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Commentary: Where has our little CAG for the Whitaker-Bermite facility gone?

Posted by: Maven on November 5, 2009 at 6:20 am

From the Santa Clarita Signal, this commentary by Cam Noltemeyer:

“For many years the Whittaker-Bermite facility made ordnance in the Santa Clarita Valley for the military. This 996-acre property, located off Soledad Canyon Road in the center of our city, is still polluting our groundwater with the chemicals used to make those bombs.

At the time, Whittaker was established, the Santa Clarita Valley was mostly empty farmland. It didn’t seem to matter whether chemicals were dumped or handled carelessly because no one was around anyway.

Additionally, no one understood the effects such chemicals had on human health, though looking back, it seems like they should have.

Now such practices have come back to bite us. With the huge population increase in our area, families and children are dealing with the aftermath. Many of the chemicals in the soil, such as TCE and PCE that seeped into the groundwater, have been found to be cancer-causing. Ammonium perchlorate, another pollutant used in the manufacturing operation, interrupts thyroid production and may cause retardation in small children and fetuses. …”

November 5, 2009 · Filed Under Drinking Water & Bottled Water, Southern California

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