Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Determination and Consent Order – Former Rocketdyne-Atomics International Rifle and Pistol Club Shooting Range and Oversho
Summary
SCH Number
2022040037
Public Agency
Department of Toxic Substances Control
Document Title
Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Determination and Consent Order – Former Rocketdyne-Atomics International Rifle and Pistol Club Shooting Range and Oversho
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
4/1/2022
Document Description
The purpose of this project is the removal of soil contaminated with the following hazardous substances: lead (i.e., the most frequently detected contaminant being addressed by this cleanup), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), antimony, and arsenic in an approximately 31-acre area formerly operated as a shooting range overshot area by a former gun club (Rocketdyne-Atomics International Rifle and Pistol Club) on property now owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) and operated as Sage Ranch Park by the Mountains Recreation Conservancy Authority (MRCA). The hazardous substances at the site pose a risk to human health and ecological receptors, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and The Boeing Company (Boeing) have agreed that removal actions are necessary to mitigate the release or threatened release of these substances from the site. Boeing’s removal actions will bring site lead levels below the high toxicity reference ecological risk-based screening level for lead, which is significantly more protective of human health than required. The removal actions will also permit the MRCA to reopen closed portions of popular Sage Ranch Park trails to recreational users following DTSC review and approval of the cleanup. Boeing will clean up the soil contaminated by lead from shot, skeet fragments, and clay pigeon target fragments left behind at a former recreational shooting range that was once operated on the Sage Ranch Park property. The cleanup should take approximately 3 months to complete.
Contact Information
Name
Mindy Mathias, P.E.
Agency Name
Department of Toxic Substances Control
Job Title
Unit Chief, Santa Susana Field Laboratory Unit
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Simi Valley
Counties
Ventura
Regions
Citywide, Countywide, Southern California
Total Acres
31
Other Location Info
Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Other Information
Owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) and operated as Sage Ranch Park by the Mountains Recreation Conservancy Authority (MRCA)
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Emergency Project
Type, Section or Code
Sec. 21080(b)(4); 15269(b)(c)
Reasons for Exemption
This project consists of removal actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency, determined by DTSC to be “an imminent or substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or to the environment, because of the release or a threatened release of a hazardous substance…” (Health and Safety Code section 25358.3(a))
Releases of hazardous substances are threatened to occur from increasingly frequent and severe precipitation events in the Ventura County area. Additionally, because the shooting range clay pigeon debris which remains at the site burned in a previous fire, it is brittle and more vulnerable to rapid disintegration and transport via surface water runoff. The remaining lead shot may also be acutely toxic to granivorous bird specifies, which use grit to help digest their food and may mistake shot for pebbles and ingest them. Lastly, recreators eager to utilize the Sage Ranch Park Loop Trail frequently trespass onto closed portions of the trail, resulting in potential exposure to hazardous substances at the site.
In light of the above, DTSC has determined that future releases of hazardous substances from the Site are threatened to occur in light of predicted changes to regional weather patterns due to climate change and the risk of deferring action through another rainy season is unacceptable. If the rainy season starts before the cleanup is completed, best management practices (BMPs) will be used to prevent migration of contaminated soils. Given DTSC’s determination that an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment exists, this removal action is exempt under the Emergency provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act.
County Clerk
Ventura
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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