Dipity
EnviroReporter.com completes analysis of thousands of pages of reports submitted by developer KB Home to Department of Toxic Substances Control as part of Voluntary Cleanup Agreement signed in April.
EnviroReporter publishes extensive chromium analysis
WHITE BLIGHT exposes Runkle chromium problem in Ventura County Reporter. Terry Metheny hands out papers at DOE data gap meeting that evening in Simi Valley.
Ventura County Reporter and Collins win first place for News Feature (print under 100,000 circulation) for "Dirty Business" Runkle-related cover story at the 50th Annual Southern California Journal...
Riley sends Serafine test results of the white substance. Test indicates high levels of chromium, nickel, molybdenum, potassium and iron.
Collins pens article about this for the Ventura County Reporter entitled “REASSESSING RUNKLE - KB Homes and State agree to cooperate on troubled Simi canyon.”
KB Homes and the Department of Toxic Substances Control sign a “Standard Agreement for participating under California’s Land Reuse and Revitalization Act (CLRRA) Program,” which is intended “for th...
Southwick and Serafine give white substance to DTSC's Norm Riley at SSFL workgroup meeting. Riley says he will have it tested.
Rev. Southwick and Frank Serafine discover mysterious white substance in Runkle Canyon.
The Ventura County Reporter publishes “DOWN THE TEST TUBES - KB Homes’ Runkle Canyon radiation tests questioned as more groundwater pollution is found and developer negotiates cleanup agreement wit...
In reaction to reports in the local media that KB Homes and the city’s strontium-90 tests had come back showing extremely low numbers, Rev. John Southwick writes to the city of his concerns. “Are w...
Mid-December, 2007: KB Homes approaches the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control and begins negotiations on a “Voluntary Cleanup Agreement” for Runkle Canyon. As part of that agreement, K...
Cover story appears in the Ventura County Reporter entitled “DIRTY BUSINESS - New law cleaning up Rocketdyne for parkland may not stop adjacent KB Home development pushed by Simi Valley City Counci...
Residents descend on Simi Valley City Council meeting, alarmed at the increasingly harsh rhetoric of the council and Radiation Rangers’ revelation that four out of five council members had taken ca...
October 4-5, 2007 - KB Homes hires controversial lab Dade Moeller to sample around 60 Runkle Canyon soil specimens, which are split with the city, and have them tested by Teledyne Brown Engineering...
Simi Council sells disturbing Runkle Canyon pollution report as clean
“Soil from canyon not dangerous, study says,” says Ventura County Star headline of city’s test results. A day later, the Simi Valley Acorn weighs in with “Runkle Canyon soil and water labeled 'safe...
BUBBLE TROUBLE reports on City's Runkle water tests and disparaging remarks toward citizens as well as revelations about a fault line going through Rocketdyne and into Runkle Canyon.
City relents and is forced to test Runkle Canyon for heavy metal contamination. Southwick guides city officials to where the Rangers originally sampled the suspect water and dirt May 18. They were ...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat cover story hits the stands with the internet with supporting documentation on EnviroReporter.com - “THE RADIATION RANGERS - Developers of Simi Valley’s Runkle Canyo...
The trio of Rangers and Collins meet with Mayor Miller and City Manager Sedell and tell them of their findings. “I’m not trying to challenge you,but they were stolen samples that [you] were trespas...
Pat Chem results find high levels of arsenic, nickel and vanadium in Runkle creek water.
The Radiation Rangers, sans Coryell, head for the hills with Collins and Pat-Chem Laboratories’ Ron Lovato to sample the creek water and adjacent soils. The water had bubbled on Matheney’s chemical...
Matheney, Southwick and Serafine ask the city council to come test suspect-looking water in Runkle Canyon’s creek downhill from Rocketdyne. “If you won’t pay for it, we will,” Matheney says. “I don...
Early May, 2007: After city’s rebuttal, the residents realize they will have to take matters into their own hands, literally, and organize into the self-dubbed Radiation Rangers - “Perchlorate Patt...
Sedell writes follow-up letter to Feinstein’s Watts. “[T]he City of Simi Valley is interested in any assistance that Senator Feinstein might be able to provide regarding the city’s request of the U...
Mayor Miller gives the State of the City speech to 230 civic, community and business leaders. "The mayor also pointed to some challenges the city faces, such as high gas prices and the hazardous ru...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat publishes “DUST IN THE WIND -- Simi Valley still looking for answers about Runkle Canyon radiation.”
Simi Valley Councilmember Glen Becerra and City Manager Mike Sedell travel to Washington D.C. seeking federal assistance in reassessing Runkle Canyon’s contamination concerns. Meet with Sen. Diane ...
Serafine and Sedell deliver a seven-page document of concerns and questions for the city and CDHS.
Federal prosecutors announce that they are conducting a criminal probe into KB Homes stock option grant practices. Disclosure suggests that the Justice Department is centering on former KB Homes ch...
