Ventura County is taking a stand against a proposal by an Indian tribe to take ownership of part of a toxic waste site, which contains some Native American artifacts.
Ventura County Supervisors agreed to send a letter to federal officials opposing the proposal by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to buy part of the former Santa Susana Field Lab site, near Simi Valley.
The property was used for nuclear experiments, and for rocket engine testing, and left major soil, and groundwater contamination. Boeing owns part of the property, and NASA the rest.
County Supervisors Linda Parks, and Peter Foy are concerned that if the tribe gets some of the NASA land, as a sovereign nation, the Chumash wouldn’t follow the state mandated cleanup of the property.
Foy says the tribe can wait until cleanup is complete, and that while the Chumash are concerned about the protection of petroglyphs, and other artifacts, because it’s a toxic waste site, the property is guarded.
