World War II

and the Cold War.

Our nation was unified
in its effort to end those wars.

That kind of resolve and unity
of purpose is needed today

as we address the resulting
environmental legacy.

We remain committed
to completing cleanup

so that our host communities
can envision a vibrant future.

We can continue
to live in the past,

or we can choose
to understand the past,

make course corrections,
and move forward

with collaborative solutions.

It's time to choose the latter.

You know, I've been
on this committee a long time.

We've seen DOE make
these promises before

with regards
to clean up operations.

What exactly does it mean

that DOE's
Environmental Management Office

does not follow
ED management practice.

Anybody that's been on
this job site should be fired.

They're not doing
their job right.

Where does Hanford sit?
It sits on the Columbia River.

Where does Savannah River
site sit?

It sits on the Savannah River.

These are areas that are
environmentally sensitive.

Look, I'm not a nuclear
engineer,

but I'm a mom and a citizen,

and I can tell you
that leaving it out there longer

waiting for some type
of accident is not making

our constituents
across this country safer.

We need to do better
in the program

and project management,
and I think we can do better.

I do not believe government
has done enough to try

and build that bridge of trust.

My name is Anne White
and my position

was assistant secretary
of Energy

for Environmental Management

referred to as EM1.

¶¶

Obviously, when you've
got portions of the public

all over the country who are
unhappy with what you're doing,

you're probably not
doing enough,

especially for a site
like Santa Susana, small site.

It doesn't even usually come to
the radar of an EM1.

It's tough.

Those kind of big bureaucracies
are very challenging.

It kind of just felt
sometimes like a culture of...

...molasses.

Since 2011,
EM has spent over 45 billion

to try to address
the cleanup responsibilities.

And yet, we seem no closer
to cleaning up these sites

or reducing the department's
environmental liabilities.

EM cleanup right now
is the third biggest liability

to the US taxpayers.

We throw $7 billion
a year into that pot,

and the liabilities
don't go down.

Did the taxpayer get good value
for the $6 billion EM

roughly spent last
fiscal year on nuclear waste?

I believe that the taxpayer
got good value for their money.

-Okay.
-We can do better, though.

So many of these sites
are in places

where they are the only game
in town in terms of employment.

If the cleanup gets completed,
the jobs go away.

And so to some degree,
EM become a jobs program.

Cleanup of these sites
is critically important.

We need to have it happen
and we can't be sitting here

again in five, 10 or 20 years
hoping that it will.

The actions EM needs to take

involve significant
cultural change

at DOE headquarters,
the sites, and the contractors.

When it involves kids and moms
and all of these things,

maybe they've been heard,
but not listened to.

And there's there's
a difference,

I suppose,
there's a big difference.

And at Santa Susana right now,

honestly, the conversation
well could be so poisoned

that there -- there is
no reverse gear

in terms
of building that trust.

You just may never come
to common ground.

And that's a pity,

but that's maybe the nature of
the beast there. Unfortunately.

I'm sure I didn't have
enough energy for it, I think.
[ Knock on door ]

I don't think
we did it last year.

Although, I don't know
if daddy will want me

to do it this year.

Child: Yeah...
[ speaks indistinctly ]

Poster or something instead.

You need to push down
your cuticle

and I'll come back
to that one.

-It's pretty.
-It is pretty.

Like how glittery it is.

¶¶

I feel -- I feel more hopeful,

even though right
now things are looking

pretty glum again
for the cleanup right now.

I'm more at peace
with the thought

that this could be
the rest of my life.

Before that, that thought
was just too frightening.

¶¶

I feel like whether or not
it's the Santa Susana Field Lab

or maybe helping other sites.

If this were to be
the rest of my life,

I would -- I wouldn't fight it.

I had my own plans for my life,
I wanted to --

I wanted to
illustrate kids' books

and I wanted to be an author
and I wanted to garden

and, you know, I had
a really simple life planned out

and it sounded just fantastic.

And the thought of not
getting to have time

to excel at any of those things
was really hard.

As I was praying about it,
I felt like God said,

I'm allowed to have a hobby.

¶¶

I was like, all right,
I can take my dreams

and let them be a hobby

and doing this is more important
than anything I had planned.

I definitely feel like this

is where I'm supposed to be
in my life right now.

¶¶

It took Gracie a lot of -- a lot
of hard work and time

to really kind of be
a regular kid again.

¶¶

She's not the kind of kid
to just lay down and take it.

She's really strong.

But the health effects

will follow her
all the rest of her life.

I have had
some people accuse me

of using Grace's story.

To some degree,
that's really true.

If I could have brought
people's hearts along

without having to show
Gracie's story, I wouldn't have.

But if it helps other families

not have to go
through the same thing,

you know,
and then I-I don't regret it.

I don't think Grace
would regret it.

I think she understands that,

you know, before we're willing
to do anything to protect other

kids from what
she's gone through.

¶¶

Fixing her name and like...

Her birthday and stuff,
it's just so final.

Sorry.

¶¶

The Santa Susana Field Lab

is I wouldn't say it's always
in the front of my mind,

but it is consistently
in the back of my mind.

In the back of my mind,
when I give my kids water

or give them a bath,
in the back of my mind

when I see a new kid
diagnosed,

in the back of my mind,

when I see another kid
who's passed away.

It's a hard one, I know I can't
put all of my energy there.

I'm still working my way back
to being fully present

with everybody,
and my kids need their mom.

¶¶

I've been slowly putting pieces
back together

and I'm not as lost.

I'm still lost,
but not as lost

if that makes sense.

For me, I know I can
never give up trying to fight.

But I also know that I...

I have to use this brain
sparingly because it's focused

on so many different things
right now.

I'm trying to heal,
I'm trying to process,

trying to grieve,
trying to be a mom.

¶¶

But it's always there.

It's always this
lingering question in my mind,

it's always this idea
that is there

and it can't be quieted until

it's cleaned up, I think.

¶¶

I hope that there's an end
to this story.

Given what's happening
in our country,

I worry about all of our efforts
to protect public health.

I worry that focusing on
Santa Susana

will seem like a luxury,

that it will seem
like days have passed

when you actually could fight
a fight and you might just win

and you could get
a cleanup agreement

and you could do
community organizing

and you could speak freely.

We are in a world of distraction
and of self-centeredness,

but we don't sense
any connection to others

and particularly to

those who suffer and if we don't
connect to the damage

we do to the planet,

the everyday people
who are affected by

polluters are just
being walked all over.

The damage that is done
over the last century,

we simply have to keep fighting.

I've been a reporter
for 38 years.

I've seen just about everything.

I'm still surprised that
there were government officials

who looked me in the eye
and said,

"Santa Susana's not a problem."

Even when there were
so many government documents

that said otherwise.

I mean, I think the public
is not so easily fooled.

They know there's
something here.

The truth always comes out
in the end.

I think it takes
an enormous amount of courage.

And a hell of a lot of work

to see that there is
accountability

and that something is done.

It's up to the mothers.

And others who have the courage,
have the time to make damn sure

that something happens
if there's change.

It may be the only way.

Who's going to be
the next child,

who's going to be the next
person in your community.

You don't ever give up
on something like this

because it's the right thing
to do.

Where the people lead,
the leaders will follow.

Woman: Being in a low right now
doesn't feel like defeat,

it just feels like
part of the journey.

And the thing
that's heartbreaking

is that it's just
going to continue.

But it's the kids
who have to suffer,

and it's the parents
who have to bury them

that have to bear that
for the rest of our lives.

¶¶

Oh, I'm not going to stop
so we'll just have to

find out who has more
endurance me or them, maybe.

¶¶