WEBVTT FILE

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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Woman: To let a
former Boeing consultant

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on your board have influence
over these matters

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is of huge concern to me.

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And to let Boeing continue
to pollute, and get away with

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failing to adhere to the
Clean-up Agreement is wrong.

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To fail to protect
our water source is wrong.

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Thank you.

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Bumstead: Hi. My name
is Melissa Bumstead.

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I've live --
it's okay. Thank you.

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I live in West Hills.

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I'm the mom who started
the change.org petition

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that now has
over 600,000 signatures,

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for the full cleanup of
the Santa Susanna Field Lab.

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You're going to hear
a lot today.

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We've got a lot of facts.
We know the facts.

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We're all
intelligent people, here.

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But I think what is lacking is
courage to do the right thing.

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And so, I wanted to bring you
my daughter's beads of courage.

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My daughter is a two-time cancer
survivor at 9 years old.

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[ Giggling ]

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Can you do it?
Achoo!

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-Hachoo.
-Achoo.

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[ Giggles ]

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Would you like to go
to Disneyland today?

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-Yeah!
-Okay.

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Bumstead:
Let's go to Disneyland.

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Oh, yeah!

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Are you gonna
come, too?

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Man: I'm coming, too.

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Oh, yeah!

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Bumstead: She earned
all these beads

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through her cancer
treatment program.

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Each bead represents
something different.

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For example,
red represents

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when she had a blood
transfusion,

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black when she got poked
with a needle,

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yellow for inpatient stays,
white for chemotherapy.

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[ Babbbling ]

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This is what she earned
the first month.

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I'd like to share with you
what she has earned

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over the last two times
fighting cancer.

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A few of the photos I just want
to fly through real quick.

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Just some of the children
that we've met who are local.

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I went to camp with this
little boy last weekend.

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He's about to lose
his second eye.

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This little boy
has a T-cell leukemia.

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He's doing alright.
He's in remission.

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We've had several
who have passed away.

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We need you to step in,
and protect us,

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and protect
our children.

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Do the right thing.

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Thank you.

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Woman: Thank you.

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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Hi.

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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Bumstead:
My daughter, Grace Ellen,
had just turned 4 years old

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when we found bruises
all over her body.

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Took her to the pediatrician,
and quickly found out

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that she had an incredibly rare
and aggressive form

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of childhood leukemia.

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¶¶

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She had a 20%
survival rate.

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She really endured a lot
of suffering that first year.

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Princess flying experiment,
take two.

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And then,
she had a year and a half

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of just wonderful,
cancer-free childhood.

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[ Cheering ]

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[ Bell ringing ]

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[ Cheering ]

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¶¶

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And then,
Gracie's cancer relapsed,

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and it came back.

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¶¶

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¶¶

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Hammersley: It was April 2013,
and my daughter, Hazel, was 2.

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And I was noticing that
she was not quite herself.

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And I kept calling
the doctors,

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but everybody was going,
"Probably just the flu."

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And I turned to my husband,
and I said, "My mommy instincts

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are telling me
that something's really wrong."

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I said, "I don't know why,
but I think she has cancer."

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They performed
some bloodwork tests,

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and then, an ultrasound.

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After several days of tests,
we knew it was neuroblastoma.

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Alright, Hazel,
you ready to play Simon Says?

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-Yeah!
-Okay.

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Simon says
touch your nose.

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Simon says
touch your head.

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Simon says
touch your mouth.

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Simon says
touch your ears.

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Simon says
blow a kiss.

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Simon says says "I love you."
-I love you.

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Simon says sing
"Twinkle Twinkle."

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Hazel [Singing]:
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

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¶¶

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[ Bell ringing ]

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[ Cheering ]

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Hammersley:
Hazel was in remission
for two and a half years.

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I beat cancer!

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Yay!

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In 2016, she relapsed.

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Bumstead: Good job.

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The first time
Grace had cancer,

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we lived over 100 days
that first year

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at Children's Hospital
of Los Angeles.

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How cool is that?

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Yeah.

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And as we were
meeting families,

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we'd just casually ask you,
"Oh, where are you from?"

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That's exactly what happened
with the Bumstead family.

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They were at the hospital
the same time that we were,

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and then, Grace,
her daughter, and Hazel,

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like, immediately
became friends.

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They're so similar
in so many ways.

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And so, it just felt great
to have that connection.

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[Singing]
Happy birthday to you.

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Happy birthday to you.

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Happy birthday
dear Gracie.

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And we found out
that we lived

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within 20 minutes
of each other.

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And I kept meeting
other families,

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and they'd say,
"Oh, how about that?

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We just let you, know around,
the corner, two blocks over,

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as the bird flies,
3 miles, 5 miles."

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And then, several other moms
and dads in Simi Valley,

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in West Hills,
in Thousand Oaks.

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And we were really, at the time,
just thankful for it.

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But I think, as time went on,
we were going, "Wait a second."

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Like "How is it that so many
of us who live nearby?"

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We're going to Children's
Hospital of Los Angeles,

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a world-renowned hospital.

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People are coming
from all over the world

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to come there
for treatment,

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and yet, we're meeting people
that live on our street.

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I just kept pushing back
against my own mental red flags.

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And so, I met a family
that said,

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"Oh, we live on
your street."

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And granted,
we live on a long boulevard.

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It's 3 miles.

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But they lived
on our street.

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And she said, "And my neighbor
had the same exact brain cancer

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that my son had."

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And there were
two of them.

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Neighbors, plus my daughter,
that's three on the same street.

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So, I panicked,
and I set up a Facebook group

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for all the local
cancer parents.

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And we started mapping
ourselves out by Google Maps.

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And for a long time,
we couldn't find the connection.

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We couldn't see
what was going on.

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But we could tell that
there were too many of us.

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And it was about
a year after that

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that someone mentioned,
for the first time,

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the Santa Susanna
Field Lab.

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I had never
heard of it.

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We'd already lived here
for seven years.

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We all had to start
wrestling with the fact that

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maybe our children's cancers
could have been avoided.

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Many other children
were in danger.

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Maybe our government
hadn't protected us

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the way that
they should have.

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And maybe our whole community
had been hiding

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this giant secret.

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¶¶

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¶¶

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¶¶

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Hirsch: Awareness breeds
compassion,

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and compassion
leads to right action.

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That is what
we're missing.

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¶¶

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I'm Daniel Hirsch.

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I'm president of the Committee
to Bridge the Gap,

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and I recently retired
as the director

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of the Program on Environmental
and Nuclear Policy

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at the University of California,
Santa Cruz.

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¶¶

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Duffield:
My name is Denise Duffield.

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I'm the associate director

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for Physicians for Social
Responsibility, Los Angeles.

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In the mid to late 1940s,
the U.S. government

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was trying to find a location
in Southern California

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to do nuclear reactor
development testing,

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and also rocket testing.

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The field lab was originally
selected as a location

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to be away
from populated areas,

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because they knew they were
going to be doing research

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that could be
potentially dangerous.

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Hirsch: They did
a marvelous study

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to determine what would be
the least dangerous place

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to put a reactor
testing facility.

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And the Santa Susanna facility
ranked very poorly.

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They were concerned that
any radioactivity

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that was released could readily
get to populated areas nearby.

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They chose to site
in Santa Susanna anyway.

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Duffield: Santa Susanna ranked
fifth or sixth

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because of the
meteorological conditions.

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But it was
selected anyway,

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because of the driving time
to UCLA.

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At the time that
the Santa Susanna facility

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was established,
there was relatively low

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population density
around it.

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Man:
This is a quiet place.

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The atom at work for peace
is quiet.

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So, over the years,
they built 10 nuclear reactors

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and plutonium fuel
fabrication facility,

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which took plutonium --

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the most dangerous material
on Earth --

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and made nuclear fuel
out of it.

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And a hot lab,
in which they shift in

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irradiated nuclear fuel
to be cut apart.

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None of those reactors,
by the way,

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had a containment
structure.

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Those domes that you associate
with the power plants,

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they were just
regular rooms.

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The most well-known of those
is a reactor

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what's called
the "Sodium Reactor Experiment."

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Man: SRE --
the Sodium Reactor Experiment --

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was radically different
from other reactor concepts.

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Man #2:
Sustained atomic fission

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has been obtained
in this nuclear reactor,

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created and built
for industrial applications,

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medical research,
and scientific exploration.

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Man #3: On the first full power
run of the reactor steam plant,

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all systems
operated smoothly,

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and full power
was obtained with ease.

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Man #4: For the first time
in the United States,

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an entire community
was illuminated

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by electricity generated
by an atomic reactor.

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When we lived here
before we learned the news,

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it was just utopia.

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Kowalski :We had a rural
atmosphere close to the city.

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We had children who loved
playing in the creeks.

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And I thought we'd found
a dream place.

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Tyler: You know, it was
the '50's and the '60's.

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It was magical.

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In those days,
we'd go out the door,

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Mom would say, "Come back,"
you know, "before dinner."

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And it was
totally safe.

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Nobody locked
their doors.

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We just played outdoors
all day, all the time.

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Man:
This is how American families
are living in their new homes.

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Tyler: The Valley was
the ideal place to go.

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It was agricultural,
at that time.

254
00:12:53.907 --> 00:12:55.707
It was rural.

255
00:12:55.775 --> 00:12:58.943
And it would
have been, really,

256
00:12:59.012 --> 00:13:02.480
the most idyllic place
to raise a child,

257
00:13:02.482 --> 00:13:07.585
before the story
that's unfolding now.

258
00:13:07.653 --> 00:13:12.190
Klea: I think I was 19 years old
when I came to California.

259
00:13:12.258 --> 00:13:17.062
I started working at Atomics
International in Santa Susanna

260
00:13:17.130 --> 00:13:19.030
in 1963.

261
00:13:19.098 --> 00:13:22.767
I felt a sense of pride
to be there, and be involved.

262
00:13:22.835 --> 00:13:25.770
And every worker
felt a sense of pride.

263
00:13:25.839 --> 00:13:28.507
I didn't know anything
about what they were doing

264
00:13:28.575 --> 00:13:32.143
where I worked,
except it was secret.

265
00:13:32.145 --> 00:13:34.545
Blaze: The employees of
Santa Susanna Field Laboratory

266
00:13:34.614 --> 00:13:41.186
and Canoga and DeSoto facility
changed the face of humanity.

267
00:13:41.254 --> 00:13:43.321
My father was employed
by Rocketdyne

268
00:13:43.390 --> 00:13:46.324
between 1962 and 1969.

269
00:13:46.393 --> 00:13:48.494
He was the senior propulsion
test inspector

270
00:13:48.561 --> 00:13:51.262
on the Saturn V
rocket engine program.

271
00:13:51.332 --> 00:13:53.197
I was never concerned
about what my dad did

272
00:13:53.199 --> 00:13:55.199
for a living
as a young child.

273
00:13:55.268 --> 00:13:58.470
He didn't really elaborate
on what his job duties were

274
00:13:58.538 --> 00:13:59.604
at the worksite.

275
00:13:59.606 --> 00:14:01.006
They were sworn
to secrecy.

276
00:14:01.074 --> 00:14:05.076
We didn't know what we had
really been dealing with

277
00:14:05.144 --> 00:14:07.345
all these years, what was really
going on up there.

278
00:14:07.347 --> 00:14:11.416
And it just changed, because
then, we didn't know if we came,

279
00:14:11.484 --> 00:14:12.951
and brought our children

280
00:14:12.953 --> 00:14:15.820
to a place that could be
harmful to them,

281
00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:17.355
because how would we know?

282
00:14:17.357 --> 00:14:19.156
My girls loved
climbing in creeks,

283
00:14:19.225 --> 00:14:22.026
and getting frogs.

284
00:14:22.028 --> 00:14:24.161
And it was scary.
It was scary.

285
00:14:24.230 --> 00:14:26.531
And so, as time went on,

286
00:14:26.533 --> 00:14:28.766
it was even worse
than we could even imagine.

287
00:14:35.641 --> 00:14:40.311
¶¶

288
00:14:40.380 --> 00:14:43.915
Face: My name
is John Face.

289
00:14:43.917 --> 00:14:46.317
I was there at the time of
the worst nuclear accident

290
00:14:46.386 --> 00:14:49.120
in the history
of the United States.

291
00:14:49.188 --> 00:14:54.892
I was 19 when I was hired there
in 1959.

292
00:14:54.961 --> 00:14:56.427
I didn't even know
what a reactor was

293
00:14:56.496 --> 00:14:58.062
when I first went
to work there.

294
00:14:58.064 --> 00:14:59.663
Man: The fella who was
sitting at the controls

295
00:14:59.732 --> 00:15:00.798
certainly looked
young to me.

296
00:15:00.867 --> 00:15:02.934
Are these young men
in your organization?

297
00:15:02.936 --> 00:15:06.471
Yes. All these operators
are fairly young fellows,

298
00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:08.106
but all they need is
a high-school education

299
00:15:08.174 --> 00:15:10.308
with some major
in science.

300
00:15:10.376 --> 00:15:13.578
It was the Cold War time
at that time,

301
00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:16.681
and they was trying
to help the United States

302
00:15:16.683 --> 00:15:18.050
outdo the Russians.

303
00:15:18.117 --> 00:15:20.584
Man: On the one side,
the forces of freedom,

304
00:15:20.653 --> 00:15:23.254
on the other,
the forces of Communism.

305
00:15:23.256 --> 00:15:27.392
It was an honor
to work there.

306
00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:29.594
I was working with
the very best scientists

307
00:15:29.596 --> 00:15:30.828
in the nuclear business.

308
00:15:30.897 --> 00:15:35.567
In fact, the person that had
overseen the SRE reactor,

309
00:15:35.635 --> 00:15:39.704
for Atomics International
was Dr. Marvin J. Fox.

310
00:15:39.772 --> 00:15:42.840
He's the one that helped
invent the atomic bomb

311
00:15:42.842 --> 00:15:47.244
that was dropped
on Hiroshima, there.

312
00:15:47.313 --> 00:15:49.714
On July 13th...

313
00:15:54.654 --> 00:15:57.788
...it was probably
about eleven o'clock

314
00:15:57.857 --> 00:16:02.693
was then I got there on
that particular graveyard shift.

315
00:16:02.763 --> 00:16:04.896
Went in the building.

316
00:16:04.965 --> 00:16:07.499
I pulled up to
the control room.

317
00:16:10.103 --> 00:16:11.202
Looking through the door,

318
00:16:11.270 --> 00:16:14.105
and I seen my crew
was already there.

319
00:16:14.173 --> 00:16:18.776
Then, I looked even closer,
and I seen Dr. Marvin J. Fox.

320
00:16:18.778 --> 00:16:20.178
And he had two others
with him

321
00:16:20.180 --> 00:16:23.247
that I wasn't sure
quite who they were.

322
00:16:23.249 --> 00:16:25.083
And I said,
"Man, there's something

323
00:16:25.085 --> 00:16:27.619
that's just not right."

324
00:16:27.687 --> 00:16:30.855
So, I got brave,
and opened the door, real quiet.

325
00:16:33.026 --> 00:16:34.825
And as I stood there,

326
00:16:34.894 --> 00:16:38.363
I heard the words
coming out of Dr Fox's mouth.

327
00:16:43.436 --> 00:16:45.703
I heard
my supervisor ask,

328
00:16:45.772 --> 00:16:50.307
"Can we tell our families
what happened today?"

329
00:16:50.376 --> 00:16:53.377
The three looked at each other
for a minute.

330
00:16:53.446 --> 00:16:56.814
Dr. Fox,
he turned around real quick,

331
00:16:56.816 --> 00:16:59.985
staring me in the eyes,
almost nose to nose.

332
00:17:03.723 --> 00:17:05.490
"Nobody will say a word."

333
00:17:08.494 --> 00:17:13.664
From that point on, there was
a cover-up of what happened.

334
00:17:13.666 --> 00:17:16.368
Man: It was the first step
in a nuclear nightmare,

335
00:17:16.436 --> 00:17:18.569
when a government official
said that a breakdown

336
00:17:18.571 --> 00:17:21.405
in an atomic power plant
in Pennsylvania today

337
00:17:21.474 --> 00:17:25.609
is probably the worst nuclear
reactor accident to date.

338
00:17:25.678 --> 00:17:28.879
Hirsch:
I was teaching at UCLA in 1979,
and there was an accident

339
00:17:28.948 --> 00:17:31.950
at a nuclear power plant
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,

340
00:17:32.018 --> 00:17:34.018
called "Three Mile Island."

341
00:17:34.087 --> 00:17:35.920
And my students
wanted to research

342
00:17:35.988 --> 00:17:37.421
whether there were
nuclear activities

343
00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:38.689
in the Los Angeles area,

344
00:17:38.758 --> 00:17:39.925
and whether they had
any problems.

345
00:17:39.992 --> 00:17:41.292
And I said,
"Sure. Go ahead."

346
00:17:41.361 --> 00:17:42.928
I didn't think
they'd find anything.

347
00:17:42.995 --> 00:17:45.095
And within a period
of a few weeks,

348
00:17:45.165 --> 00:17:46.697
they discovered
that there had been

349
00:17:46.767 --> 00:17:48.699
a partial meltdown
in the reactor,

350
00:17:48.701 --> 00:17:49.700
at what we now call

351
00:17:49.769 --> 00:17:51.569
"the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory."

352
00:17:51.637 --> 00:17:53.838
They obtained documents,
and photos,

353
00:17:53.840 --> 00:17:56.708
and also film footage
of the incident.

354
00:17:56.776 --> 00:17:59.577
Man: 13 of the 43 uranium
fuel elements

355
00:17:59.579 --> 00:18:01.380
eventually became
overheated.

356
00:18:01.447 --> 00:18:03.314
The fuel swelled in size,

357
00:18:03.382 --> 00:18:05.517
and structural damage
was sustained.

358
00:18:05.585 --> 00:18:08.319
Hirsch: The partial meltdown
occurred in a reactor

359
00:18:08.321 --> 00:18:10.354
that had no
containment structure.

360
00:18:10.356 --> 00:18:12.189
The radioactivity
was so high

361
00:18:12.258 --> 00:18:15.394
that they had to open
this huge garage-type door

362
00:18:15.461 --> 00:18:17.094
to try to vent
the radioactivity

363
00:18:17.163 --> 00:18:18.663
out towards Simi Valley,

364
00:18:18.731 --> 00:18:20.732
and for that matter,
the rest of L.A.

365
00:18:20.800 --> 00:18:23.201
One scholar,
Dr. Andre Nakatani,

366
00:18:23.203 --> 00:18:25.670
had estimated that
the radioactive iodine

367
00:18:25.738 --> 00:18:28.140
released from meltdown
could have been

368
00:18:28.207 --> 00:18:30.642
250 times greater
than the amount

369
00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:32.577
released from the
Three Mile Island accident.

370
00:18:32.645 --> 00:18:34.345
TMI was a much
larger reactor,

371
00:18:34.414 --> 00:18:36.013
but it had
a containment structure.

372
00:18:36.082 --> 00:18:37.482
This is
a smaller reactor,

373
00:18:37.550 --> 00:18:40.484
but it had nothing to prevent
greater activity.

374
00:18:40.553 --> 00:18:42.953
Face: The radiation was clear
off of scales.

375
00:18:43.022 --> 00:18:45.923
Wherever the wind is blowing,
whichever direction,

376
00:18:45.992 --> 00:18:49.426
that's where the radiation
travels, of course,

377
00:18:49.495 --> 00:18:50.961
just like smoke
with a fire.