KABC-Channel 7 Eyewitness News does extensive segment on Runkle Canyon with interviews with Coryell, Behjan, and KB Homes rep Keith Jajko.
Serafine speaks with Gary Butner, acting chief of the CDHS Radiologic Health Branch. Butner says city of Simi Valley overlooked the results 1998 Foster Wheeler sampling of 58 soil samples in the EI...
January 20 - 23, 2007 - Serafine detects more heavy grading in Runkle Canyon. Serafine and Southwick conference call Councilwoman Williams January 23 and speak to her of the grading in Runkle Canyo...
Serafine and Southwick meet with Simi Valley Mayor Miller and City Manager Sedell. “I will throw out any questions posed to the City of Simi Valley that are not topic specific to the CDHS contamina...
Simi Valley City Manager asks residents Serafine and Rev. John Southwick to come up with a set of questions for CDHS.
Frank Serafine says that Lea Brooks, chief of the CDHS public information section, accuses him of criminal conduct in a ‘break-in’ incident that took place at CDHS offices in Sacramento. Serafine d...
December 2006 – January 2007 - KB Homes reconfigures its Runkle Canyon development website and adds a Frequently Asked Questions page. FAQ page discounts need for new tests because of prior “indepe...
Nuclear watchdog organization Committee to Bridge the Gap says Runkle strontium-90 is from Rocketdyne
Possible chemical contamination in a Runkle Canyon creek is discovered. Two photos, authenticated by EnviroReporter.com, show a chemical sheen in the muck of the stream along Runkle Canyon road, le...
KCET’s Life & Times program airs program on Runkle Canyon called “Building on Toxic Soil?” KB Homes declines to participate. “There's just intuitively no sense in developing land within a mile and ...
KB Homes begins to do “heavy grading” according to resident Frank Serafine. City unable to locate grading but assures Serafine that it is only a soil compression test to assess structural building ...
The Ventura County Star publishes "Fight against developing site next to Field Lab continues", which reports on community efforts to address the environmental health concerns of at the Runkle Canyo...
CDHS concludes that there would be no harm to residents or workers on the site from the dust generated during the grading and construction of Runkle Canyon. “The strontium-90 concentrations off-sit...
While declining to weigh in on the matter due to budgetary concerns, US EPA still offers the city an analysis of 126 soil samples measured from Sr-90 concentrations at Runkle Canyon. It notes that ...
CDHS tells city, “It is our understanding that the Environmental Protection Agency has previously stated, at a Santa Susana Field Laboratory Work Group public meeting, that the strontium-90 soil co...
“REINING IN RUNKLE” appears in the Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat. The article suggests that the development may be reconsidered. “I don’t plan on going forward until I see the results back from t...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat publishes “VERY DIRTY LAUNDRY -- A new report on L.A.’s nuked Rocketdyne site finally catches the attention of mainstream media.” The article reveals that the now-in...
EPA funded report links Simi Valley groundwater to Rocketdyne
“UNRAVELING RUNKLE” reports on the September 25 City Council meeting. “All that I know is that when we took this oath up here it was for the health and welfare of the community,” said Council Memb...
Simi Valley’s assistant city manager, Laura Behjan, writes to US EPA requesting “that EPA conduct an independent review of data and reports related to potential or actual presence of strontium 90 i...
Coryell, Southwick and others attend another Simi Valley City Council meeting in response to “The Hills Have Eyes”, worried that the development in Runkle Canyon was being pushed through without a ...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat publishes “THE HILLS HAVE EYES -- Simi Valley residents unite to fight ‘hot’ KB Homes development in Runkle Canyon” which reported that the Simi Valley City Council ...
Lauren Funaiole, Senior Environmental Planner for the city of Simi Valley, writes to Peter Lyons, Simi Valley Planning Director, seemingly oblivious to the findings presented in “Neighborhood Threa...
Lawsuit accuses KB Home CEO of fraudulent stock option price manipulations on 16 different occasions. Bruce Karatz made $156 million last year, 75% coming from exercising of options. “Stock options...
Rev. Southwick notices two men at the Sequoia entrance. An SUV pulls up with two men inside and picks up the two waiting. Inside the gate they started taking pictures then drive up the fire road to...
Residents begin bringing the first two CityBeat/ ValleyBeat Runkle-related articles to council members and the City Planner.
Over two dozen residents make impassioned pleas before a surprised and concerned City Council. Coryell says, in part, “I am asking you to stop this project and order thorough, unbiased tests to det...
Terry Matheney and Simi-based Cheap Shots Aerial Photography launch a 15-foot-long tethered dirigible with a 360-degree camera to photograph Runkle Canyon. The aircraft doesn’t interfere with the F...
Coryell’s website "StopRunkleDyne.com" goes online with an action alert telling of Runkle concerns and to show up at next City Council meeting August 21. Coryell and Southwick blanket neighborhood...