378
00:18:51.030 --> 00:18:55.099
The man that was working there,
they were so disturbed about it,

379
00:18:55.101 --> 00:18:58.135
because all that radiation
went over their own homes.

380
00:18:58.204 --> 00:19:00.271
Five weeks after
the accident occurred,

381
00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:01.739
they issued
a news release

382
00:19:01.807 --> 00:19:04.475
embargoed for the Saturday
morning paper.

383
00:19:04.544 --> 00:19:06.176
And the press release
didn't say

384
00:19:06.245 --> 00:19:07.345
there had been
a partial meltdown,

385
00:19:07.413 --> 00:19:08.913
didn't said there was
a serious accident,

386
00:19:08.982 --> 00:19:10.314
didn't say there was
any radiation.

387
00:19:10.384 --> 00:19:11.749
They said
just the opposite.

388
00:19:11.751 --> 00:19:14.185
At the very moment that they
issued that press release,

389
00:19:14.187 --> 00:19:17.588
they were venting radioactive
gases into the environment.

390
00:19:17.657 --> 00:19:19.723
Reporter: Despite the
seriousness of the accident,

391
00:19:19.793 --> 00:19:21.326
the official news release
claimed there was

392
00:19:21.394 --> 00:19:24.495
no indication
of unsafe reactor conditions.

393
00:19:24.497 --> 00:19:26.131
They lied.

394
00:19:26.199 --> 00:19:29.200
and I couldn't say
a word.

395
00:19:29.269 --> 00:19:30.702
20 years
I was silenced.

396
00:19:39.445 --> 00:19:46.217
¶¶

397
00:19:46.285 --> 00:19:53.124
¶¶

398
00:19:53.126 --> 00:19:54.224
Man: Good evening,
everybody.

399
00:19:54.293 --> 00:19:56.560
[Indistinct]
has been showing us films

400
00:19:56.629 --> 00:19:57.761
of a nuclear mishap

401
00:19:57.830 --> 00:20:00.097
that occurred near Los Angeles
20 years ago,

402
00:20:00.166 --> 00:20:02.299
but which has not been revealed
to the public before.

403
00:20:02.368 --> 00:20:03.635
Thank you, John.

404
00:20:03.703 --> 00:20:06.972
The reactor was located 35 miles
from downtown Los Angeles.

405
00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:10.107
It was called The "Sodium
Reactor Experiment," or SRE.

406
00:20:10.109 --> 00:20:13.278
But in 1959, when it suffered
its fuel rod melting,

407
00:20:13.345 --> 00:20:15.446
the general public
was not informed.

408
00:20:15.514 --> 00:20:17.881
Local public safety officials
weren't told much, either.

409
00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:19.717
Today is the first time
that I've heard

410
00:20:19.719 --> 00:20:22.119
of the '59 incident, when you
mentioned it a while ago.

411
00:20:22.188 --> 00:20:25.856
Industry experts tell us
that certain risks were taken.

412
00:20:25.925 --> 00:20:28.994
Well, I was really
appalled at the --

413
00:20:29.061 --> 00:20:31.595
sort of the cavalier attitude
that they demonstrated.

414
00:20:31.664 --> 00:20:34.265
It was actually
very undramatic.

415
00:20:34.267 --> 00:20:37.534
It did not appear to be a hazard
to the public

416
00:20:37.603 --> 00:20:38.669
or to our employees.

417
00:20:38.738 --> 00:20:41.071
O feel less concerned about it
than I would

418
00:20:41.073 --> 00:20:44.341
the long-term effect
of the smog of Los Angeles.

419
00:20:44.410 --> 00:20:47.946
The potential hazard
of a major release

420
00:20:48.014 --> 00:20:50.081
into the environment
was just not there.

421
00:20:50.149 --> 00:20:52.716
Man: And it's taken until
this week, 20 years later,

422
00:20:52.785 --> 00:20:56.654
for the details
to be widely broadcast.

423
00:20:56.656 --> 00:20:57.922
Olney:
We all have the idea,

424
00:20:57.924 --> 00:21:01.426
all of us who were involved
in this project,

425
00:21:01.494 --> 00:21:05.896
that it had been
a cover-up.

426
00:21:05.965 --> 00:21:09.399
We know that we had to approach
this in a very,

427
00:21:09.469 --> 00:21:13.104
very careful way,
because we knew that

428
00:21:13.172 --> 00:21:15.973
we were looking at
a very powerful industry

429
00:21:16.042 --> 00:21:18.642
that had not been challenged
in the way

430
00:21:18.711 --> 00:21:21.713
that we were prepared
to challenge it ever before.

431
00:21:21.781 --> 00:21:23.448
It was a scary
proposition,

432
00:21:23.516 --> 00:21:25.183
to take on
the nuclear industry --

433
00:21:25.251 --> 00:21:27.318
a very scary
proposition.

434
00:21:27.320 --> 00:21:29.920
So, the accident at
Santa Susanna was serious,

435
00:21:29.922 --> 00:21:32.723
and yet, there's room for debate
on how well it was handled.

436
00:21:32.792 --> 00:21:36.261
We knew we had something
that was really important,

437
00:21:36.329 --> 00:21:39.596
particularly in the context
of what was going on

438
00:21:39.665 --> 00:21:40.864
at Three Mile Island.

439
00:21:40.933 --> 00:21:46.804
I think what it reveals is
that this great guarantee

440
00:21:46.873 --> 00:21:51.942
of the ultimate safety
of the industry was a phony.

441
00:21:51.944 --> 00:21:53.010
It was a fake.

442
00:21:53.012 --> 00:21:53.944
It was wrong.

443
00:21:54.013 --> 00:21:58.048
¶¶

444
00:21:58.050 --> 00:22:01.987
¶¶

445
00:22:02.054 --> 00:22:04.788
Hirsch: It was one of the worst
nuclear accidents in history,

446
00:22:04.857 --> 00:22:06.090
to that point.

447
00:22:09.395 --> 00:22:13.698
No one knew until my students
uncovered the documents

448
00:22:13.766 --> 00:22:15.166
two decades later,

449
00:22:15.234 --> 00:22:16.301
Man: The material
that we got

450
00:22:16.369 --> 00:22:18.736
mostly came from an outfit
in in Westwood

451
00:22:18.804 --> 00:22:20.705
called "Bridge the Gap,"
which is an anti-nuclear group.

452
00:22:20.774 --> 00:22:21.939
What happened
at Santa Susanna

453
00:22:22.007 --> 00:22:24.408
would not happen
at a well-run facility.

454
00:22:24.477 --> 00:22:29.413
This was a case of tremendous
environmental negligence.

455
00:22:29.415 --> 00:22:33.585
They cut corners over
and over and over again.

456
00:22:33.652 --> 00:22:35.920
The risks continued
for many decades.

457
00:22:35.988 --> 00:22:38.890
Duffield: The nuclear work
was over four decades.

458
00:22:38.958 --> 00:22:42.660
The other aerospace work
really didn't cease until 2006.

459
00:22:42.728 --> 00:22:47.264
So, over the course of decades,
in the course of accidents,

460
00:22:47.266 --> 00:22:50.201
spills, releases,
some intentional,

461
00:22:50.270 --> 00:22:54.806
the soil, and the groundwater,
and surface water runoff

462
00:22:54.874 --> 00:22:57.007
has become
very contaminated.

463
00:22:57.076 --> 00:22:59.743
Man: Produced by Rocketdyne,
a division of North American,

464
00:22:59.812 --> 00:23:01.879
in the canyons
of Southern California,

465
00:23:01.947 --> 00:23:03.682
the engine -- sometimes
called a "rocket,"

466
00:23:03.749 --> 00:23:05.149
sometimes called
a "power plant,"

467
00:23:05.151 --> 00:23:07.751
sometimes "the booster" --
is on.

468
00:23:07.753 --> 00:23:10.587
¶¶

469
00:23:10.656 --> 00:23:16.360
Kowalski: We'd all lived knowing
that there were rocket tests.

470
00:23:16.429 --> 00:23:18.695
We used to have
big booms.

471
00:23:18.764 --> 00:23:23.367
And we would see, like, mushroom
clouds above the facility.

472
00:23:23.436 --> 00:23:28.305
I would play outside with
my friends until it got dark.

473
00:23:28.374 --> 00:23:32.544
I'd be in the cul de sac,
and we'd all look up, and...

474
00:23:32.611 --> 00:23:34.546
We could hear those roars.

475
00:23:34.613 --> 00:23:37.214
Man: In California's
Santa Susanna Mountains,

476
00:23:37.216 --> 00:23:39.017
Rocketdyne engineers
that created

477
00:23:39.084 --> 00:23:42.252
America's largest
propulsion field laboratory.

478
00:23:42.321 --> 00:23:44.789
The whole of the Valley
would shudder.

479
00:23:44.857 --> 00:23:47.925
[ Man speaking indistinctly ]

480
00:23:47.993 --> 00:23:55.732
¶¶

481
00:23:55.734 --> 00:23:58.202
Tens of thousands
of rocket tests.

482
00:23:58.270 --> 00:24:00.471
And those would
produce huge plumes

483
00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:02.574
of contamination
that would be spreading

484
00:24:02.641 --> 00:24:04.007
at substantial distance.

485
00:24:04.076 --> 00:24:05.743
Man:
On the ashes of campfires

486
00:24:05.811 --> 00:24:07.979
built here
by [indistinct],

487
00:24:08.047 --> 00:24:10.881
engines poured forth
their pillars of flame.

488
00:24:10.950 --> 00:24:13.350
Over 30,000
rocket engine tests.

489
00:24:13.419 --> 00:24:15.419
And a lot of
the chemical contamination

490
00:24:15.421 --> 00:24:17.421
on the site
is a result of that.

491
00:24:17.423 --> 00:24:20.158
Hirsch: They ended up flushing
out rocket test engines

492
00:24:20.226 --> 00:24:23.760
with a very toxic solvent
called "TCE" --

493
00:24:23.829 --> 00:24:25.729
hundreds of thousands
of gallons,

494
00:24:25.798 --> 00:24:30.200
leaving half a million gallons
of TCE in the groundwater.

495
00:24:30.269 --> 00:24:31.502
Duffield: There was
a hot lab there,

496
00:24:31.571 --> 00:24:33.904
there they would re-process
nuclear fuel

497
00:24:33.973 --> 00:24:36.073
that was shipped in
from around the country.

498
00:24:36.075 --> 00:24:37.408
That lab had fires.

499
00:24:37.410 --> 00:24:39.710
Man: Gamma radiation is hard
to work with sometimes.

500
00:24:39.778 --> 00:24:41.845
They also had
open burn pits.

501
00:24:41.914 --> 00:24:43.281
There, they would take,
each month,

502
00:24:43.348 --> 00:24:47.484
100 or so 55-gallon drums
of toxic chemicals,

503
00:24:47.554 --> 00:24:50.455
and they would shoot at them
with rifles, to ignite them.

504
00:24:50.522 --> 00:24:51.722
And they would
catch fire.

505
00:24:51.790 --> 00:24:54.725
Huge plumes
of toxic smoke.

506
00:24:54.794 --> 00:24:57.294
Workers were killed
because they were

507
00:24:57.363 --> 00:24:59.997
illegally disposing
of hazardous materials

508
00:24:59.999 --> 00:25:01.666
by blowing them up
on the property.

509
00:25:01.734 --> 00:25:03.433
Duffield:
10 Nuclear reactors,

510
00:25:03.502 --> 00:25:05.403
three of which
suffered accidents.

511
00:25:05.471 --> 00:25:07.505
These activities went on
for decades.

512
00:25:07.573 --> 00:25:13.210
¶¶

513
00:25:13.212 --> 00:25:16.280
Hirsch: During that period,
the population just mushroomed.

514
00:25:16.282 --> 00:25:17.448
[Indistinct]

515
00:25:17.450 --> 00:25:19.716
And I think anyone
who has a fear

516
00:25:19.785 --> 00:25:22.019
of anything like that,
they should be told,

517
00:25:22.021 --> 00:25:24.188
given a chance to say, "No,
I don't want to live here."

518
00:25:24.190 --> 00:25:26.691
Man: It did not appear
to be a hazard to the public

519
00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:28.025
or to our employees.

520
00:25:28.027 --> 00:25:30.327
The potential hazard
of a major release

521
00:25:30.396 --> 00:25:32.230
into the environment
was just not there.

522
00:25:32.298 --> 00:25:36.234
¶¶

523
00:25:36.302 --> 00:25:38.602
Dodge: The Santa Susanna
Field Lab hill

524
00:25:38.671 --> 00:25:41.406
is contaminated with
a veritable who's who

525
00:25:41.473 --> 00:25:44.174
of toxic chemicals,
from heavy metals,

526
00:25:44.243 --> 00:25:48.645
to dioxins, to percolate,
to volatile organic acids,

527
00:25:48.714 --> 00:25:51.248
and multiple
radioactive neuclides,

528
00:25:51.317 --> 00:25:54.251
which come from
the nuclear partial meltdown,

529
00:25:54.320 --> 00:25:56.720
and also numerous accidents
over the years

530
00:25:56.789 --> 00:25:58.522
with the other reactors
on site.

531
00:25:58.524 --> 00:25:59.923
When it comes to
radioneuclides,

532
00:25:59.992 --> 00:26:01.658
we actually describe
not the half life --

533
00:26:01.727 --> 00:26:05.262
which is the time where, after
which it would be half as potent

534
00:26:05.331 --> 00:26:07.198
as it was,
as it degrades.

535
00:26:07.266 --> 00:26:09.700
We describe something called
its "hazardous life,"

536
00:26:09.769 --> 00:26:12.537
which is actually equivalent
to 20 half-lives.

537
00:26:12.605 --> 00:26:14.137
So, these are
the most dangerous,

538
00:26:14.206 --> 00:26:16.940
which we have well studied,
and well --

539
00:26:17.009 --> 00:26:19.676
a high awareness
of their health impacts

540
00:26:19.745 --> 00:26:25.683
that go on for these hundreds,
if not half a million years.

541
00:26:25.685 --> 00:26:27.150
Duffield: Right now,
half a million people

542
00:26:27.219 --> 00:26:29.621
live within 10 miles
of the site.

543
00:26:31.690 --> 00:26:34.625
Hirsch: I'm asked over and over
again, "Where is it safe?

544
00:26:34.627 --> 00:26:35.760
Where would it
be dangerous?"

545
00:26:35.828 --> 00:26:39.662
And after studying this
for almost 40 years,

546
00:26:39.664 --> 00:26:41.598
I'm afraid
I can't answer that.

547
00:26:41.600 --> 00:26:43.000
People need
to understand that

548
00:26:43.002 --> 00:26:44.301
the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

549
00:26:44.370 --> 00:26:46.637
is on a mountain.

550
00:26:46.705 --> 00:26:50.207
Gravity wants to carry
that contamination downhill.

551
00:26:52.044 --> 00:26:56.647
There is not a glass wall
surrounding Santa Susanna

552
00:26:56.715 --> 00:26:58.115
that prevents contaminants

553
00:26:58.183 --> 00:26:59.783
from being blown off-site
by the wind.

554
00:26:59.852 --> 00:27:03.387
The wind will carry
the contaminants.

555
00:27:03.455 --> 00:27:07.657
There is not some kind of a dam
built around this site,

556
00:27:07.727 --> 00:27:08.859
so that,
when it rains,

557
00:27:08.928 --> 00:27:11.928
the rainfall won't carry
the contaminants.

558
00:27:11.997 --> 00:27:13.897
So, when it rains,
the surface water

559
00:27:13.899 --> 00:27:18.235
carries the radioactivity
down intermittent streams.

560
00:27:18.304 --> 00:27:21.204
It's the headwaters
of the Los Angeles River.

561
00:27:21.273 --> 00:27:23.073
So, in terms of
L.A. County,

562
00:27:23.142 --> 00:27:25.075
you're contaminating
everything along the L.A. river

563
00:27:25.144 --> 00:27:28.078
and the various streams
that lead to it.

564
00:27:28.147 --> 00:27:29.880
There was
a children's camp

565
00:27:29.882 --> 00:27:32.416
called the "Brandeis-Bardin
Institute,"

566
00:27:32.418 --> 00:27:35.485
a Jewish training institute
for young children

567
00:27:35.554 --> 00:27:36.920
and for college students.

568
00:27:36.989 --> 00:27:40.090
It is right beneath the
Santa Susanna Field Laboratory.

569
00:27:40.159 --> 00:27:42.092
There has been
some contamination found

570
00:27:42.161 --> 00:27:44.596
on the Brandeis property,

571
00:27:44.663 --> 00:27:48.165
and there is concern about
the health of the children

572
00:27:48.167 --> 00:27:50.801
who have been
or are going to that facility.

573
00:27:50.870 --> 00:27:54.504
Soil contamination goes down
through the Brandeis camp,

574
00:27:54.573 --> 00:27:57.574
and into the arroyo,
where that contaminated water

575
00:27:57.643 --> 00:28:00.144
then percolates
into the groundwater.

576
00:28:07.086 --> 00:28:08.819
Man: It's like gel.

577
00:28:08.887 --> 00:28:10.254
Man #2: Ew, dude.

578
00:28:13.258 --> 00:28:16.027
Man: What is that?

579
00:28:27.707 --> 00:28:31.007
[ Indistinct talking ]

580
00:28:31.076 --> 00:28:32.410
Woman: Do you feel good
about [indistinct]?

581
00:28:35.581 --> 00:28:37.982
[ Indistinct talking ]

582
00:28:44.056 --> 00:28:50.894
¶¶

583
00:28:50.963 --> 00:28:57.968
¶¶

584
00:28:58.036 --> 00:29:04.976
¶¶

585
00:29:05.043 --> 00:29:12.082
¶¶

586
00:29:12.150 --> 00:29:13.383
Ready?
Ow, wow.

587
00:29:13.452 --> 00:29:15.085
That's fancy.

588
00:29:15.154 --> 00:29:22.994
¶¶

589
00:29:35.174 --> 00:29:38.609
[ Cheers and applause ]

590
00:29:38.677 --> 00:29:42.145
I don't know if you know,
but pH-positive leukemia

591
00:29:42.214 --> 00:29:43.447
is extremely rare.

592
00:29:43.449 --> 00:29:45.016
Melissa, will you tell me
what the statistic is?

593
00:29:45.083 --> 00:29:46.383
Do you remember?

594
00:29:47.219 --> 00:29:48.986
One in million.

595
00:29:49.054 --> 00:29:52.289
And while we already know
that Grace is one in a million,

596
00:29:52.291 --> 00:29:54.726
she shouldn't have
that kind of diagnosis.

597
00:29:54.793 --> 00:29:59.229
You've taught all of us here
how to keep going

598
00:29:59.231 --> 00:30:01.564
in the face
of something difficult,

599
00:30:01.633 --> 00:30:05.168
and we'd like to present you
with our Ever After Ball award.

600
00:30:05.238 --> 00:30:07.470
[ Applause ]

601
00:30:07.539 --> 00:30:15.478
¶¶

602
00:30:15.547 --> 00:30:23.486
¶¶

603
00:30:23.555 --> 00:30:31.495
¶¶

604
00:30:31.497 --> 00:30:39.469
¶¶

605
00:30:39.538 --> 00:30:47.444
¶¶

606
00:30:47.512 --> 00:30:55.485
¶¶

607
00:30:55.554 --> 00:31:03.460
¶¶

608
00:31:03.529 --> 00:31:11.601
¶¶

609
00:31:11.603 --> 00:31:19.410
¶¶

610
00:31:19.478 --> 00:31:21.845
Bumstead:
My daughter's a fighter.

611
00:31:21.914 --> 00:31:24.114
She's incredibly strong.

612
00:31:24.116 --> 00:31:25.749
I could not be
more proud of her,

613
00:31:25.818 --> 00:31:28.118
and yet, part of me
still grieves

614
00:31:28.186 --> 00:31:30.153
that she has to be
that way.

615
00:31:33.225 --> 00:31:35.193
You know, I wish more than
anything she could have

616
00:31:35.260 --> 00:31:37.261
just had
a normal childhood.

617
00:31:39.598 --> 00:31:41.664
You know, she was diagnosed
when she was 4.

618
00:31:41.733 --> 00:31:44.901
That's almost before anyone
can have a memory.

619
00:31:44.970 --> 00:31:48.238
She was immediately limited
from being around other kids

620
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.108
because of
the germ factor.

621
00:31:51.176 --> 00:31:56.546
But also, my son
was so emotionally impacted.

622
00:31:56.548 --> 00:31:59.116
Both of my children lost
a big part of their childhood,

623
00:31:59.184 --> 00:32:00.284
and that's not fair.

624
00:32:00.352 --> 00:32:03.053
We can never
give that back.

625
00:32:03.055 --> 00:32:05.221
My husband and I are trying
to heal our marriage

626
00:32:05.290 --> 00:32:09.393
from all the separation and pain
that we went through.

627
00:32:09.461 --> 00:32:11.696
And then,
what's left over is me.

628
00:32:14.166 --> 00:32:17.034
But I have a lot of friends
whose kids are still suffering.

629
00:32:19.838 --> 00:32:21.971
She didn't get to make a choice
if she wanted her child

630
00:32:22.041 --> 00:32:23.239
to live next to
this radiation.

631
00:32:23.308 --> 00:32:24.841
She'd probably never
heard of it before.

632
00:32:24.910 --> 00:32:29.913
¶¶

633
00:32:29.982 --> 00:32:31.314
I don't think
any of us should have had

634
00:32:31.383 --> 00:32:32.716
to have picked up
this burden.

635
00:32:35.287 --> 00:32:37.388
But I can't unlearn
what I know.

636
00:32:45.397 --> 00:32:49.166
So, the -- the...
we'll have to wait for the...

637
00:33:02.681 --> 00:33:04.013
You know what?
Why don't you tell him

638
00:33:04.083 --> 00:33:06.850
I'm being interviewed for
a documentary on Santa Susanna,

639
00:33:06.852 --> 00:33:10.053
and that I'll call her
when I'm done.

640
00:33:10.122 --> 00:33:14.023
and put the fear of
[bleep] God into her.

641
00:33:14.093 --> 00:33:17.761
The site has three
responsible parties.

642
00:33:17.829 --> 00:33:19.196
There's the Department
of Energy,

643
00:33:19.264 --> 00:33:22.366
which leased part of
its property from Boeing.

644
00:33:22.434 --> 00:33:23.700
There's Nassau,

645
00:33:23.702 --> 00:33:25.168
and then,
there is Boeing itself,

646
00:33:25.237 --> 00:33:27.804
which owns
most of the site.

647
00:33:27.873 --> 00:33:29.340
Hirsch: At some point,
Rocketdyne was sold

648
00:33:29.408 --> 00:33:30.907
to Rockwell International,

649
00:33:30.976 --> 00:33:33.543
And Rockwell International
eventually sold

650
00:33:33.612 --> 00:33:36.246
its Rocketdyne division
to Boeing.

651
00:33:36.315 --> 00:33:39.282
And Boeing
assumed the liabilities

652
00:33:39.284 --> 00:33:41.051
of Rocketdyne
for the contamination

653
00:33:41.053 --> 00:33:42.585
of Santa Susanna.

654
00:33:42.654 --> 00:33:46.122
Reiser: The ultimate regulator
of the Santa Susanna field site

655
00:33:46.191 --> 00:33:47.590
is California,

656
00:33:47.659 --> 00:33:51.694
and specifically the Department
of Toxic Substances Control,

657
00:33:51.764 --> 00:33:55.331
which is a subdivision
of the California EPA.

658
00:33:55.400 --> 00:33:57.601
California is the one
who gets to say,

659
00:33:57.603 --> 00:33:59.403
"This is how much
gets cleaned up."

660
00:33:59.471 --> 00:34:01.538
We have the authority
to shut down a business

661
00:34:01.607 --> 00:34:05.141
when we feel like the health
of the community is at risk,

662
00:34:05.210 --> 00:34:07.210
and when we see
evidence of harm

663
00:34:07.212 --> 00:34:08.278
to the environment,
or to human health.

664
00:34:13.183 --> 00:34:15.285
Grover: There were a lot
of people that had a stake

665
00:34:15.354 --> 00:34:18.889
in keeping this story
under wraps.

666
00:34:18.957 --> 00:34:22.359
I had a number of insiders
at DTSC tell me,

667
00:34:22.428 --> 00:34:25.129
"The people that run
this agency have no interest

668
00:34:25.197 --> 00:34:27.363
in telling the truth
about Santa Susanna."

669
00:34:28.033 --> 00:34:32.235
My station broke a huge story
back in 1979.

670
00:34:32.304 --> 00:34:36.205
A few years ago,
the producer of that 1979 report

671
00:34:36.275 --> 00:34:38.676
came to see me at KNBC,
and he said,

672
00:34:38.743 --> 00:34:43.246
"There is a lot more to the
story that we broke back in '79.

673
00:34:43.248 --> 00:34:45.115
You have to continue
our work.

674
00:34:45.117 --> 00:34:46.384
You have to dig deeper."

675
00:34:46.451 --> 00:34:48.252
You might be wondering
why we should care about

676
00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:52.055
a nuclear accident that happened
more than half a century ago --

677
00:34:52.123 --> 00:34:54.392
because, as you're
about to see,

678
00:34:54.459 --> 00:34:56.193
thousands of people
in the San Fernando

679
00:34:56.195 --> 00:34:59.062
and Simi valleys
have been secretly exposed

680
00:34:59.131 --> 00:35:01.464
to dangerous
radioactive fallout.

681
00:35:01.533 --> 00:35:04.200
It was pretty clear to me
that there were people

682
00:35:04.269 --> 00:35:08.272
inside certain government
agencies, like the DTSC,

683
00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:11.875
who were very close
with Boeing.

684
00:35:11.943 --> 00:35:14.278
Tucker: That was a very
effective way for Boeing

685
00:35:14.346 --> 00:35:16.946
to buy protection
for themselves.

686
00:35:17.015 --> 00:35:18.615
I was looking into
the Department

687
00:35:18.617 --> 00:35:20.483
of Toxic
Substances Control,

688
00:35:20.485 --> 00:35:24.888
and I decided to look into, how
is it really regulating toxins?

689
00:35:24.956 --> 00:35:27.690
And we did get
very revealing material

690
00:35:27.759 --> 00:35:32.495
that showed us that the DTSC is
what I call a "captured agency."

691
00:35:32.564 --> 00:35:33.896
It's captured
by the polluters

692
00:35:33.966 --> 00:35:35.898
but it's actually
supposed to be regulating.

693
00:35:35.968 --> 00:35:37.100
Insiders at the

694
00:35:37.169 --> 00:35:39.370
State Department of Toxic
Substance Control.

695
00:35:39.437 --> 00:35:42.372
Told us that they were often
too lenient with polluters

696
00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:44.207
who didn't clean up
contamination.

697
00:35:44.209 --> 00:35:46.710
Boeing maintains
that there have been

698
00:35:46.778 --> 00:35:51.515
no adverse health impacts from
contamination at Santa Susanna.

699
00:35:51.583 --> 00:35:54.517
The DTSC has, while admitting
the contamination

700
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:56.052
has gotten off site,

701
00:35:56.054 --> 00:35:58.454
they'll say "it's not
getting off site at levels

702
00:35:58.523 --> 00:36:00.190
that are harmful
to human health."

703
00:36:00.259 --> 00:36:01.691
And that's just
not true.

704
00:36:01.693 --> 00:36:05.762
Tucker: Polluters are very adept
at flattering regulators,

705
00:36:05.830 --> 00:36:07.531
at grooming them,

706
00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:10.400
taking them by the hand
when they didn't know that much.

707
00:36:10.402 --> 00:36:11.801
Kind of showed them
the direction

708
00:36:11.870 --> 00:36:13.503
of what they wanted things
to look like.

709
00:36:13.572 --> 00:36:17.073
I also, as you know,
represent many private companies

710
00:36:17.075 --> 00:36:19.842
who have also found [indistinct]
to be balanced,

711
00:36:19.911 --> 00:36:23.279
to be thorough, and to be just
as open as she claims to be.

712
00:36:23.281 --> 00:36:26.049
Santa Susanna is kind of
a textbook civics lesson

713
00:36:26.117 --> 00:36:27.751
in the way
government works.

714
00:36:27.819 --> 00:36:29.820
People work in government
on an issue --

715
00:36:29.888 --> 00:36:33.023
in this case, Santa Susanna --
and then, they leave government,

716
00:36:33.091 --> 00:36:35.725
and they can make a lot
more money becoming a lobbyist

717
00:36:35.727 --> 00:36:37.594
for the company
involved in the issue --

718
00:36:37.662 --> 00:36:38.895
In this case, Boeing.

719
00:36:38.964 --> 00:36:43.633
The flotilla of fixers
that were hired by Boeing,

720
00:36:43.702 --> 00:36:46.769
many of them had direct
connections to Jerry Brown,

721
00:36:46.838 --> 00:36:48.271
or had worked for him.

722
00:36:48.273 --> 00:36:51.041
Reporter: It's been like a game
of musical chairs.

723
00:36:51.109 --> 00:36:53.910
A former environmental aide
to Governor Brown,

724
00:36:53.978 --> 00:36:56.446
a former head
of the state EPA,

725
00:36:56.514 --> 00:36:59.550
and the former chief lawyer
of the DTSC,

726
00:36:59.618 --> 00:37:03.186
have all switched sides,
and worked on behalf of Boeing

727
00:37:03.255 --> 00:37:05.456
to kill a full cleanup
of Santa Susanna.

728
00:37:05.523 --> 00:37:07.123
The Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

729
00:37:07.192 --> 00:37:09.593
is a really
complex cleanup.

730
00:37:09.661 --> 00:37:11.594
It costs
a lot of money.

731
00:37:11.663 --> 00:37:13.663
And any time
it costs a lot of money,

732
00:37:13.665 --> 00:37:16.866
there's going to be
politics at play.

733
00:37:16.868 --> 00:37:18.601
That leads to delay.

734
00:37:18.670 --> 00:37:23.139
In 2007, there was a consent
order signed between the DTSC

735
00:37:23.208 --> 00:37:25.408
and the responsible parties

736
00:37:25.410 --> 00:37:29.079
that basically did not establish
much of a cleanup standard.

737
00:37:29.147 --> 00:37:30.480
It was very weak.

738
00:37:30.482 --> 00:37:32.682
And it was exactly
what Boeing wanted.

739
00:37:32.751 --> 00:37:37.820
Duffield:
A recreational space cleanup,
which is what Boeing is pushing,

740
00:37:37.822 --> 00:37:41.090
is based off of people being
on a site very infrequently.

741
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:43.560
That would result in 98%
of the contamination

742
00:37:43.562 --> 00:37:44.562
not being cleaned up.

743
00:37:44.629 --> 00:37:46.763
People who live near
Santa Susanna

744
00:37:46.765 --> 00:37:48.699
do not live
in recreational areas.

745
00:37:48.767 --> 00:37:50.434
They live in
residential areas.

746
00:37:50.502 --> 00:37:53.571
All through the 2000s,
there was an effort

747
00:37:53.638 --> 00:37:55.038
to require full cleanup.

748
00:37:55.040 --> 00:37:57.106
Then-state senator
Sheila Kuehl

749
00:37:57.175 --> 00:37:58.307
represented the area.

750
00:37:58.377 --> 00:38:00.010
Introduced bill
after bill.

751
00:38:00.078 --> 00:38:02.378
Workers and neighbors
have become sick,

752
00:38:02.447 --> 00:38:03.781
and too many
have died.

753
00:38:03.848 --> 00:38:07.483
It's time to require
full and complete cleanup.

754
00:38:07.552 --> 00:38:11.254
I ask for your "aye" vote
on SB-990.

755
00:38:11.323 --> 00:38:15.125
And in 2007, she finally got
her legislation through.

756
00:38:15.193 --> 00:38:17.060
Tucker: Believe it or not,
under Schwarzenegger,

757
00:38:17.128 --> 00:38:20.663
there was an actual serious
effort to clean up that site.

758
00:38:20.732 --> 00:38:23.100
But after Governor Brown
came to office,

759
00:38:23.168 --> 00:38:25.134
things shifted
very dramatically.

760
00:38:25.203 --> 00:38:28.606
Boeing, however, went to court
to overturn the law.

761
00:38:28.673 --> 00:38:31.775
And through some exceedingly
troubling action

762
00:38:31.843 --> 00:38:35.411
by the Brown administration,
that lawsuit was lost.

763
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:40.016
Within five weeks of Jerry Brown
being sworn in, in 2011,

764
00:38:40.085 --> 00:38:42.618
a secret stipulation
was entered into

765
00:38:42.687 --> 00:38:46.222
between the state and Boeing
in that lawsuit.

766
00:38:46.291 --> 00:38:49.026
The state of California
actually stipulated

767
00:38:49.094 --> 00:38:53.229
that they would not contest
any material fact

768
00:38:53.231 --> 00:38:55.565
that Boeing would put forward
in the suit.

769
00:38:55.634 --> 00:38:57.367
And they actually agreed
to that stipulation,

770
00:38:57.435 --> 00:39:00.370
it's my understanding,
before ever having seen

771
00:39:00.439 --> 00:39:03.106
the material facts that
Boeing was going to put forward.

772
00:39:03.108 --> 00:39:06.709
The judge found it very easy
to overturn the law.

773
00:39:06.711 --> 00:39:09.980
The state waived the right
to dispute anything

774
00:39:10.048 --> 00:39:11.648
that Boeing might say

775
00:39:11.716 --> 00:39:13.850
without knowing
what those things would be.

776
00:39:13.852 --> 00:39:15.518
It was a major blow.

777
00:39:15.587 --> 00:39:17.653
And it was exactly
what Boeing wanted.

778
00:39:17.722 --> 00:39:19.255
And they got it.

779
00:39:19.257 --> 00:39:21.758
There are those that think your
agency is too cozy with Boeing.

780
00:39:21.826 --> 00:39:22.793
I haven't seen it,

781
00:39:22.861 --> 00:39:24.126
And I've looked
for it.

782
00:39:24.128 --> 00:39:26.329
NASA and the Department
of Energy

783
00:39:26.397 --> 00:39:30.300
also signed 2010 agreements
with the State of California.

784
00:39:30.302 --> 00:39:33.404
And these were actually
really historic agreements.

785
00:39:33.471 --> 00:39:34.905
And what they do is,

786
00:39:34.973 --> 00:39:37.807
they say the Santa Susanna
Field Laboratory

787
00:39:37.809 --> 00:39:40.243
has to be cleaned up
to background levels.

788
00:39:40.312 --> 00:39:41.945
And essentially,
what that means is that,

789
00:39:42.013 --> 00:39:44.548
if there's contamination
on site, it gets cleaned up.

790
00:39:44.616 --> 00:39:47.084
From your vantage point,
what is the status

791
00:39:47.152 --> 00:39:50.688
of NASA's actions,
with respect to the cleanup?

792
00:39:50.755 --> 00:39:52.889
Yes, Congressman, all the
information you just relayed,

793
00:39:52.891 --> 00:39:55.158
it is my understanding,
as well, that's where we are.

794
00:39:55.226 --> 00:39:57.093
And NASA's committed
to fulfilling

795
00:39:57.095 --> 00:39:59.262
our obligations
under the AOC.

796
00:39:59.330 --> 00:40:01.030
I'm tired of fighting.

797
00:40:01.099 --> 00:40:03.833
Let's clean up
the background.

798
00:40:03.902 --> 00:40:05.735
Let's get
this site closed.

799
00:40:05.804 --> 00:40:07.437
Yes, things happen.

800
00:40:07.505 --> 00:40:09.239
Yes, they are unfortunate.

801
00:40:09.307 --> 00:40:11.974
And we've made a commitment
to clean it up.

802
00:40:12.043 --> 00:40:14.911
That cleanup was supposed to
already have been concluded

803
00:40:14.979 --> 00:40:16.646
by 2017.

804
00:40:16.648 --> 00:40:18.714
And Boeing
and the federal agencies

805
00:40:18.783 --> 00:40:21.017
have ensured
it hasn't even started.

806
00:40:21.019 --> 00:40:23.119
And I'm certain that
these federal agencies

807
00:40:23.188 --> 00:40:25.321
do not want to set
a precedent,

808
00:40:25.390 --> 00:40:29.492
in terms of really cleaning up
to a proper standard.

809
00:40:29.561 --> 00:40:33.664
And what happens when you cut
your corners on safety is

810
00:40:33.731 --> 00:40:35.065
you kill people.

811
00:40:35.133 --> 00:40:38.935
And that's exactly what
Boeing did with the 737 MAX.

812
00:40:38.937 --> 00:40:40.203
That is their style.

813
00:40:40.271 --> 00:40:43.606
The Department of Energy,
NASA, and Boeing

814
00:40:43.608 --> 00:40:46.809
have made repeated promises
to clean it up,

815
00:40:46.878 --> 00:40:49.879
as has the state Toxics agency
that oversees them.

816
00:40:49.948 --> 00:40:52.616
And those promises have been
broken over and over again.

817
00:40:52.684 --> 00:40:56.019
Will anyone from your agency
talk to us at all?

818
00:40:56.021 --> 00:40:57.620
My policy people
have talked to you.

819
00:40:57.689 --> 00:40:59.655
We've made a commitment
to clean it up.

820
00:40:59.724 --> 00:41:01.290
I've said all
I'm going to say.

821
00:41:01.359 --> 00:41:03.693
At the end of the day, because
it's the right thing to do.

822
00:41:03.762 --> 00:41:06.362
You've said nothing.

823
00:41:06.364 --> 00:41:10.266
And that means that there
have been years and years

824
00:41:10.268 --> 00:41:13.669
of additional migration possible
that wouldn't have been possible

825
00:41:13.738 --> 00:41:15.672
if they had lived up
to their commitments.

826
00:41:15.740 --> 00:41:18.307
It's my commitment to the people
of California that,

827
00:41:18.376 --> 00:41:19.710
when I'm gone,

828
00:41:19.777 --> 00:41:22.846
I've left in place a system
that is robust,

829
00:41:22.914 --> 00:41:26.282
defensible, and meaningful
for the future.

830
00:41:26.351 --> 00:41:27.650
Can you see how
some people

831
00:41:27.652 --> 00:41:31.087
would think this is
more lip service?

832
00:41:31.155 --> 00:41:32.088
I would hope
they wouldn't.

833
00:41:50.942 --> 00:41:55.612
Woman: You're going about
everything is different.rom,

834
00:42:01.019 --> 00:42:02.886
And it is truly
the biggest nightmare

835
00:42:02.954 --> 00:42:04.821
any parent
could ever imagine.

836
00:42:04.890 --> 00:42:11.794
¶¶

837
00:42:11.863 --> 00:42:15.898
Duffield: In 2006, there was
a cluster of retinoblastoma.