Planning, as well as Building and Safety, say KBH hasn’t pulled permits for encroachment, planning of homes, rec. center, public park, or senior park. Building and Safety’s Dick Clark says that con...
Coryell and Southwick go to Simi Valley Planning meeting and submit CityBeat/ValleyBeat articles in an effort to protest KBH development.
Early August 2006: Block-out fencing goes up on Runkle perimeter alarming Southwick and neighbor Patricia Coryell.
Runkle rep Marlo Naber-Mole, tells resident: “We are in the process of submitting various plans to the city to begin grading at summer's end.” She repeats this to another resident August 31.
Concerned Simi Valley resident, Rev. John Southwick contacts Michael Collins after reading “Neighborhood Threat.” He later tells Collins of new block-out fencing at the end of Sequoia leading into ...
Los Angeles ValleyBeat publishes HOT PROPERTY -- Runkle Canyon developers claim mysterious new state tests have erased previously high levels of radioactive contamination” by Michael Collins which ...
Simi Valley city manager, Mike Sidell, responds to DHS report. “We note that your response does not specifically address the question posted in our September 27 letter, wherein it was requested tha...
Simi Valley City Council approves the KB Homes takeover and doesn’t bring up CityBeat/ValleyBeat findings of March 2005 of high strontium-90 in Runkle soil.
Summer 2005 - KB Homes (KBH), formerly Kaufman Broad, buys Greenpark Runkle in partnership with Miami-based Lennar. KBH is America’s fifth-biggest home builder.
The prestigious National Academy of Sciences comes out with a milestone report that says that no amount of low-level radiation exposure is safe. "The scientific research base shows that there is no...
CDHS retests six locations in Runkle Canyon without informing the SSFL Workgroup of the tests or results. CDHS splits the soil samples taken at Runkle with the developer’s lab, Dade Moeller. Oddly,...
Alarmed residents question government and community representatives about CityBeat/ValleyBeat strontium-90 revelations in Runkle Canyon at a SSFL Workgroup meeting in Simi Valley. Workgroup panel m...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat publishes cover story that exposes the strontium-90 problems in Runkle Canyon: “NEIGHBORHOOD THREAT -- Runkle Canyon is poised to be Simi Valley’s newest neighborhoo...
Simi Valley's annexation of about 1,500 acres in Runkle Canyon was approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission in a 6-1 vote. "We've taken over 100 samples on this property. As you can see, n...
Los Angeles CityBeat/ValleyBeat publishes TWO MILE ISLAND -- The Rocketdyne facility is more poisoned than anyone knew. Now residents and community leaders of the northwest San Fernando Valley and ...
City of Simi Valley certifies the Runkle Canyon development EIR over the objections of Patricia Coryell and Terry Matheney who cite the development’s proximity to Rocketdyne.
City of Simi Valley certifies Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Preliminary EIR. Under the “Significance of Mitigation” section it reads “The project’s fugitive dust and toxic air contami...
GreenPark hires Miller Brooks Environmental which takes six soil samples in the area that the Runkle Canyon residences are to be built and sends them to Casper, Wyoming-based Energy Laboratories. T...
Foster Wheeler’s 58 soil samples averaged 1.39 pCi/g, or six times the EPA’s preliminary remediation goal and nearly 27 times above the typical EPA background level for Sr-90 in the area. The hotte...
June 28 to July 2, 1999: GreenPark hires Costa Mesa-based Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation to do additional soil sampling. Using an “approach developed collectively by the Environmental Pro...
QST Environmental’s results “indicated the presence of Strontium in all samples collected … that exceeded the EPA average local background concentration.” The four soil samples contained up to 17 t...
GreenPark Runkle Ranch begins its environmental investigation of the property and hires Phoenix-based QST Environmental to do preliminary soil sampling of the canyon to see if the Rocketdyne lab “h...
1998: City of Simi Valley “Defines the exact location of the Specific Plan Area consisting of 1,600 acres south of Fitzgerald Road and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute,” according to the GreenPark Run...
Late 1990’s: GreenPark Runkle Ranch, LLC, a development firm based in Seal Beach, begins buying Runkle Canyon.
By the mid-1980s, a sand and gravel operation finally closed, leaving Runkle canyon to joggers, hikers, and local troupes of hang gliders.
A mile away from Runkle Canyon, one of Rocketdyne's ten nuclear reactors suffered a partial melt-down, with one-third of its fuel melting. Experts estimate that the accident released hundreds of ti...
In the 1950s, Runkle Ranch’s 2,800 acres are subdivided into six parcels, four of which make up the plan area today. The ranch eventually became popular as a location for film and television Wester...
The Runkle family moves into the canyon to grow grain and walnuts, run a blacksmith shop, and manage a mule train running between the San Fernando and Simi valleys, all the while raising six kids.
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