838
00:42:15.967 --> 00:42:19.168
This is a rare eye cancer
affecting young children.

839
00:42:19.237 --> 00:42:22.972
There is just under 300
diagnosed in the United States,

840
00:42:23.041 --> 00:42:26.109
and there were 11 cases
right near the site.

841
00:42:26.111 --> 00:42:28.044
We have very,
very strong evidence

842
00:42:28.113 --> 00:42:29.912
that the first group
of mothers

843
00:42:29.914 --> 00:42:33.583
whose children suffered from
retinoblastoma did sue Boeing,

844
00:42:33.651 --> 00:42:34.917
and did settle,

845
00:42:34.919 --> 00:42:36.286
and as part of
that settlement,

846
00:42:36.354 --> 00:42:39.790
were no longer allowed to talk
to the media, or get involved.

847
00:42:39.857 --> 00:42:43.159
If you have a child with cancer,
it's very expensive.

848
00:42:43.227 --> 00:42:46.362
I know one mother in particular
I talked to recently who,

849
00:42:46.364 --> 00:42:49.665
their family is bankrupt, now,
caring for their daughter.

850
00:42:49.734 --> 00:42:53.003
So, I can understand,
if I was one of those mothers,

851
00:42:53.071 --> 00:42:56.272
why they might have went
with that agreement.

852
00:42:56.341 --> 00:43:01.744
And now, several years later,
we're seeing new cases

853
00:43:01.746 --> 00:43:04.348
of pediatric cancers
that are near the site.

854
00:43:04.415 --> 00:43:07.283
Any amount of exposure
to some increased risk

855
00:43:07.285 --> 00:43:08.618
over background cancer,

856
00:43:08.687 --> 00:43:10.953
particularly for pregnant women
and children.

857
00:43:10.955 --> 00:43:14.790
Dodge: The [Indistinct] report,
which came out in 2006,

858
00:43:14.859 --> 00:43:18.028
that landmark study
ended up showing

859
00:43:18.096 --> 00:43:20.363
that there is no linear
threshold --

860
00:43:20.431 --> 00:43:24.701
that any level, any level of
radionuclide exposure

861
00:43:24.769 --> 00:43:26.335
above background

862
00:43:26.404 --> 00:43:28.838
had an inherent increased risk
of cancer.

863
00:43:28.906 --> 00:43:35.444
There is a dramatic increase
in very rare and bizarre cancers

864
00:43:35.513 --> 00:43:39.816
that typically may happen
a few times across the nation.

865
00:43:39.884 --> 00:43:42.518
And what we've been noting
over the years is,

866
00:43:42.520 --> 00:43:43.653
we have children --

867
00:43:43.655 --> 00:43:47.790
not one, but two, or three,
or four children

868
00:43:47.792 --> 00:43:52.061
within the community
surrounding the test lab

869
00:43:52.063 --> 00:43:53.597
have these
unusual cancers.

870
00:43:53.665 --> 00:43:57.133
Hirsch: Boeing itself
did risk assessments

871
00:43:57.201 --> 00:43:58.401
of what the risk
would be

872
00:43:58.469 --> 00:44:01.103
if someone were to live
on the property.

873
00:44:01.172 --> 00:44:03.706
And their own estimate
for some of the locations

874
00:44:03.775 --> 00:44:05.207
was that the cancer risk

875
00:44:05.276 --> 00:44:08.878
was as high as 96
out of 100 --

876
00:44:08.946 --> 00:44:10.546
meaning, if 100 people
live there,

877
00:44:10.548 --> 00:44:12.816
96 would get cancer
from the contamination.

878
00:44:12.884 --> 00:44:15.418
The EPA and DTSC
normally require

879
00:44:15.486 --> 00:44:18.387
that the risk be kept at
one in a million.

880
00:44:18.456 --> 00:44:21.023
So, you can see how serious
the contamination is,

881
00:44:21.025 --> 00:44:23.859
and how large the problem
would be if they left it behind.

882
00:44:23.928 --> 00:44:27.096
Man:
We found documents that show the
radiation has moved off site,

883
00:44:27.165 --> 00:44:29.965
including at
the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

884
00:44:30.034 --> 00:44:31.500
Bycel:
My name is Lee Bycel,

885
00:44:31.569 --> 00:44:34.370
and I was the president
of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute

886
00:44:34.372 --> 00:44:37.941
from spring of 2000
to June of 2003.

887
00:44:37.943 --> 00:44:41.777
Prior to accepting the job,
I asked the chair of the board

888
00:44:41.846 --> 00:44:44.413
if there was anything
that I needed to be worry about.

889
00:44:44.415 --> 00:44:46.649
And she said,
"It's all good.

890
00:44:46.718 --> 00:44:49.986
We've had a settlement,
and everything in that land

891
00:44:49.988 --> 00:44:52.756
has been cleaned up, and
there's nothing to worry about."

892
00:44:52.823 --> 00:44:55.524
I think one of the most
surprising documents

893
00:44:55.593 --> 00:44:59.930
we unearthed was an internal
report commissioned by the camp

894
00:44:59.997 --> 00:45:04.066
that proved there was a lot of
contamination from Santa Susanna

895
00:45:04.135 --> 00:45:06.402
that ran down into
this children's camp.

896
00:45:06.471 --> 00:45:08.904
And it was the basis
for the camp

897
00:45:08.973 --> 00:45:11.407
suing the owners
of the field lab,

898
00:45:11.476 --> 00:45:14.277
and then secretly settling
that lawsuit.

899
00:45:14.345 --> 00:45:16.747
So, when I hear about
a settlement,

900
00:45:16.814 --> 00:45:19.415
what comes to mind is that
there's liability there.

901
00:45:19.484 --> 00:45:22.251
We don't often want to hear
the dark side of things.

902
00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:25.022
We don't often want to hear
that there's something wrong.

903
00:45:25.089 --> 00:45:27.089
They have not
been transparent

904
00:45:27.091 --> 00:45:29.892
in exactly what's going on
up there -- even now.

905
00:45:29.961 --> 00:45:34.997
How can one person be diagnosed
with thyroid cancer at age 4,

906
00:45:34.999 --> 00:45:36.900
with two recurrences,

907
00:45:36.968 --> 00:45:40.303
and then end up with
an extremely rare uterine cancer

908
00:45:40.371 --> 00:45:44.306
with no family history
of any kind?

909
00:45:44.375 --> 00:45:47.777
Kowalski: We were four women,
were all cancer-free.

910
00:45:47.845 --> 00:45:53.249
And now, fast forward,
we're only one cancer-free.

911
00:45:53.317 --> 00:45:56.852
I had stage three to four
bladder cancer.

912
00:45:56.921 --> 00:45:58.088
I just was shocked.

913
00:45:58.156 --> 00:46:00.656
And then,
I was so angry.

914
00:46:00.725 --> 00:46:05.361
My mother was diagnosed
with glioblastoma in 2001.

915
00:46:05.429 --> 00:46:09.599
She passed away seven weeks
later, at the age of 58.

916
00:46:09.667 --> 00:46:13.669
And my father was diagnosed with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia

917
00:46:13.738 --> 00:46:14.671
in 2003.

918
00:46:14.739 --> 00:46:17.474
He passed away
in 2010.

919
00:46:17.542 --> 00:46:19.742
Tyler: My middle sister
developed a goiter

920
00:46:19.811 --> 00:46:21.277
when she was
11 years old.

921
00:46:21.345 --> 00:46:24.346
And that later turned into
thyroid cancer.

922
00:46:24.415 --> 00:46:28.351
My father survived his cancer,
and my mother suffered

923
00:46:28.353 --> 00:46:31.954
with ovarian cancer
and colon cancer.

924
00:46:31.956 --> 00:46:33.155
And she couldn't take it,

925
00:46:33.224 --> 00:46:36.793
so my mom actually ended up
committing suicide.

926
00:46:36.861 --> 00:46:39.695
My oldest sister was diagnosed
with brain cancer

927
00:46:39.697 --> 00:46:41.897
and glioblastoma.

928
00:46:41.966 --> 00:46:44.533
As she was dying,
two years later,

929
00:46:44.602 --> 00:46:47.504
her own daughter was diagnosed
with cancer, too.

930
00:46:47.572 --> 00:46:53.943
And she passed just eight months
after my sister.

931
00:46:54.011 --> 00:46:57.713
To hear that your child
has a life-threatening disease

932
00:46:57.782 --> 00:46:59.915
absolutely shakes you
to your core.

933
00:46:59.984 --> 00:47:02.384
It was really, really
devastating to the family.

934
00:47:02.453 --> 00:47:04.486
Every day, it was like
the rug was

935
00:47:04.555 --> 00:47:06.255
being taken out
from under us.

936
00:47:06.324 --> 00:47:09.859
Our world ended
on that day.

937
00:47:09.861 --> 00:47:14.396
And this new reality
had to come into existence.

938
00:47:14.465 --> 00:47:15.931
I thought she was
gonna beat it.

939
00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:17.066
I really did.

940
00:47:20.404 --> 00:47:21.538
She didn't.

941
00:47:24.709 --> 00:47:28.144
I think we're just
in denial.

942
00:47:28.146 --> 00:47:30.279
Endy: Which is a beautiful
thing, to be in denial,

943
00:47:30.281 --> 00:47:35.018
because you get to enjoy
every moment, you know?

944
00:47:35.086 --> 00:47:37.287
So, that's the
best thing.

945
00:47:37.355 --> 00:47:40.156
¶¶

946
00:47:40.158 --> 00:47:42.558
Huff:
I can't just leave.

947
00:47:42.627 --> 00:47:44.560
It's hard to
give everything up

948
00:47:44.629 --> 00:47:46.762
because somebody can't do
the right thing.

949
00:47:46.831 --> 00:47:49.498
Where do you go that
you really know you're safe?

950
00:47:49.500 --> 00:47:52.568
You know, I mean, I moved here
thinking I was safe.

951
00:47:52.570 --> 00:47:53.836
And why should we leave?

952
00:47:53.905 --> 00:47:55.638
We came here
in good faith.

953
00:47:55.706 --> 00:47:56.872
Why should we leave?

954
00:47:56.941 --> 00:47:58.674
They need to
clean up their crap.

955
00:48:00.979 --> 00:48:04.513
You can't sit back,
and pretend it's not real.

956
00:48:04.582 --> 00:48:06.116
You have to
do something.

957
00:48:08.319 --> 00:48:11.188
Woman: Who is the person
who could make a difference

958
00:48:11.255 --> 00:48:12.455
in all of this?

959
00:48:16.060 --> 00:48:18.861
Who can make
a difference?

960
00:48:31.475 --> 00:48:34.945
Melissa: I'm never
not thinking about it.

961
00:48:35.012 --> 00:48:37.279
And I'm never not thinking about
how we can --

962
00:48:37.281 --> 00:48:39.615
we can change things because
it's not only my community

963
00:48:39.684 --> 00:48:40.883
I'm trying to protect.

964
00:48:40.885 --> 00:48:42.018
I mean, we live here.

965
00:48:42.086 --> 00:48:43.887
My -- My kids live here.

966
00:48:43.955 --> 00:48:46.355
Okay, Grace, you ready?
Look both ways.

967
00:48:46.424 --> 00:48:49.692
Good. Let's cross.

968
00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:50.959
I will not.

969
00:48:51.029 --> 00:48:54.164
I never thought I was smart
growing up.

970
00:48:54.231 --> 00:48:55.698
I never trusted myself

971
00:48:55.766 --> 00:48:57.166
and I never really
valued myself.

972
00:48:57.168 --> 00:48:58.233
One of your presents,

973
00:48:58.302 --> 00:49:01.170
you're gonna want
to open sooner.

974
00:49:01.238 --> 00:49:04.773
I do feel
incredibly small.

975
00:49:04.775 --> 00:49:06.575
And it's hard to say that
because

976
00:49:06.577 --> 00:49:09.379
with that comes
the lack of control that I feel.

977
00:49:16.253 --> 00:49:18.255
When Gracie got diagnosed,

978
00:49:18.322 --> 00:49:20.222
there was this one moment
in the hospital

979
00:49:20.291 --> 00:49:23.392
where, you know, she had
a port underneath her skin

980
00:49:23.461 --> 00:49:25.260
and they had to pierce the port
with a needle

981
00:49:25.329 --> 00:49:27.730
to get her, you know, chemo
or blood transfusions

982
00:49:27.732 --> 00:49:29.399
or whatever it was she needed.

983
00:49:29.467 --> 00:49:31.801
But they had a very specific
process of cleaning

984
00:49:31.869 --> 00:49:33.469
and sterilizing
all the equipment

985
00:49:33.471 --> 00:49:35.004
before you attach the two.

986
00:49:35.006 --> 00:49:36.172
And I had, two days earlier,

987
00:49:36.240 --> 00:49:39.108
had had a huge lesson
on how to do it properly

988
00:49:39.177 --> 00:49:42.344
because we had to
do that at home.

989
00:49:42.413 --> 00:49:45.748
And we're in the operating room,

990
00:49:45.750 --> 00:49:48.984
and I saw the nurse
wipe it twice.

991
00:49:48.986 --> 00:49:51.754
And they were supposed to do
at least 10 seconds of that.

992
00:49:51.822 --> 00:49:55.824
And then they're supposed to
let it dry for 20 seconds.

993
00:49:55.893 --> 00:49:58.227
And in that one second,
I realized,

994
00:49:58.295 --> 00:50:00.630
"I need to say something.
I need to stop this woman,

995
00:50:00.698 --> 00:50:02.498
because if she does that
and there's bacteria,

996
00:50:02.567 --> 00:50:04.133
it can go straight
into Gracie's bloodstream

997
00:50:04.202 --> 00:50:07.938
through her heart,
it can kill her."

998
00:50:08.005 --> 00:50:10.173
In that same exact second,
I thought,

999
00:50:10.241 --> 00:50:11.640
"If I say something,
she'll say,

1000
00:50:11.709 --> 00:50:12.875
'What do you know?
You're not trained.

1001
00:50:12.944 --> 00:50:13.976
I'm a nurse, you're not.
How dare you.

1002
00:50:14.045 --> 00:50:15.578
I'm an authority figure.
You're not.

1003
00:50:15.646 --> 00:50:17.180
I'm gonna embarrass you
for bringing this up

1004
00:50:17.248 --> 00:50:18.581
and rocking the boat.'"

1005
00:50:23.387 --> 00:50:27.089
And as she's going together,

1006
00:50:27.157 --> 00:50:29.925
I didn't --
I didn't do anything.

1007
00:50:29.994 --> 00:50:31.827
Because I ended up
being more afraid

1008
00:50:31.896 --> 00:50:36.031
of what she would say
than protecting my daughter.

1009
00:50:36.100 --> 00:50:37.733
And thank God nothing happened,

1010
00:50:37.802 --> 00:50:40.602
but I swore that moment

1011
00:50:40.671 --> 00:50:42.805
I will never,
ever let my children

1012
00:50:42.874 --> 00:50:46.041
be put in danger because
I was too scared to speak up.

1013
00:50:48.746 --> 00:50:51.348
And I think that was the day
I decided

1014
00:50:51.415 --> 00:50:52.948
I'm gonna hurt either way.

1015
00:50:53.017 --> 00:50:54.216
I might as well
make a difference.

1016
00:50:54.218 --> 00:50:57.086
I have
Melissa Bumstead.

1017
00:50:57.155 --> 00:50:59.187
-Melissa Bumstead...
-Melissa Bumstead...

1018
00:50:59.257 --> 00:51:03.158
I hope I'm not talking too fast,
but I'm pretty nervous.

1019
00:51:03.227 --> 00:51:04.961
This is alarming,
and we are concerned --

1020
00:51:04.963 --> 00:51:06.429
the cancer moms in my community.

1021
00:51:06.497 --> 00:51:08.330
I mean, these children
are on my street.

1022
00:51:08.399 --> 00:51:09.632
I've had it.

1023
00:51:09.700 --> 00:51:17.640
[ Singing indistinctly ]

1024
00:51:17.708 --> 00:51:20.142
A group of seven mothers and I,

1025
00:51:20.211 --> 00:51:22.044
not really understanding
what we were doing,

1026
00:51:22.113 --> 00:51:23.679
came to our first DTSC,

1027
00:51:23.747 --> 00:51:25.514
Department of
Toxic Substance Control,

1028
00:51:25.583 --> 00:51:27.616
meeting to find out
what is wrong?

1029
00:51:27.618 --> 00:51:29.451
Are we in danger?

1030
00:51:29.453 --> 00:51:31.887
And that was the first day
I realized we are in danger.

1031
00:51:31.956 --> 00:51:33.856
Through the change.org petition,

1032
00:51:33.858 --> 00:51:36.658
we started to get traction
and people started to care,

1033
00:51:36.727 --> 00:51:39.028
and I realized we weren't
alone in this fight.

1034
00:51:42.133 --> 00:51:44.400
We're here because of numerous
failures of regulators

1035
00:51:44.402 --> 00:51:45.534
to protect the public.

1036
00:51:45.603 --> 00:51:47.002
Reasonable people look at this
and say

1037
00:51:47.004 --> 00:51:48.538
"This -- This should not
be happening."

1038
00:51:48.605 --> 00:51:49.972
I got up there
and I was shaking my hand.

1039
00:51:49.974 --> 00:51:51.607
"How dare you do this
to my community?

1040
00:51:51.609 --> 00:51:54.009
You have lied about this,
tried to confuse all of us.

1041
00:51:54.078 --> 00:51:55.477
Why would you do this to us?"

1042
00:51:55.546 --> 00:51:56.979
Because it's cheaper for Boeing

1043
00:51:57.048 --> 00:51:59.748
to pay the relatively measly
fees your board imposes

1044
00:51:59.750 --> 00:52:01.350
than to clean up their mess.

1045
00:52:01.418 --> 00:52:03.420
You regulate Boeing,
not the other way around.

1046
00:52:03.487 --> 00:52:05.320
We are a force
to be reckoned with.

1047
00:52:05.389 --> 00:52:09.426
¶ Papa was a rolling stone ¶

1048
00:52:09.493 --> 00:52:13.061
¶ Wherever he laid his hat
was his home ¶

1049
00:52:13.130 --> 00:52:15.364
I've really changed.
I've really healed.

1050
00:52:15.432 --> 00:52:18.033
And now I'm willing to
have confrontation,

1051
00:52:18.102 --> 00:52:19.468
not for confrontation's sake,

1052
00:52:19.470 --> 00:52:22.504
but to protect people
that I care about.

1053
00:52:22.573 --> 00:52:25.841
You know, I still
wanted to throw up afterwards.

1054
00:52:25.843 --> 00:52:27.075
She's always been fierce.

1055
00:52:27.144 --> 00:52:29.545
Her motivation to never stop

1056
00:52:29.547 --> 00:52:31.113
just keeps getting stronger
and stronger.

1057
00:52:31.181 --> 00:52:33.515
Melissa Bumstead
is a superhero.

1058
00:52:33.517 --> 00:52:34.717
I've never met
anyone like her.

1059
00:52:34.785 --> 00:52:36.185
She's the face of this cleanup.

1060
00:52:36.187 --> 00:52:37.452
She's got to keep going.

1061
00:52:37.521 --> 00:52:39.989
People like Melissa will
change the tide of this fight,

1062
00:52:40.057 --> 00:52:41.924
and I know that
she has changed it already.

1063
00:52:41.992 --> 00:52:45.227
There's nothing like a mom
wanting to protect her children.

1064
00:52:45.297 --> 00:52:48.330
There's no force on Earth
that is more powerful.

1065
00:52:48.399 --> 00:52:51.400
Melissa: My daughter went
through excruciating pain,

1066
00:52:51.468 --> 00:52:54.770
and she buried two
of her friends last year.

1067
00:52:54.839 --> 00:52:58.173
We are praying to God
that we finally get the cleanup

1068
00:52:58.175 --> 00:53:00.008
because sometimes
I can't sleep at night

1069
00:53:00.077 --> 00:53:03.011
worrying that my children
are in danger.

1070
00:53:03.013 --> 00:53:05.014
And I know that
I'm not the only one.

1071
00:53:14.425 --> 00:53:17.060
Esparza: But what people maybe
don't remember

1072
00:53:17.127 --> 00:53:21.363
is that we're fitting a lifetime
into a year

1073
00:53:21.432 --> 00:53:23.432
or two
or three or five.

1074
00:53:23.434 --> 00:53:24.766
-Yes.
-And that, you know...

1075
00:53:24.835 --> 00:53:27.436
-So powerful, Gillian.
-...predict the future.

1076
00:53:27.438 --> 00:53:30.105
And that's true.
It's true for all of us.

1077
00:53:30.107 --> 00:53:32.341
Hammersley: One of the things
that I wish we could have done

1078
00:53:32.343 --> 00:53:35.912
because she was in the process
of getting a second wish granted

1079
00:53:35.980 --> 00:53:39.982
and her wish was to go was to go
to Kleinfeld's in New York

1080
00:53:39.984 --> 00:53:42.185
and try on wedding dresses
because her favorite show

1081
00:53:42.253 --> 00:53:44.319
was "Say Yes to the Dress."
-Right.

1082
00:53:44.388 --> 00:53:46.688
And we would watch it
in the hospital all the time.

1083
00:53:46.757 --> 00:53:49.325
And we got approved
and we were planning it

1084
00:53:49.327 --> 00:53:52.594
in January of last year.

1085
00:53:52.663 --> 00:53:54.530
And we were gonna
try to go in April.

1086
00:53:54.532 --> 00:53:55.932
Yeah.

1087
00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:58.868
But --
But she didn't get to,

1088
00:53:58.936 --> 00:54:01.770
and it sometimes is really hard
because I go, "Gosh,

1089
00:54:01.839 --> 00:54:03.538
she never got
to try on a wedding dress.

1090
00:54:03.607 --> 00:54:08.810
She never -- She'll never get to
walk down the aisle."

1091
00:54:08.879 --> 00:54:11.279
Like you said, we're trying
to fit in a lifetime.

1092
00:54:11.349 --> 00:54:14.216
Right.
In just a small
number of years,

1093
00:54:14.285 --> 00:54:17.287
and that's --
that's so powerful.

1094
00:54:17.354 --> 00:54:24.494
¶¶

1095
00:54:24.561 --> 00:54:28.230
The day she passed away,
my husband and I,

1096
00:54:28.299 --> 00:54:32.000
we weren't -- we weren't ready
to go home.

1097
00:54:32.069 --> 00:54:34.370
We left her at the hospital
and that was the hardest thing

1098
00:54:34.438 --> 00:54:38.573
we ever had to do
was to leave there without her.

1099
00:54:38.642 --> 00:54:41.311
It was so hard
to trust in anything,

1100
00:54:41.378 --> 00:54:45.447
because all you feel
is that tangible loss.

1101
00:54:45.516 --> 00:54:48.917
Keep praying and stay strong.

1102
00:54:52.589 --> 00:54:55.423
Hammersley: I tried to get to
a protest the other day,

1103
00:54:55.493 --> 00:54:59.194
but my body wouldn't let me.

1104
00:54:59.196 --> 00:55:01.596
Melissa and I
tell each other all the time,

1105
00:55:01.665 --> 00:55:03.999
like, "Just do what you can,
and that's okay.

1106
00:55:04.068 --> 00:55:06.134
And don't feel bad."

1107
00:55:06.136 --> 00:55:08.671
But it was hard because
I continued to feel guilty

1108
00:55:08.739 --> 00:55:10.405
because I was like,

1109
00:55:10.474 --> 00:55:15.744
"This -- This fight doesn't stop
just because I do."

1110
00:55:15.813 --> 00:55:20.550
But watching what Melissa
has done over this last year

1111
00:55:20.617 --> 00:55:23.285
has just been remarkable.

1112
00:55:25.556 --> 00:55:27.756
Being a mom is hard enough.

1113
00:55:27.825 --> 00:55:31.327
Being a mom of a childhood
cancer makes it harder.

1114
00:55:31.395 --> 00:55:34.162
Then being a mom who's trying
to protect all the kids

1115
00:55:34.231 --> 00:55:38.568
in her community from
some insidious exposure --

1116
00:55:38.635 --> 00:55:42.371
the level of responsibility
you end up taking on and feeling

1117
00:55:42.373 --> 00:55:48.310
is daunting and draining
and overwhelming.

1118
00:55:48.379 --> 00:55:50.746
I've seen the toll
that it's taken on her

1119
00:55:50.814 --> 00:55:54.583
because it's frustrating
when people don't listen.

1120
00:55:54.585 --> 00:55:56.351
But she still gets up
and she still fights,

1121
00:55:56.420 --> 00:56:01.189
and she still
is pushing so hard

1122
00:56:01.258 --> 00:56:03.325
because she's watched
her friends

1123
00:56:03.327 --> 00:56:04.927
bury their children.

1124
00:56:04.929 --> 00:56:12.068
¶¶

1125
00:56:12.136 --> 00:56:19.375
¶¶

1126
00:56:24.481 --> 00:56:31.486
Duffield: Melissa is the key
to the cleanup.

1127
00:56:31.555 --> 00:56:37.759
Melissa now is leading
the community in this effort,

1128
00:56:37.761 --> 00:56:41.497
and her voice is critical

1129
00:56:41.499 --> 00:56:43.166
and the leadership
that she's shown

1130
00:56:43.233 --> 00:56:45.834
in organizing her community
is critical,

1131
00:56:45.903 --> 00:56:50.506
and that will make
or break everything.

1132
00:56:53.076 --> 00:56:57.447
Anything else that is worth
putting a flag on?

1133
00:56:57.514 --> 00:56:59.781
I was thinking
something like this

1134
00:56:59.783 --> 00:57:02.184
might even be good
to put out to the community

1135
00:57:02.186 --> 00:57:04.052
who are trying to figure out
how to message it

1136
00:57:04.054 --> 00:57:05.321
to hit the right target,

1137
00:57:05.389 --> 00:57:07.590
and we don't really know
what the right next target is.

1138
00:57:07.658 --> 00:57:10.459
Right.
And then randomly,
she had an idea...

1139
00:57:10.461 --> 00:57:14.529
Hirsch: I admire Melissa
more than I can begin to say.

1140
00:57:14.598 --> 00:57:16.665
She's taken
this personal tragedy

1141
00:57:16.734 --> 00:57:19.202
and used that as motivation

1142
00:57:19.269 --> 00:57:22.271
and energy to try
to protect others.

1143
00:57:22.339 --> 00:57:24.673
And I've been in meetings
where Melissa and Grace

1144
00:57:24.742 --> 00:57:27.642
have gone to meet
with state senators,

1145
00:57:27.711 --> 00:57:30.278
and they touched their hearts
some.

1146
00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:33.615
It becomes much easier to do
what a polluter wants you to do

1147
00:57:33.684 --> 00:57:35.817
if you don't see
who gets hurt from it.

1148
00:57:35.886 --> 00:57:38.020
Duffield: We really have to
look to our decision makers

1149
00:57:38.088 --> 00:57:41.089
to commit to us that the site
will be fully cleaned up

1150
00:57:41.158 --> 00:57:44.493
in a timely manner and that
they will make that a priority.

1151
00:57:44.495 --> 00:57:45.861
How did you feel
about the meeting, Melissa?

1152
00:57:51.835 --> 00:57:54.837
These hundreds of thousands
of signatures on the petition

1153
00:57:54.905 --> 00:57:56.972
have turned things around
quite a bit.

1154
00:57:57.041 --> 00:57:58.174
The question is, is it enough?

1155
00:58:05.083 --> 00:58:08.650
[<i> Speaking indistinctly</i>
<i> on telephone</i> ]

1156
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:11.587
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

1157
00:58:14.925 --> 00:58:16.792
Well, it sounds like
they're driving through

1158
00:58:16.794 --> 00:58:19.527
the campaign trail,
and we fit in it.

1159
00:58:19.597 --> 00:58:21.796
He said that they're gonna bring
a lot of film cameras,

1160
00:58:21.865 --> 00:58:23.865
national news.

1161
00:58:23.934 --> 00:58:26.001
Okay, and so what if they say
he's not ready to sign?

1162
00:58:26.003 --> 00:58:30.071
Like they already know
he's not ready to sign?

1163
00:58:30.140 --> 00:58:33.442
But that's the conversation
that he might go to immediately

1164
00:58:33.511 --> 00:58:35.711
because I'm going to call him.
He asked that I would call.

1165
00:58:35.779 --> 00:58:38.413
Hi, hon.
How you doing?

1166
00:58:38.482 --> 00:58:40.950
Right.

1167
00:58:41.018 --> 00:58:43.351
Yep. Yep, yep.

1168
00:58:43.353 --> 00:58:45.587
[<i> Speaking indistinctly</i>
<i> on telephone</i> ]

1169
00:58:45.589 --> 00:58:47.690
[ Water running ]

1170
00:58:47.758 --> 00:58:50.292
Okay. Okay. Right.

1171
00:58:53.964 --> 00:58:55.030
Okay.

1172
00:58:55.098 --> 00:58:56.064
Okay, yeah.

1173
00:58:56.132 --> 00:58:57.866
Good, I mean,
at least I --

1174
00:59:02.706 --> 00:59:05.440
Okay. Thanks so much, you guys.
I so appreciate you.

1175
00:59:05.509 --> 00:59:09.044
All right. All right.
Bye.

1176
00:59:09.113 --> 00:59:11.313
[ Sighs ]

1177
00:59:11.315 --> 00:59:12.748
Hey, hon.

1178
00:59:25.929 --> 00:59:29.597
Melissa: I got a call from
John Cox's campaign manager.

1179
00:59:29.667 --> 00:59:31.533
They weren't really making
a huge effort,

1180
00:59:31.535 --> 00:59:33.935
and now it's four days
before the election,

1181
00:59:34.004 --> 00:59:36.005
and all of a sudden
they're, like, hounding me

1182
00:59:36.073 --> 00:59:39.475
to come to host this thing
where Cox can step in

1183
00:59:39.543 --> 00:59:41.878
with all these,
you know, crying cancer moms.

1184
00:59:41.945 --> 00:59:44.613
And it was just so much pressure
in such a short amount of time

1185
00:59:44.681 --> 00:59:46.081
to try to figure things out.

1186
00:59:46.149 --> 00:59:47.882
You know, Denise has been great
and she's saying,

1187
00:59:47.951 --> 00:59:50.019
"Melissa, you know, in the end,
this has to be your call

1188
00:59:50.087 --> 00:59:51.621
because this is your community

1189
00:59:51.688 --> 00:59:53.756
and you need to do
what you feel is right."

1190
00:59:53.824 --> 00:59:55.625
And then Dan's going like,
"You can't do this.

1191
00:59:55.692 --> 01:00:00.095
You know, you're walking
into a trap," essentially.

1192
01:00:00.163 --> 01:00:02.030
And so when I got that word,

1193
01:00:02.099 --> 01:00:03.431
I called them up and said,

1194
01:00:03.500 --> 01:00:05.902
"I prayed about it.
I don't feel good about it.

1195
01:00:05.969 --> 01:00:07.703
I'm sorry. I just can't do it."

1196
01:00:07.705 --> 01:00:10.372
And so I canceled.

1197
01:00:10.440 --> 01:00:12.240
I hate that.
I hate that politics

1198
01:00:12.242 --> 01:00:14.242
has to be part of anything I do,
to be honest.

1199
01:00:14.311 --> 01:00:17.912
I just like to be honest
and do what I feel is right

1200
01:00:17.981 --> 01:00:20.382
and kind of always
have my cards out.

1201
01:00:20.450 --> 01:00:21.850
I don't even know
if I made the right choice,

1202
01:00:21.852 --> 01:00:24.319
and now people are mad at me,
and I don't even know

1203
01:00:24.388 --> 01:00:25.854
if they're right or wrong.
And I don't know anything.

1204
01:00:25.922 --> 01:00:28.858
I just feel like
I don't know anything.

1205
01:00:28.925 --> 01:00:30.792
And then Dan saying, like --

1206
01:00:30.861 --> 01:00:32.728
I know he was trying to be nice,
but I kind of wish he hadn't.

1207
01:00:32.796 --> 01:00:35.063
He said, "You know, it's kind of
on your shoulders now, Melissa.

1208
01:00:35.132 --> 01:00:37.599
You've got to make this happen
or we're all gonna lose."

1209
01:00:37.601 --> 01:00:39.401
And I was like...

1210
01:00:39.469 --> 01:00:40.869
You know, some people
are trying to say, like,

1211
01:00:40.938 --> 01:00:43.071
"Oh, these people are using you
and these people are using you."

1212
01:00:43.073 --> 01:00:47.342
And I'm a very small person.

1213
01:00:47.344 --> 01:00:48.943
You know, I'm --

1214
01:00:49.012 --> 01:00:52.947
This is not what I thought
my life would be.

1215
01:00:53.016 --> 01:00:56.418
And I feel so little
and I feel so powerless

1216
01:00:56.486 --> 01:01:01.489
right now, and doesn't stop.

1217
01:01:01.491 --> 01:01:03.826
And then I have these
little times of melting down,

1218
01:01:03.894 --> 01:01:07.830
and then I pack it up
and wash my face.

1219
01:01:07.898 --> 01:01:10.165
And then I go pick up
the kids from school

1220
01:01:10.167 --> 01:01:11.733
and life just moves on.

1221
01:01:15.639 --> 01:01:17.238
I think that's all
I have to say.

1222
01:01:17.307 --> 01:01:23.645
¶¶

1223
01:01:23.713 --> 01:01:26.982
I've been dealing with
the Santa Susana facility

1224
01:01:26.984 --> 01:01:30.318
for 39 years.

1225
01:01:30.320 --> 01:01:33.455
I tried to walk away
from the Santa Susana issue

1226
01:01:33.523 --> 01:01:34.923
several years ago.

1227
01:01:34.992 --> 01:01:36.125
After the AOC was signed,

1228
01:01:36.193 --> 01:01:38.993
I thought there was no real need
for me to continue,

1229
01:01:39.062 --> 01:01:40.996
it was gonna get cleaned up.

1230
01:01:40.998 --> 01:01:42.798
And then when
the Brown administration

1231
01:01:42.866 --> 01:01:46.801
started to undo it,
I failed at trying to stop them.

1232
01:01:46.870 --> 01:01:51.473
But I have not been able
to somehow break what I feel

1233
01:01:51.541 --> 01:01:53.608
is a promise I made
to those people.

1234
01:01:53.677 --> 01:01:56.946
Even though it was a promise I
had no idea could take so long.

1235
01:01:57.013 --> 01:02:00.215
Duffield: Santa Susana is not
for the faint-hearted.

1236
01:02:00.217 --> 01:02:04.753
It's a long,
complicated struggle.

1237
01:02:04.755 --> 01:02:06.688
I'm an advocate.

1238
01:02:06.757 --> 01:02:08.890
We've been working for 30 years
with other groups

1239
01:02:08.892 --> 01:02:11.359
who've invested
a similar amount of time.

1240
01:02:11.428 --> 01:02:17.565
And so it's hard to not also
wonder, you know, what more --

1241
01:02:17.567 --> 01:02:21.036
is there anything more
that could have been done?

1242
01:02:21.104 --> 01:02:24.139
Hirsch: It's a fight between
those who have conscience

1243
01:02:24.207 --> 01:02:29.477
and those who whose concern
is primarily power and profit.

1244
01:02:29.545 --> 01:02:32.313
These fights never end.

1245
01:02:32.382 --> 01:02:35.450
And if you don't fight them,
you always lose.

1246
01:02:35.452 --> 01:02:44.993
¶¶

1247
01:02:45.062 --> 01:02:54.602
¶¶

1248
01:02:54.671 --> 01:03:04.145
¶¶

1249
01:03:04.214 --> 01:03:08.016
Reporter:
Right now, this fire is still
growing pretty quickly here,

1250
01:03:08.084 --> 01:03:11.920
blowing out of
the north-northeast.

1251
01:03:11.989 --> 01:03:16.491
And it's still continuing
at about 35 to 40 miles an hour.

1252
01:03:16.560 --> 01:03:17.827
We're watching
and we're looking at

1253
01:03:17.894 --> 01:03:20.562
some of these hotspots out here,
and it is very disheartening

1254
01:03:20.630 --> 01:03:23.498
for any of these folks
that are here living nearby.

1255
01:03:23.567 --> 01:03:28.738
¶¶

1256
01:03:28.805 --> 01:03:31.539
Reporter #2: The Woolsey Fire,
now over 30000 acres burnt.

1257
01:03:31.541 --> 01:03:33.374
Reporter #3: It's just
a monster, a nightmare out here.

1258
01:03:33.443 --> 01:03:36.110
Reporter #4:
This entire neighborhood
has been obliterated.

1259
01:03:36.112 --> 01:03:38.179
All the mountains
around here are scorched.

1260
01:03:38.181 --> 01:03:40.849
Reporter #5: Winds out here not
really helping the situation.

1261
01:03:40.851 --> 01:03:42.751
Reporter #6: This fire is fast.

1262
01:03:42.819 --> 01:03:45.453
It is fueled by
those Santa Ana winds.

1263
01:03:45.523 --> 01:03:47.089
Reporter #7:
Flames continuing to burn.

1264
01:03:47.157 --> 01:03:50.592
We have been this really
just run down the hillside.

1265
01:03:50.660 --> 01:03:54.130
You really can see how vast
this wildfire is,

1266
01:03:54.197 --> 01:03:57.132
threatening tens of thousands
of homes.

1267
01:03:57.200 --> 01:04:00.735
Reporter #8: Firefighters are
doing everything they can

1268
01:04:00.804 --> 01:04:02.537
to slow this thing down.

1269
01:04:02.606 --> 01:04:05.073
This fire here is still
being very stubborn.

1270
01:04:05.142 --> 01:04:07.877
Working its way out of
the Rocketdyne complex

1271
01:04:07.944 --> 01:04:09.811
over in the Bell Canyon.

1272
01:04:09.880 --> 01:04:12.381
[ Speaks indistinctly ]

1273
01:04:12.449 --> 01:04:20.088
¶¶

1274
01:04:20.090 --> 01:04:23.425
And just see how terrible the
air quality is out here as well.

1275
01:04:23.427 --> 01:04:25.526
We had to get up to about
10,000 feet just to get some

1276
01:04:25.595 --> 01:04:28.730
clear air
to breathe around here.

1277
01:04:28.799 --> 01:04:31.566
Our worst fear for 15 years,

1278
01:04:31.635 --> 01:04:33.901
that if a fire ever happened
at the lab,

1279
01:04:33.971 --> 01:04:36.038
it would be the easiest way
for those contaminants

1280
01:04:36.106 --> 01:04:37.572
to get to the public.

1281
01:04:37.641 --> 01:04:39.007
And here it's happened.

1282
01:04:47.584 --> 01:04:49.717
Reporter:
There are three questions
that we're investigating

1283
01:04:49.786 --> 01:04:51.819
about the devastating
Woolsey Fire --

1284
01:04:51.888 --> 01:04:53.988
where and how
did the fire start,

1285
01:04:54.057 --> 01:04:56.190
and is the smoke,
the smoke that is still

1286
01:04:56.259 --> 01:04:58.193
rising from the ground, toxic?

1287
01:04:58.262 --> 01:05:00.528
There is mounting evidence
that the fire started

1288
01:05:00.597 --> 01:05:02.464
at the Santa Susana Field Lab.

1289
01:05:02.532 --> 01:05:04.133
There is growing concern tonight

1290
01:05:04.200 --> 01:05:06.801
over toxic fallout
from the Woolsey Fire.

1291
01:05:06.803 --> 01:05:08.202
Reporter #2:
Government officials say

1292
01:05:08.271 --> 01:05:10.205
testing shows the air is safe.

1293
01:05:10.273 --> 01:05:13.208
Some doctors and advocates
call that a smoke screen.

1294
01:05:13.210 --> 01:05:15.677
Dodge: Smoke from any brush fire
is dangerous to inhale.

1295
01:05:15.745 --> 01:05:18.747
In this case, with these added,
very hazardous elements,

1296
01:05:18.815 --> 01:05:19.947
it makes it far more dangerous.

1297
01:05:20.017 --> 01:05:21.050
Reporter #3: A statement today

1298
01:05:21.117 --> 01:05:23.484
from the Department of
Toxic Substances Control

1299
01:05:23.553 --> 01:05:25.087
says initial tests show...

1300
01:05:25.155 --> 01:05:27.055
Reporter #4: ...official news
release claimed there was no --

1301
01:05:27.124 --> 01:05:29.190
Reporter #3: ...no risk
to people living nearby.

1302
01:05:29.259 --> 01:05:31.826
It did not appear
to be a hazard to the public.

1303
01:05:31.895 --> 01:05:34.496
No discernible signs of
radiation.

1304
01:05:34.564 --> 01:05:37.233
The potential hazard
of major release

1305
01:05:37.300 --> 01:05:39.767
into the environment
was just not there.

1306
01:05:39.769 --> 01:05:42.104
What was significant about
the Woolsey Fire

1307
01:05:42.172 --> 01:05:44.572
is that it started
on the property

1308
01:05:44.641 --> 01:05:47.275
of the Santa Susana
Field Laboratory.

1309
01:05:47.344 --> 01:05:52.848
It's very distressing
when you know how terribly

1310
01:05:52.916 --> 01:05:56.851
polluted it is to then turn on
the television

1311
01:05:56.853 --> 01:05:59.053
and see it in flames.

1312
01:05:59.122 --> 01:06:03.124
After the fire, you know,
80% of the site burned.

1313
01:06:03.126 --> 01:06:07.795
We have learned since then that
NASA took down tanks and piping

1314
01:06:07.797 --> 01:06:11.532
and had moved a fire station
that, had they been in place,

1315
01:06:11.601 --> 01:06:13.435
could have put that fire out.

1316
01:06:13.503 --> 01:06:15.436
Regardless of what happens
to the site,

1317
01:06:15.438 --> 01:06:18.606
it's always going to be
in a fire-risk area.

1318
01:06:18.675 --> 01:06:22.343
So why one would remove
water tanks and piping,

1319
01:06:22.412 --> 01:06:23.679
I don't know.

1320
01:06:44.634 --> 01:06:48.137
Duffield: And after the fire,
DTSC released an interim report.

1321
01:06:48.204 --> 01:06:49.538
For them to release a report

1322
01:06:49.606 --> 01:06:52.308
that shows them doing
air monitoring after the fire

1323
01:06:52.375 --> 01:06:53.875
is silly.

1324
01:06:53.944 --> 01:06:55.743
The greatest risk
was during a fire.

1325
01:06:55.745 --> 01:06:59.647
They have now admitted that
the burned vegetation

1326
01:06:59.716 --> 01:07:02.184
made the contaminants
in the soil more mobile,

1327
01:07:02.252 --> 01:07:05.887
and that's part of the reason
why we have these 57 exceedances

1328
01:07:05.955 --> 01:07:08.590
in storm water runoff
after the fire.

1329
01:07:08.658 --> 01:07:11.727
But the bottom line is
if it had been cleaned up

1330
01:07:11.795 --> 01:07:14.595
as it should have been by 2017,

1331
01:07:14.664 --> 01:07:16.865
we wouldn't be having
this conversation.

1332
01:07:19.402 --> 01:07:21.869
Dodge: The vegetation on site
is contaminated.

1333
01:07:21.871 --> 01:07:23.806
And as the vegetation burned,

1334
01:07:23.873 --> 01:07:26.674
it then aerosolized high up
into the atmosphere

1335
01:07:26.743 --> 01:07:29.077
and then was able to spread
across the basin.

1336
01:07:29.079 --> 01:07:32.613
Our concern, admittedly
for the fire

1337
01:07:32.682 --> 01:07:34.015
was that the contamination

1338
01:07:34.017 --> 01:07:37.051
probably spread mainly
the toxic chemicals,

1339
01:07:37.053 --> 01:07:39.188
which come from
the burning of fuels

1340
01:07:39.255 --> 01:07:41.356
and the rocket engine firings.

1341
01:07:41.358 --> 01:07:45.626
The dangerous levels of exposure
to chemical contaminants

1342
01:07:45.695 --> 01:07:48.630
somewhat follow a similar
pattern to the radionuclides.

1343
01:07:48.698 --> 01:07:50.966
Every level increases the risk.

1344
01:08:30.907 --> 01:08:32.408
My name is Mike Stenstrom.

1345
01:08:32.475 --> 01:08:34.675
I'm a member of
the expert panel.

1346
01:08:34.744 --> 01:08:37.612
And so I'd like to say that
we've been involved in this,

1347
01:08:37.681 --> 01:08:42.050
the panel has, since almost
the inception of the fire.

1348
01:08:42.052 --> 01:08:43.484
We are an independent panel.

1349
01:08:43.554 --> 01:08:47.288
We are funded by Boeing,

1350
01:08:47.357 --> 01:08:51.092
and we've been using
Geosyntec to assist us.

1351
01:08:51.161 --> 01:08:55.963
But, you see, there's a trend
of decreasing exceedances

1352
01:08:56.032 --> 01:08:57.900
as we move forward in time.

1353
01:08:57.967 --> 01:08:59.901
Man: Concentrations over
the course of the season

1354
01:08:59.969 --> 01:09:02.304
are returning
to pre-fire levels.

1355
01:09:02.372 --> 01:09:04.505
We have what we have here
is a lot of exceedances

1356
01:09:04.507 --> 01:09:07.909
in areas where you don't see
a lot of legacy contamination.

1357
01:09:07.977 --> 01:09:09.812
So the system's
already recovering,

1358
01:09:09.879 --> 01:09:11.346
and we're happy about that.

1359
01:09:11.414 --> 01:09:13.181
My name is Denise Duffield.
I'm the associate director

1360
01:09:13.249 --> 01:09:16.450
at Physicians for Social
Responsibility of Los Angeles.

1361
01:09:16.519 --> 01:09:19.721
I feel like I'm living
in an alternate universe,

1362
01:09:19.723 --> 01:09:22.790
though, after this very
Orwellian presentation.

1363
01:09:22.859 --> 01:09:27.929
57 exceedances and violations
is astonishing.

1364
01:09:27.997 --> 01:09:31.132
The expert panel
is paid by Boeing.

1365
01:09:31.201 --> 01:09:35.336
That begs a lot of credulity
on their independence.

1366
01:09:35.338 --> 01:09:37.406
It's an open, seeping wound
in our community

1367
01:09:37.473 --> 01:09:39.607
that threatens our public health
every time it rains

1368
01:09:39.676 --> 01:09:41.342
or the wind blows
or the fires burn.

1369
01:09:41.411 --> 01:09:42.543
I live in Simi Valley.

1370
01:09:42.545 --> 01:09:43.611
I have a 3-year-old.

1371
01:09:43.613 --> 01:09:45.813
I'm a Golden State Water
customer.

1372
01:09:45.882 --> 01:09:48.149
I've got groundwater
from below SSFL

1373
01:09:48.217 --> 01:09:50.385
being pumped into my home
with every bath,

1374
01:09:50.453 --> 01:09:52.087
with every meal.

1375
01:09:52.155 --> 01:09:54.223
It's your job to protect
my water source.

1376
01:09:54.290 --> 01:09:56.892
You regulate Boeing,
not the other way around.

1377
01:09:56.960 --> 01:09:58.560
Woman: Thank you.

1378
01:10:02.565 --> 01:10:03.899
I'm a little disappointed today.

1379
01:10:03.966 --> 01:10:06.968
I had actually assumed
that it would be

1380
01:10:06.970 --> 01:10:10.906
an independent panel,
expert panel speaking today.

1381
01:10:10.974 --> 01:10:13.307
I didn't know anything
about politics

1382
01:10:13.376 --> 01:10:15.343
until the last five years,
and I've learned

1383
01:10:15.411 --> 01:10:17.744
that you always have
to follow the money.

1384
01:10:17.746 --> 01:10:21.616
That's the basic understanding
of how America works these days,

1385
01:10:21.684 --> 01:10:23.718
unfortunately,
and I was very disappointed.

1386
01:10:23.787 --> 01:10:26.221
I'm sure their intellect is --

1387
01:10:26.289 --> 01:10:28.657
is better than mine, hands down.

1388
01:10:28.725 --> 01:10:31.426
However,
that's not an independent panel,

1389
01:10:31.428 --> 01:10:33.394
and the people of Los Angeles
deserve better

1390
01:10:33.463 --> 01:10:36.865
on such a critically
important issue.

1391
01:10:36.933 --> 01:10:38.534
We've got a lot of facts.
We know the facts.

1392
01:10:38.601 --> 01:10:40.669
We're all
intelligent people here.

1393
01:10:40.737 --> 01:10:44.205
But I think what is lacking is
courage to do the right thing.

1394
01:10:44.207 --> 01:10:47.475
And so I wanted to bring you
my daughter's beads of courage.

1395
01:10:47.544 --> 01:10:50.077
My daughter is a two-time cancer
survivor at 9 years old.

1396
01:10:50.079 --> 01:10:59.186
¶¶

1397
01:10:59.188 --> 01:11:03.558
I heard a lot of good news
about nominal exceedances,

1398
01:11:03.560 --> 01:11:08.229
but you need to understand that
these exceedances affect us.

1399
01:11:08.297 --> 01:11:10.198
We've come to find out
that our area

1400
01:11:10.266 --> 01:11:13.901
is above the national average
for childhood cancers.

1401
01:11:13.971 --> 01:11:15.971
We've had several
who've passed away

1402
01:11:16.039 --> 01:11:17.905
and this is the cost
of exceedances,

1403
01:11:17.974 --> 01:11:20.975
and I really ask you
to have the courage

1404
01:11:20.977 --> 01:11:24.578
to do the right thing.
Thank you.

1405
01:11:24.647 --> 01:11:26.481
Woman: Thank you.

1406
01:11:34.023 --> 01:11:35.757
Grover: This was part
of what was so amazing

1407
01:11:35.825 --> 01:11:38.159
about this story to me.

1408
01:11:38.228 --> 01:11:41.062
I grew up near the Field Lab.

1409
01:11:41.064 --> 01:11:44.265
Thousands of people have lived
near the Field Lab,

1410
01:11:44.333 --> 01:11:47.335
and most people
have never heard of it.

1411
01:11:47.403 --> 01:11:51.406
The Santa Susana issue
was almost dead,

1412
01:11:51.474 --> 01:11:55.543
and that fire jumpstarted
a whole new round of attention.

1413
01:11:55.611 --> 01:12:02.149
[ Tweeting sound ]

1414
01:12:02.218 --> 01:12:08.155
¶¶

1415
01:12:08.224 --> 01:12:10.425
Millions are learning
about the toxic threat

1416
01:12:10.427 --> 01:12:12.827
from the contaminated
Santa Susana Field Lab,

1417
01:12:12.829 --> 01:12:15.429
all because of tweets from
the Kardashians.

1418
01:12:15.498 --> 01:12:17.498
When the Woolsey Fire hit,
it blew up.

1419
01:12:17.500 --> 01:12:19.233
Without a doubt,
there's new life.

1420
01:12:19.302 --> 01:12:21.703
-People are paying attention.
-People are listening.

1421
01:12:21.771 --> 01:12:24.339
The community support
has radically changed.

1422
01:12:24.408 --> 01:12:25.906
Kim Kardashian tweeted.

1423
01:12:25.908 --> 01:12:28.543
All of a sudden, we've got
100,000 shares on a tweet.

1424
01:12:28.611 --> 01:12:32.047
Man: Kim Kardashian telling her
58 million Twitter followers

1425
01:12:32.114 --> 01:12:34.849
she's shocked and furious
to learn that Woolsey Fire

1426
01:12:34.917 --> 01:12:38.385
started at Santa Susana
and is potentially radioactive.

1427
01:12:38.455 --> 01:12:40.855
The reporting we did brought
some attention,

1428
01:12:40.923 --> 01:12:42.524
but of course, the Kardashians

1429
01:12:42.592 --> 01:12:44.926
can bring the issue
way more attention.

1430
01:12:44.994 --> 01:12:46.294
-People are believing in this,
you know,

1431
01:12:46.363 --> 01:12:47.595
like, this is the real thing.

1432
01:12:47.664 --> 01:12:49.196
We're not just
playing games anymore.

1433
01:12:49.265 --> 01:12:50.431
Come on, guys,

1434
01:12:50.433 --> 01:12:51.732
we're going on the other side of
the side, okay?

1435
01:12:51.801 --> 01:12:53.534
These are all
my other children here.

1436
01:12:53.603 --> 01:12:56.571
I'm seeing enough changes
happening that I am hopeful

1437
01:12:56.639 --> 01:12:59.140
it could be ripped out from
underneath us at any moment.

1438
01:12:59.208 --> 01:13:01.609
I know what it's like
to lose a child with cancer,

1439
01:13:01.678 --> 01:13:05.314
and nobody should ever have
to face that again.

1440
01:13:05.381 --> 01:13:08.282
The Killers:
¶ You can't break me down ¶

1441
01:13:08.284 --> 01:13:10.351
¶ I got gas in the tank ¶

1442
01:13:10.419 --> 01:13:12.753
¶ I got money in the bank ¶

1443
01:13:12.822 --> 01:13:15.589
¶ I got news for you, baby,
you're looking at the man ¶

1444
01:13:15.658 --> 01:13:19.027
It has gone so fast
that I'm still out of breath.

1445
01:13:19.095 --> 01:13:20.761
We're trying to put together
a coalition

1446
01:13:20.830 --> 01:13:22.564
with all
of our elected officials.

1447
01:13:22.632 --> 01:13:25.199
People need to stop passing
the ball, take leadership.

1448
01:13:25.268 --> 01:13:27.902
¶ Who's the man?
Who's the man? ¶

1449
01:13:27.970 --> 01:13:29.704
¶ I'm the man, I'm the man ¶

1450
01:13:29.706 --> 01:13:31.772
¶ Who's the man with the plan? ¶

1451
01:13:31.841 --> 01:13:33.040
¶ I'm the man ¶

1452
01:13:33.042 --> 01:13:35.643
Knack: They are counting on us,
not goodness.

1453
01:13:35.712 --> 01:13:37.379
They're counting on us,
not being able to see

1454
01:13:37.447 --> 01:13:38.779
the bigger picture.

1455
01:13:38.781 --> 01:13:40.915
I really hope we're not
sitting here in 10 years,

1456
01:13:40.984 --> 01:13:44.852
with the follow up of why this
damn thing's been happening.

1457
01:13:44.921 --> 01:13:47.388
We never know what domino
we're setting into effect

1458
01:13:47.390 --> 01:13:49.123
when we just do what we can.

1459
01:13:49.192 --> 01:13:53.795
Secretary, so you're supposed
to be completed by 2017,

1460
01:13:53.863 --> 01:13:56.397
haven't started by 2019.

1461
01:13:56.465 --> 01:13:58.866
Will you come
to the San Fernando Valley

1462
01:13:58.935 --> 01:14:01.669
and explain to people
when this site

1463
01:14:01.738 --> 01:14:02.870
will be cleaned up?

1464
01:14:02.939 --> 01:14:05.539
Man: The clean up timeline
was 2017.

1465
01:14:05.608 --> 01:14:08.742
Back in 2010, it is 2019,
and we haven't even got started,

1466
01:14:08.811 --> 01:14:09.877
There's a level of toxicity,

1467
01:14:09.946 --> 01:14:13.281
the history
that is just depressing.

1468
01:14:13.349 --> 01:14:14.949
I mean, it's a complete mess.

1469
01:14:14.951 --> 01:14:16.884
When I got to say I'm the mom
who started

1470
01:14:16.953 --> 01:14:18.285
the change.org petition,

1471
01:14:18.354 --> 01:14:20.555
we have 650,000 signatures.

1472
01:14:20.557 --> 01:14:23.090
It was like, I'm sorry,
did you say, 250,000?

1473
01:14:23.158 --> 01:14:25.693
No, 650,000.

1474
01:14:25.695 --> 01:14:27.095
All of a sudden they're like,
"Oh, come to the door.

1475
01:14:27.163 --> 01:14:29.697
What was your name again?
Where are you from?"

1476
01:14:29.766 --> 01:14:31.232
It's not about winning
or being right.

1477
01:14:31.234 --> 01:14:33.367
It's about children.

1478
01:14:33.369 --> 01:14:36.770
It's about families,
it's about quality of life.

1479
01:14:36.772 --> 01:14:38.873
¶¶

1480
01:14:54.323 --> 01:14:56.124
I know that there's a risk

1481
01:14:56.192 --> 01:14:58.325
of a large segment
of this community

1482
01:14:58.327 --> 01:15:01.196
and maybe even the larger
Los Angeles area

1483
01:15:01.264 --> 01:15:03.130
looking at this

1484
01:15:03.132 --> 01:15:07.302
and questioning our sanity.

1485
01:15:07.370 --> 01:15:10.138
But I would urge anybody

1486
01:15:10.206 --> 01:15:13.340
to put on your reading glasses
and whip out that 13 pages,

1487
01:15:13.409 --> 01:15:16.077
it's only 13 pages,
2007 EPA report,

1488
01:15:16.079 --> 01:15:19.079
preliminary report at
the Santa Susana Field Lab

1489
01:15:19.148 --> 01:15:20.948
and then call me crazy.

1490
01:15:21.017 --> 01:15:23.150
It is if the officials
have not read the data

1491
01:15:23.152 --> 01:15:25.019
as if they are completely
unaware that we,

1492
01:15:25.021 --> 01:15:26.621
the citizens, could be at risk.

1493
01:15:26.623 --> 01:15:27.922
And that was alarming to me

1494
01:15:27.990 --> 01:15:30.491
because I felt like we weren't
being taken seriously.

1495
01:15:33.029 --> 01:15:37.365
It makes me sick that
these women have given

1496
01:15:37.433 --> 01:15:38.834
so selflessly of themselves

1497
01:15:38.901 --> 01:15:43.571
and a fight -- have fought
and continue to fight.

1498
01:15:43.639 --> 01:15:45.774
This is not what they want
to talk about over dinner.

1499
01:15:45.841 --> 01:15:47.975
They don't want to sit up
and read EPA documents.

1500
01:15:48.044 --> 01:15:50.178
They want to have a good time,
they don't have a barbecue

1501
01:15:50.246 --> 01:15:53.114
and they want to watch
their kids play in the yard.

1502
01:15:53.182 --> 01:15:56.718
And I want that, too.

1503
01:15:58.921 --> 01:16:01.388
I'm sorry. I want that, too,

1504
01:16:01.457 --> 01:16:03.191
and I want that
for my family, but, um...

1505
01:16:05.661 --> 01:16:07.728
I can read.

1506
01:16:07.730 --> 01:16:10.031
I'm not going to pretend
that I didn't read it.

1507
01:16:14.070 --> 01:16:16.338
Sorry.

1508
01:16:21.344 --> 01:16:25.479
Santa Claus is coming!
Santa Claus is coming!

1509
01:16:25.481 --> 01:16:28.082
[ Humming ]

1510
01:16:28.084 --> 01:16:29.216
[ Speaks indistinctly ]

1511
01:16:29.285 --> 01:16:31.552
-Can I have a chocolate?
-Can I have a chocolate?

1512
01:16:31.621 --> 01:16:33.921
You're a good boy!
You're a good boy.

1513
01:16:33.991 --> 01:16:41.295
¶¶

1514
01:16:41.364 --> 01:16:44.398
[ Child speaking indistinctly ]

1515
01:16:44.467 --> 01:16:50.838
[ Indistinct conversations ]

1516
01:16:50.906 --> 01:17:00.180
¶¶

1517
01:17:00.249 --> 01:17:03.151
¶¶

1518
01:17:03.219 --> 01:17:08.123
Blumenfeld: The time is now
to get the ball moving.

1519
01:17:08.190 --> 01:17:11.459
My goal has been to change
and improve, I would say,

1520
01:17:11.527 --> 01:17:14.261
the culture of the Department
of Toxic Substance Control.

1521
01:17:14.330 --> 01:17:16.698
They are the regulator,
they set the clean up standards,

1522
01:17:16.765 --> 01:17:19.667
this is not
a ongoing negotiation.

1523
01:17:19.735 --> 01:17:22.002
The polluters have a role,
they have to pay for it,

1524
01:17:22.071 --> 01:17:24.605
and they have to adhere to
the standards that we have here.

1525
01:17:24.673 --> 01:17:27.342
These entities going in 2007,

1526
01:17:27.410 --> 01:17:30.811
Department of Energy and NASA
in 2010 entered into agreements.

1527
01:17:30.880 --> 01:17:33.013
Those are legally
binding agreements.

1528
01:17:33.015 --> 01:17:35.983
We will hold them
to those agreements.

1529
01:17:36.052 --> 01:17:38.553
-We'll see.
-We'll see. I have no faith.

1530
01:17:38.621 --> 01:17:41.221
Given the length of time
that the cleanup plans

1531
01:17:41.290 --> 01:17:44.658
have been made and broken,
it's always a concern

1532
01:17:44.727 --> 01:17:46.894
that this will go into
another administration.

1533
01:17:46.962 --> 01:17:50.497
They signed a legal
binding document in 2010

1534
01:17:50.566 --> 01:17:52.434
when we thought we won
the victory.

1535
01:17:52.501 --> 01:17:56.303
Additionally, studies performed
after signing the AOC

1536
01:17:56.372 --> 01:18:00.040
identified less contamination
than previously projected.

1537
01:18:00.109 --> 01:18:03.043
We had no idea it was all
going to get thrown upon.

1538
01:18:03.112 --> 01:18:06.781
Child: I am a two-time
cancer survivor.

1539
01:18:06.783 --> 01:18:09.884
It has turned my life upside
down, and I never feel safe

1540
01:18:09.952 --> 01:18:10.984
living here.

1541
01:18:11.054 --> 01:18:13.922
I want to feel safe.

1542
01:18:13.989 --> 01:18:16.858
Folks, this way.

1543
01:18:16.926 --> 01:18:19.359
We're here at the NASA
meeting right now.

1544
01:18:19.428 --> 01:18:21.962
They're trying to justify
why they should be able to lead

1545
01:18:22.031 --> 01:18:26.099
contaminated waste
in our community.

1546
01:18:26.168 --> 01:18:27.401
I want to show you one of

1547
01:18:27.403 --> 01:18:29.269
these justifications
that I can't believe,

1548
01:18:29.338 --> 01:18:33.073
and I've seen a lot of
falsehoods --
Oh, my gosh.

1549
01:18:33.075 --> 01:18:35.276
SEIS found
no discernible differences

1550
01:18:35.344 --> 01:18:37.012
to health and safety.

1551
01:18:37.079 --> 01:18:40.715
Across the action alternatives.
That's absurd.

1552
01:18:40.784 --> 01:18:44.285
NASA claims that under federal
environmental law,

1553
01:18:44.287 --> 01:18:47.689
that they have to look
at different alternative ways

1554
01:18:47.757 --> 01:18:50.958
to clean up the Santa Susana
Field Laboratory.

1555
01:18:51.026 --> 01:18:52.693
They're wrong.

1556
01:18:52.761 --> 01:18:54.095
California has been clear
over the years

1557
01:18:54.163 --> 01:18:55.996
that the level that the site
has to be cleaned up

1558
01:18:56.065 --> 01:18:57.398
to is to background.

1559
01:18:57.466 --> 01:18:59.833
If there is contamination,
it gets cleaned up.

1560
01:18:59.902 --> 01:19:02.769
We clearly signed an agreement
for full cleanup.

1561
01:19:02.839 --> 01:19:07.241
And they have proposed in these
two meetings to break those

1562
01:19:07.243 --> 01:19:09.510
and walk away
from the contamination.

1563
01:19:09.512 --> 01:19:11.678
If they found contamination
on the surface,

1564
01:19:11.747 --> 01:19:13.046
they're saying
we're going to have to dig all

1565
01:19:13.115 --> 01:19:14.516
20 feet down to bedrock

1566
01:19:14.583 --> 01:19:16.450
and that's going to moonscape
the property.

1567
01:19:16.452 --> 01:19:19.988
You don't have to dig 20 feet
down to remove contamination

1568
01:19:20.055 --> 01:19:21.522
that's on the surface.

1569
01:19:21.524 --> 01:19:23.991
They're doing that to try
to scare people about trucks

1570
01:19:24.060 --> 01:19:25.993
and moonscaping
and all of that stuff.

1571
01:19:26.062 --> 01:19:27.461
What NASA and Department
of Energy

1572
01:19:27.530 --> 01:19:29.530
have been doing
in the last few years

1573
01:19:29.532 --> 01:19:31.532
is looking at different
levels of cleanup

1574
01:19:31.600 --> 01:19:32.934
rather than different ways

1575
01:19:33.002 --> 01:19:36.470
of reaching the standards
that California has set.

1576
01:19:36.472 --> 01:19:38.706
Their stated thing
is, oh, we did more work,

1577
01:19:38.708 --> 01:19:40.741
we found more contamination

1578
01:19:40.810 --> 01:19:43.711
that would result in
even more damage.

1579
01:19:43.713 --> 01:19:45.780
So we want to do
the recreational cleanup.

1580
01:19:51.988 --> 01:19:54.923
It's not okay to just
clean it up a little bit,

1581
01:19:54.990 --> 01:19:57.225
it's kind of like you can't
be just a little bit pregnant.

1582
01:19:57.293 --> 01:19:59.760
Either you're radioactive
or you're not.

1583
01:19:59.829 --> 01:20:02.296
NASA's says that it will take
25 years

1584
01:20:02.365 --> 01:20:05.632
to remove this soil that needs
to be removed in order to comply

1585
01:20:05.701 --> 01:20:08.302
with the administrative order
on consent.

1586
01:20:21.450 --> 01:20:23.717
For the Department of Energy
and NASA

1587
01:20:23.786 --> 01:20:28.255
to be successful in walking away
from Santa Susana Field Lab,

1588
01:20:28.257 --> 01:20:31.392
All that has to happen is
that nobody stands in their way.

1589
01:20:31.460 --> 01:20:34.128
[ Indistinct conversations ]

1590
01:20:34.130 --> 01:20:36.064
In order to make informed
public commentary,

1591
01:20:36.131 --> 01:20:37.464
we need to have some visuals.

1592
01:20:37.533 --> 01:20:38.799
When you go to a public place

1593
01:20:38.868 --> 01:20:41.035
and everybody else has
their exhibits set up to come in

1594
01:20:41.103 --> 01:20:42.369
and set up another one.

1595
01:20:42.438 --> 01:20:43.537
I'm on the board of supervisors

1596
01:20:43.606 --> 01:20:45.240
and what we do during
public comments

1597
01:20:45.307 --> 01:20:47.709
is we give an opportunity
a platform.

1598
01:20:47.776 --> 01:20:51.745
If they have a PowerPoint
so they can show these power --
They have an opportunity.

1599
01:20:51.747 --> 01:20:53.080
In public hearings,

1600
01:20:53.149 --> 01:20:56.083
when they were done the way
they used to do them,

1601
01:20:56.151 --> 01:20:57.951
we would stand
in front of the microphone

1602
01:20:58.020 --> 01:21:00.287
and people
before the responsible party,

1603
01:21:00.356 --> 01:21:03.891
before their community members
speak for two minutes,

1604
01:21:03.959 --> 01:21:06.693
and give their input on
the proposal before them.

1605
01:21:06.762 --> 01:21:09.496
And NASA just destroyed
all of that.

1606
01:21:09.498 --> 01:21:12.366
This whole thing was set up
intentionally to prevent people

1607
01:21:12.435 --> 01:21:14.234
from making
informed public comment.

1608
01:21:14.303 --> 01:21:17.504
No presentation only posters
with NASA's propaganda spin.

1609
01:21:17.506 --> 01:21:19.306
The community needs to hear
the truth, and we're the only

1610
01:21:19.375 --> 01:21:20.440
ones who can do it.
I understand that but --

1611
01:21:20.509 --> 01:21:21.775
But we do it as part
of our public comment.

1612
01:21:21.777 --> 01:21:23.110
Great, but they put
the public thing on

1613
01:21:23.112 --> 01:21:24.112
for their
display and everything.

1614
01:21:24.179 --> 01:21:26.046
So all the things
that they set up here --

1615
01:21:26.048 --> 01:21:27.648
This is math that they're not
going to show people.

1616
01:21:27.716 --> 01:21:30.317
What they feel is
it's going to take away from --

1617
01:21:30.386 --> 01:21:32.387
It's a public...
[ speaks indistinctly ]

1618
01:21:32.454 --> 01:21:36.357
Everybody, NASA is preventing
public comment on their EIS

1619
01:21:36.425 --> 01:21:38.558
that breaks
their clean up commitments.

1620
01:21:38.627 --> 01:21:40.461
If people want to be able to
show you

1621
01:21:40.463 --> 01:21:42.863
how they're violating the law

1622
01:21:42.931 --> 01:21:45.866
and NASA's physically blocking
you from seeing it.

1623
01:21:45.935 --> 01:21:47.534
[ Speaks indistinctly ]

1624
01:21:47.604 --> 01:21:48.869
Woman: Free speech!

1625
01:21:48.871 --> 01:21:51.605
-Free speech!
-Free speech!

1626
01:21:51.674 --> 01:21:53.540
Free speech!

1627
01:21:53.609 --> 01:21:55.976
This is live right now,
you guys, this is crazy.

1628
01:21:56.045 --> 01:21:59.680
They set this up in this --
in this kind of a situation

1629
01:21:59.748 --> 01:22:00.982
where we don't have
a microphone

1630
01:22:01.049 --> 01:22:03.817
like we normally do
to say our problems.

1631
01:22:03.819 --> 01:22:06.820
And as the "L.A. Times"
reported...
The court reporter,

1632
01:22:06.888 --> 01:22:09.557
is at a little table
in the corner

1633
01:22:09.625 --> 01:22:13.293
that's not marked trying to
limit public participation,

1634
01:22:13.295 --> 01:22:14.895
prevent the media from knowing

1635
01:22:14.897 --> 01:22:16.630
how much we didn't like
the proposal

1636
01:22:16.632 --> 01:22:18.965
and prevent elected officials
from knowing that, too.

1637
01:22:19.035 --> 01:22:23.104
There's a protocol for how
the public hearings are handled,

1638
01:22:23.172 --> 01:22:25.005
and that's not it.

1639
01:22:25.007 --> 01:22:27.374
The only -- the only option
we have right now

1640
01:22:27.443 --> 01:22:29.710
is to try to read our comments
loudly and that's --

1641
01:22:29.712 --> 01:22:31.111
that's just absurd.

1642
01:22:31.180 --> 01:22:34.981
Man: The majority of its
contamination not cleaned up.

1643
01:22:35.051 --> 01:22:38.018
This is illegal and a direct
threat to public health

1644
01:22:38.020 --> 01:22:39.587
and the environment.

1645
01:22:41.824 --> 01:22:45.426
NASA's search is preparing
the supplemental EIF...

1646
01:22:51.067 --> 01:22:52.200
You should be able to give

1647
01:22:52.267 --> 01:22:54.801
three minutes and then
you can do what you want.

1648
01:22:54.870 --> 01:22:58.339
Woman: Free speech!

1649
01:22:58.407 --> 01:23:00.341
Trespassing?

1650
01:23:00.409 --> 01:23:02.843
This is a public meeting.

1651
01:23:02.912 --> 01:23:06.481
[ Cheering ]

1652
01:23:06.548 --> 01:23:08.949
[ Chanting ] Free speech,
free speech, free speech,

1653
01:23:09.018 --> 01:23:14.288
free speech, free speech!

1654
01:23:33.008 --> 01:23:34.141
In 50 years of
this kind of work,

1655
01:23:34.209 --> 01:23:36.944
I have never experienced
such a thing.

1656
01:23:36.946 --> 01:23:40.847
What NASA knows that what its
proposing to do is indefensible.

1657
01:23:40.916 --> 01:23:43.917
And they took every measure that
they could to prevent the public

1658
01:23:43.919 --> 01:23:44.985
from hearing about it.

1659
01:23:45.053 --> 01:23:48.790
For the responsible parties,

1660
01:23:48.857 --> 01:23:50.891
this is a game.

1661
01:23:50.959 --> 01:23:54.594
NASA and Boeing continue to put
forth a storyline

1662
01:23:54.663 --> 01:23:56.797
that their recommendations,

1663
01:23:56.799 --> 01:24:00.734
their offerings of cleanup
are adequate.

1664
01:24:00.803 --> 01:24:03.338
And we know,
as we've alluded to,

1665
01:24:03.405 --> 01:24:07.342
that so many of the agents there
is absolutely no safe level.

1666
01:24:07.409 --> 01:24:09.409
Again, if there's no safe level

1667
01:24:09.478 --> 01:24:12.813
and you far exceed those levels
on site and again,

1668
01:24:12.881 --> 01:24:16.083
and we know that those
contaminants migrate off site

1669
01:24:16.151 --> 01:24:18.485
under the appropriate
environmental conditions,

1670
01:24:18.487 --> 01:24:21.822
there's no way that can
protect the community around.

1671
01:24:21.890 --> 01:24:24.959
¶¶

1672
01:24:59.194 --> 01:25:00.794
An emenuclear reservationlared
at the Hanford

1673
01:25:00.863 --> 01:25:02.729
in southeastern
Washington state.

1674
01:25:02.798 --> 01:25:05.065
An emergency response
at the Savannah River site.

1675
01:25:05.133 --> 01:25:06.933
Potential exposure
to people living

1676
01:25:06.935 --> 01:25:09.537
near Coldwater Creek
in North St. Louis County.

1677
01:25:09.604 --> 01:25:12.138
Enriched uranium was detected

1678
01:25:12.207 --> 01:25:14.708
inside Zahn's Corner
Middle School.

1679
01:25:14.710 --> 01:25:15.943
Botched cleanup
at San Francisco's

1680
01:25:16.011 --> 01:25:18.278
Hunter's Point
has residents taking matters

1681
01:25:18.280 --> 01:25:19.546
into their own hands.

1682
01:25:19.615 --> 01:25:21.949
There are calls tonight
for a new investigation

1683
01:25:22.017 --> 01:25:25.386
into another possible cancer
cluster in central Indiana.

1684
01:25:25.454 --> 01:25:28.755
Just sit and think that over
and over again,

1685
01:25:28.824 --> 01:25:30.590
this was brought to you
and over and over again

1686
01:25:30.659 --> 01:25:34.294
and we said our kids are sick.

1687
01:25:34.363 --> 01:25:36.296
Something that felt like a very
isolated problem

1688
01:25:36.365 --> 01:25:38.366
in my community,

1689
01:25:38.433 --> 01:25:39.766
it's a little bit
terrifying to realize

1690
01:25:39.768 --> 01:25:41.835
this is happening
all over the country.

1691
01:25:41.904 --> 01:25:45.972
We sat in a room and listened
to people from other areas

1692
01:25:46.041 --> 01:25:50.477
with the exact same issues
the poorly or unlined pits,

1693
01:25:50.546 --> 01:25:53.714
massive dumping,
open air tests.

1694
01:25:53.782 --> 01:25:55.649
I was completely
chilled to my core

1695
01:25:55.651 --> 01:25:59.052
because I realized
this isn't an accident

1696
01:25:59.121 --> 01:26:00.788
nor is it a mistake.

1697
01:26:00.856 --> 01:26:04.859
There are many Santas Susana's
all across this country

1698
01:26:04.927 --> 01:26:08.162
that remain highly contaminated
and threatening communities

1699
01:26:08.230 --> 01:26:09.829
and has not been cleaned up.

1700
01:26:09.898 --> 01:26:11.866
It's all across America.

1701
01:26:11.934 --> 01:26:15.470
It's the same players,
different humans,

1702
01:26:15.537 --> 01:26:18.272
but the same agencies,
the same attitudes.

1703
01:26:18.341 --> 01:26:19.539
But let's face it,

1704
01:26:19.541 --> 01:26:21.141
this community
has been traumatized enough.

1705
01:26:21.210 --> 01:26:22.876
That wasn't for this group
of moms

1706
01:26:22.945 --> 01:26:26.146
that made this Facebook page,
I would've not known.

1707
01:26:26.215 --> 01:26:29.015
There's an endemic problem
with the whole system.

1708
01:26:29.084 --> 01:26:31.017
You can have wonderful
environmental laws

1709
01:26:31.019 --> 01:26:32.886
and we have really
powerful ones,

1710
01:26:32.955 --> 01:26:34.755
but if they're not enforced,
they're useless.

1711
01:26:34.757 --> 01:26:37.191
And that has happened
at dozens and dozens

1712
01:26:37.260 --> 01:26:39.393
of toxic sites in the state
of California

1713
01:26:39.461 --> 01:26:42.196
and probably is emblematic
of what goes on,

1714
01:26:42.264 --> 01:26:44.965
unfortunately,
all over the country.

1715
01:26:59.047 --> 01:27:00.715
Woman:
The Committee on Oversight

1716
01:27:00.782 --> 01:27:03.316
and Investigations would
now come to order.

1717
01:27:03.318 --> 01:27:05.852
I would now like to introduce
the honorable Anne White,

1718
01:27:05.854 --> 01:27:07.254
who is the Assistant Secretary,

1719
01:27:07.323 --> 01:27:09.189
Office of Environmental
Management,

1720
01:27:09.191 --> 01:27:10.924
Department of Energy.

1721
01:27:10.993 --> 01:27:13.661
Madam Chair, the government's
nuclear defense programs

1722
01:27:13.729 --> 01:27:16.396
played an integral role
in ending World War II

1723
01:27:16.465 --> 01:27:17.931
and the Cold War.

1724
01:27:18.000 --> 01:27:21.901
Our nation was unified
in its effort to end those wars.

1725
01:27:21.970 --> 01:27:25.605
That kind of resolve and unity
of purpose is needed today

1726
01:27:25.607 --> 01:27:28.341
as we address the resulting
environmental legacy.

1727
01:27:28.410 --> 01:27:30.745
We remain committed
to completing cleanup

1728
01:27:30.812 --> 01:27:34.881
so that our host communities
can envision a vibrant future.

1729
01:27:34.950 --> 01:27:37.018
We can continue
to live in the past,

1730
01:27:37.085 --> 01:27:39.753
or we can choose
to understand the past,

1731
01:27:39.821 --> 01:27:42.089
make course corrections,
and move forward

1732
01:27:42.157 --> 01:27:44.091
with collaborative solutions.

1733
01:27:44.159 --> 01:27:45.693
It's time to choose the latter.

1734
01:27:45.761 --> 01:27:48.295
You know, I've been
on this committee a long time.

1735
01:27:48.363 --> 01:27:50.831
We've seen DOE make
these promises before

1736
01:27:50.833 --> 01:27:52.832
with regards
to clean up operations.

1737
01:27:52.901 --> 01:27:54.635
What exactly does it mean

1738
01:27:54.703 --> 01:27:57.771
that DOE's
Environmental Management Office

1739
01:27:57.839 --> 01:28:01.309
does not follow
ED management practice.

1740
01:28:01.376 --> 01:28:04.577
Anybody that's been on
this job site should be fired.

1741
01:28:04.646 --> 01:28:05.979
They're not doing
their job right.

1742
01:28:06.048 --> 01:28:08.315
Where does Hanford sit?
It sits on the Columbia River.

1743
01:28:08.317 --> 01:28:09.983
Where does Savannah River
site sit?

1744
01:28:10.052 --> 01:28:11.518
It sits on the Savannah River.

1745
01:28:11.520 --> 01:28:14.988
These are areas that are
environmentally sensitive.

1746
01:28:15.057 --> 01:28:17.123
Look, I'm not a nuclear
engineer,

1747
01:28:17.192 --> 01:28:19.192
but I'm a mom and a citizen,

1748
01:28:19.261 --> 01:28:22.395
and I can tell you
that leaving it out there longer

1749
01:28:22.464 --> 01:28:27.267
waiting for some type
of accident is not making

1750
01:28:27.269 --> 01:28:29.335
our constituents
across this country safer.

1751
01:28:29.405 --> 01:28:31.339
We need to do better
in the program

1752
01:28:31.406 --> 01:28:35.742
and project management,
and I think we can do better.

1753
01:28:35.811 --> 01:28:40.147
I do not believe government
has done enough to try

1754
01:28:40.215 --> 01:28:43.884
and build that bridge of trust.

1755
01:28:43.952 --> 01:28:46.553
My name is Anne White
and my position

1756
01:28:46.622 --> 01:28:48.621
was assistant secretary
of Energy

1757
01:28:48.690 --> 01:28:50.558
for Environmental Management

1758
01:28:50.625 --> 01:28:53.293
referred to as EM1.

1759
01:28:53.361 --> 01:29:01.901
¶¶

1760
01:29:01.970 --> 01:29:04.070
Obviously, when you've
got portions of the public

1761
01:29:04.072 --> 01:29:07.107
all over the country who are
unhappy with what you're doing,

1762
01:29:07.175 --> 01:29:09.109
you're probably not
doing enough,

1763
01:29:09.177 --> 01:29:12.645
especially for a site
like Santa Susana, small site.

1764
01:29:12.714 --> 01:29:18.251
It doesn't even usually come to
the radar of an EM1.

1765
01:29:18.253 --> 01:29:19.652
It's tough.

1766
01:29:19.721 --> 01:29:22.723
Those kind of big bureaucracies
are very challenging.

1767
01:29:22.791 --> 01:29:27.261
It kind of just felt
sometimes like a culture of...

1768
01:29:27.329 --> 01:29:28.596
...molasses.

1769
01:29:28.663 --> 01:29:31.197
Since 2011,
EM has spent over 45 billion

1770
01:29:31.266 --> 01:29:33.466
to try to address
the cleanup responsibilities.

1771
01:29:33.535 --> 01:29:36.269
And yet, we seem no closer
to cleaning up these sites

1772
01:29:36.271 --> 01:29:38.338
or reducing the department's
environmental liabilities.

1773
01:29:38.407 --> 01:29:42.409
EM cleanup right now
is the third biggest liability

1774
01:29:42.411 --> 01:29:44.010
to the US taxpayers.

1775
01:29:44.012 --> 01:29:47.413
We throw $7 billion
a year into that pot,

1776
01:29:47.483 --> 01:29:49.349
and the liabilities
don't go down.

1777
01:29:49.417 --> 01:29:52.086
Did the taxpayer get good value
for the $6 billion EM

1778
01:29:52.154 --> 01:29:55.088
roughly spent last
fiscal year on nuclear waste?

1779
01:29:55.157 --> 01:29:59.759
I believe that the taxpayer
got good value for their money.

1780
01:29:59.828 --> 01:30:01.295
-Okay.
-We can do better, though.

1781
01:30:01.363 --> 01:30:05.098
So many of these sites
are in places

1782
01:30:05.167 --> 01:30:08.969
where they are the only game
in town in terms of employment.

1783
01:30:08.971 --> 01:30:12.907
If the cleanup gets completed,
the jobs go away.

1784
01:30:12.974 --> 01:30:17.243
And so to some degree,
EM become a jobs program.

1785
01:30:17.245 --> 01:30:20.180
Cleanup of these sites
is critically important.

1786
01:30:20.182 --> 01:30:23.650
We need to have it happen
and we can't be sitting here

1787
01:30:23.718 --> 01:30:26.654
again in five, 10 or 20 years
hoping that it will.

1788
01:30:26.721 --> 01:30:28.389
The actions EM needs to take

1789
01:30:28.457 --> 01:30:30.457
involve significant
cultural change

1790
01:30:30.459 --> 01:30:33.861
at DOE headquarters,
the sites, and the contractors.

1791
01:30:33.929 --> 01:30:37.730
When it involves kids and moms
and all of these things,

1792
01:30:37.799 --> 01:30:43.337
maybe they've been heard,
but not listened to.

1793
01:30:43.405 --> 01:30:45.104
And there's there's
a difference,

1794
01:30:45.173 --> 01:30:48.943
I suppose,
there's a big difference.

1795
01:30:49.010 --> 01:30:51.144
And at Santa Susana right now,

1796
01:30:51.146 --> 01:30:55.015
honestly, the conversation
well could be so poisoned

1797
01:30:55.017 --> 01:30:57.951
that there -- there is
no reverse gear

1798
01:30:57.953 --> 01:30:59.819
in terms
of building that trust.

1799
01:30:59.888 --> 01:31:02.156
You just may never come
to common ground.

1800
01:31:02.224 --> 01:31:04.891
And that's a pity,

1801
01:31:04.893 --> 01:31:08.762
but that's maybe the nature of
the beast there. Unfortunately.

1802
01:31:18.306 --> 01:31:20.307
I'm sure I didn't have
enough energy for it, I think.
[ Knock on door ]

1803
01:31:20.375 --> 01:31:22.842
I don't think
we did it last year.

1804
01:31:22.911 --> 01:31:24.310
Although, I don't know
if daddy will want me

1805
01:31:24.312 --> 01:31:25.578
to do it this year.

1806
01:31:25.647 --> 01:31:28.515
Child: Yeah...
[ speaks indistinctly ]

1807
01:31:28.583 --> 01:31:32.186
Poster or something instead.

1808
01:31:32.254 --> 01:31:33.453
You need to push down
your cuticle

1809
01:31:33.455 --> 01:31:35.189
and I'll come back
to that one.

1810
01:31:39.461 --> 01:31:41.594
-It's pretty.
-It is pretty.

1811
01:31:41.663 --> 01:31:43.263
Like how glittery it is.

1812
01:31:43.331 --> 01:31:48.469
¶¶

1813
01:31:48.537 --> 01:31:49.804
I feel -- I feel more hopeful,

1814
01:31:49.871 --> 01:31:52.472
even though right
now things are looking

1815
01:31:52.541 --> 01:31:56.676
pretty glum again
for the cleanup right now.

1816
01:31:56.678 --> 01:32:00.280
I'm more at peace
with the thought

1817
01:32:00.282 --> 01:32:03.950
that this could be
the rest of my life.

1818
01:32:04.019 --> 01:32:07.754
Before that, that thought
was just too frightening.

1819
01:32:07.756 --> 01:32:10.423
¶¶

1820
01:32:10.425 --> 01:32:12.692
I feel like whether or not
it's the Santa Susana Field Lab

1821
01:32:12.761 --> 01:32:15.561
or maybe helping other sites.

1822
01:32:15.631 --> 01:32:17.897
If this were to be
the rest of my life,

1823
01:32:17.899 --> 01:32:22.235
I would -- I wouldn't fight it.

1824
01:32:22.304 --> 01:32:25.405
I had my own plans for my life,
I wanted to --

1825
01:32:25.474 --> 01:32:27.173
I wanted to
illustrate kids' books

1826
01:32:27.242 --> 01:32:29.143
and I wanted to be an author
and I wanted to garden

1827
01:32:29.210 --> 01:32:33.646
and, you know, I had
a really simple life planned out

1828
01:32:33.715 --> 01:32:35.449
and it sounded just fantastic.

1829
01:32:35.517 --> 01:32:39.252
And the thought of not
getting to have time

1830
01:32:39.321 --> 01:32:43.657
to excel at any of those things
was really hard.

1831
01:32:43.659 --> 01:32:45.191
As I was praying about it,
I felt like God said,

1832
01:32:45.260 --> 01:32:47.061
I'm allowed to have a hobby.

1833
01:32:47.128 --> 01:32:50.430
¶¶

1834
01:32:50.432 --> 01:32:52.632
I was like, all right,
I can take my dreams

1835
01:32:52.701 --> 01:32:54.834
and let them be a hobby

1836
01:32:54.903 --> 01:32:59.740
and doing this is more important
than anything I had planned.

1837
01:32:59.808 --> 01:33:01.207
I definitely feel like this

1838
01:33:01.209 --> 01:33:04.545
is where I'm supposed to be
in my life right now.

1839
01:33:04.613 --> 01:33:08.281
¶¶

1840
01:33:08.350 --> 01:33:10.951
It took Gracie a lot of -- a lot
of hard work and time

1841
01:33:11.019 --> 01:33:13.687
to really kind of be
a regular kid again.

1842
01:33:13.689 --> 01:33:16.089
¶¶

1843
01:33:16.091 --> 01:33:19.225
She's not the kind of kid
to just lay down and take it.

1844
01:33:19.294 --> 01:33:22.629
She's really strong.

1845
01:33:22.697 --> 01:33:24.898
But the health effects

1846
01:33:24.966 --> 01:33:28.601
will follow her
all the rest of her life.

1847
01:33:28.670 --> 01:33:30.637
I have had
some people accuse me

1848
01:33:30.639 --> 01:33:34.540
of using Grace's story.

1849
01:33:34.609 --> 01:33:38.678
To some degree,
that's really true.

1850
01:33:38.747 --> 01:33:40.580
If I could have brought
people's hearts along

1851
01:33:40.649 --> 01:33:45.051
without having to show
Gracie's story, I wouldn't have.

1852
01:33:45.053 --> 01:33:46.720
But if it helps other families

1853
01:33:46.788 --> 01:33:49.523
not have to go
through the same thing,

1854
01:33:49.591 --> 01:33:52.593
you know,
and then I-I don't regret it.

1855
01:33:52.661 --> 01:33:53.928
I don't think Grace
would regret it.

1856
01:33:53.995 --> 01:33:56.463
I think she understands that,

1857
01:33:56.531 --> 01:33:59.065
you know, before we're willing
to do anything to protect other

1858
01:33:59.134 --> 01:34:01.067
kids from what
she's gone through.

1859
01:34:01.136 --> 01:34:04.404
¶¶

1860
01:34:39.307 --> 01:34:41.308
Fixing her name and like...

1861
01:34:44.245 --> 01:34:49.116
Her birthday and stuff,
it's just so final.

1862
01:34:52.020 --> 01:34:53.486
Sorry.

1863
01:35:03.131 --> 01:35:06.566
¶¶

1864
01:35:14.609 --> 01:35:17.009
The Santa Susana Field Lab

1865
01:35:17.078 --> 01:35:20.948
is I wouldn't say it's always
in the front of my mind,

1866
01:35:21.015 --> 01:35:25.618
but it is consistently
in the back of my mind.

1867
01:35:25.687 --> 01:35:28.855
In the back of my mind,
when I give my kids water

1868
01:35:28.924 --> 01:35:31.958
or give them a bath,
in the back of my mind

1869
01:35:31.960 --> 01:35:34.028
when I see a new kid
diagnosed,

1870
01:35:34.095 --> 01:35:35.195
in the back of my mind,

1871
01:35:35.263 --> 01:35:39.767
when I see another kid
who's passed away.

1872
01:35:39.834 --> 01:35:44.504
It's a hard one, I know I can't
put all of my energy there.

1873
01:35:44.572 --> 01:35:47.707
I'm still working my way back
to being fully present

1874
01:35:47.775 --> 01:35:52.111
with everybody,
and my kids need their mom.

1875
01:35:52.180 --> 01:35:54.781
¶¶

1876
01:35:54.783 --> 01:35:57.717
I've been slowly putting pieces
back together

1877
01:35:57.786 --> 01:36:00.587
and I'm not as lost.

1878
01:36:00.655 --> 01:36:02.922
I'm still lost,
but not as lost

1879
01:36:02.924 --> 01:36:07.393
if that makes sense.

1880
01:36:07.462 --> 01:36:11.265
For me, I know I can
never give up trying to fight.

1881
01:36:11.332 --> 01:36:14.000
But I also know that I...

1882
01:36:14.002 --> 01:36:17.670
I have to use this brain
sparingly because it's focused

1883
01:36:17.739 --> 01:36:19.807
on so many different things
right now.

1884
01:36:19.874 --> 01:36:22.141
I'm trying to heal,
I'm trying to process,

1885
01:36:22.210 --> 01:36:25.278
trying to grieve,
trying to be a mom.

1886
01:36:25.347 --> 01:36:27.514
¶¶

1887
01:36:27.582 --> 01:36:28.849
But it's always there.

1888
01:36:28.916 --> 01:36:30.750
It's always this
lingering question in my mind,

1889
01:36:30.818 --> 01:36:34.487
it's always this idea
that is there

1890
01:36:34.556 --> 01:36:37.357
and it can't be quieted until

1891
01:36:37.359 --> 01:36:39.158
it's cleaned up, I think.

1892
01:36:39.227 --> 01:36:42.429
¶¶

1893
01:36:51.506 --> 01:36:55.175
I hope that there's an end
to this story.

1894
01:36:55.243 --> 01:36:58.077
Given what's happening
in our country,

1895
01:36:58.079 --> 01:37:03.217
I worry about all of our efforts
to protect public health.

1896
01:37:03.284 --> 01:37:06.853
I worry that focusing on
Santa Susana

1897
01:37:06.921 --> 01:37:09.322
will seem like a luxury,

1898
01:37:09.390 --> 01:37:11.558
that it will seem
like days have passed

1899
01:37:11.626 --> 01:37:14.727
when you actually could fight
a fight and you might just win

1900
01:37:14.729 --> 01:37:16.829
and you could get
a cleanup agreement

1901
01:37:16.898 --> 01:37:18.664
and you could do
community organizing

1902
01:37:18.733 --> 01:37:21.200
and you could speak freely.

1903
01:37:21.269 --> 01:37:25.938
We are in a world of distraction
and of self-centeredness,

1904
01:37:26.007 --> 01:37:28.875
but we don't sense
any connection to others

1905
01:37:28.877 --> 01:37:30.209
and particularly to

1906
01:37:30.278 --> 01:37:33.080
those who suffer and if we don't
connect to the damage

1907
01:37:33.147 --> 01:37:35.147
we do to the planet,

1908
01:37:35.216 --> 01:37:37.617
the everyday people
who are affected by

1909
01:37:37.685 --> 01:37:40.953
polluters are just
being walked all over.

1910
01:37:41.022 --> 01:37:45.225
The damage that is done
over the last century,

1911
01:37:45.293 --> 01:37:47.093
we simply have to keep fighting.

1912
01:37:47.162 --> 01:37:49.695
I've been a reporter
for 38 years.

1913
01:37:49.764 --> 01:37:52.231
I've seen just about everything.

1914
01:37:52.233 --> 01:37:56.702
I'm still surprised that
there were government officials

1915
01:37:56.771 --> 01:37:58.504
who looked me in the eye
and said,

1916
01:37:58.506 --> 01:38:00.239
"Santa Susana's not a problem."

1917
01:38:00.241 --> 01:38:03.309
Even when there were
so many government documents

1918
01:38:03.311 --> 01:38:04.611
that said otherwise.

1919
01:38:04.679 --> 01:38:09.315
I mean, I think the public
is not so easily fooled.

1920
01:38:09.317 --> 01:38:12.853
They know there's
something here.

1921
01:38:12.921 --> 01:38:16.455
The truth always comes out
in the end.

1922
01:38:16.524 --> 01:38:19.459
I think it takes
an enormous amount of courage.

1923
01:38:19.461 --> 01:38:20.993
And a hell of a lot of work

1924
01:38:21.062 --> 01:38:24.731
to see that there is
accountability

1925
01:38:24.799 --> 01:38:27.467
and that something is done.

1926
01:38:27.469 --> 01:38:28.836
It's up to the mothers.

1927
01:38:28.903 --> 01:38:32.805
And others who have the courage,
have the time to make damn sure

1928
01:38:32.807 --> 01:38:35.541
that something happens
if there's change.

1929
01:38:35.610 --> 01:38:37.777
It may be the only way.

1930
01:38:37.846 --> 01:38:39.045
Who's going to be
the next child,

1931
01:38:39.113 --> 01:38:40.947
who's going to be the next
person in your community.

1932
01:38:40.949 --> 01:38:43.883
You don't ever give up
on something like this

1933
01:38:43.951 --> 01:38:46.152
because it's the right thing
to do.

1934
01:38:46.154 --> 01:38:49.556
Where the people lead,
the leaders will follow.

1935
01:38:49.624 --> 01:38:52.626
Woman: Being in a low right now
doesn't feel like defeat,

1936
01:38:52.694 --> 01:38:56.463
it just feels like
part of the journey.

1937
01:38:56.531 --> 01:38:57.930
And the thing
that's heartbreaking

1938
01:38:57.932 --> 01:39:02.236
is that it's just
going to continue.

1939
01:39:02.303 --> 01:39:03.704
But it's the kids
who have to suffer,

1940
01:39:03.771 --> 01:39:06.673
and it's the parents
who have to bury them

1941
01:39:06.741 --> 01:39:09.709
that have to bear that
for the rest of our lives.

1942
01:39:09.777 --> 01:39:13.647
¶¶

1943
01:39:16.050 --> 01:39:20.453
Oh, I'm not going to stop
so we'll just have to

1944
01:39:20.455 --> 01:39:23.590
find out who has more
endurance me or them, maybe.

1945
01:39:23.658 --> 01:39:27.260
¶¶