Tainted groundwater from old Rocketdyne plant stirs concern anew

Officials with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board are reviewing findings from RTX Corp., the owner of the former Rocketdyne site, seeking to test soil and groundwater at several businesses, homes and the Westfield Shopping Mall for contamination. The vast 47-acre property in Warner Center sits across the street from bustling Westfield Topanga Mall, and is one of the largest undeveloped sites in Los Angeles.

The former Rocketdyne parcel has been undergoing an extensive cleanup to address the tainted soil and groundwater at the site that trace back to toxic chemicals produced at the site three decades ago. Cleanup of the site has been underway since 1991.

Still, its contaminated groundwater has spread to the land beneath nearby homes, businesses and the busy Westfield Topanga mall, according to a report filed in June with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is overseeing the cleanup.

In an email to the Daily News, L.A. Water Board officials wrote that RTX Corp. will test soil vapor and groundwater around multiple properties including retail, industrial and apartment buildings.

“Our role is to make sure that the site and adjacent properties are safe for all future uses,” wrote Ailene Voisin, the Los Angeles Water Board’s spokeswoman, in an email on Aug. 20.

Voisin said the site’s owner is treating the groundwater using enhanced in-situ bioremediation, or EISB, “an effective biological process that uses naturally occurring microbes to break down the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as PCE and TCE in groundwater.”

Over the last decade, the massive empty lot has been a stark contrast to the luxury homes and upscale shopping malls popping up across from the troubled site on Owensmouth Avenue. Nearby, Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is building a multi-million-dollar sports and entertainment complex to house the NFL team’s headquarters and practice facility.

The report revealed that a plume of contaminated groundwater carrying toxic chemicals, including PCE and TCE, spread nearly half a mile north and east from the former Rocketdyne property — beneath residential homes and businesses including Jacobi Building Materials Co., Public Storage, and the mall.

“This report clearly shows that the site is contributing to vapor intrusion into businesses and residences above levels that can damage public health,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics. According to experts, vapor intrusion occurs when contaminants in groundwater travel through the soil and enter the air in buildings.

“The Los Angeles Regional Board needs to take swift action to intercept these exposures by ordering the landowner to install vapor treatment systems,” Williams said.

Multiple efforts to reach RTX Corp. via email and phone were not answered. A spokesperson for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Group, which owns Westfield Topanga Mall, declined to comment.

The report said RTX Corp. has completed testing groundwater underneath the Westfield Shopping Center at 6600 Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

The testing showed the presence of chemicals including TCE and PCE in the soil vapor and in the groundwater under the mall.

Health studies have found that such chemicals as TCE and PCE can remain in groundwater for long periods and migrate indoors, leading to elevated cancer risks and adverse birth outcomes in communities impacted by vapor intrusion.

In the last three decades, the owners of the site have treated millions of gallons of groundwater. Tons of contaminated soil at the site has been excavated and removed.

John Walker, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, said his group was concerned about the reported contamination in the soil and groundwater.

“We’re concerned about the health, safety and well-being of our people in the community,” he said in a recent interview with the Daily News.

Bonnie Klea, a West Hills resident who worked as a secretary at the Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power plant in the 1970s, said she was worried about families living across the street from the site. “The groundwater moved pretty far (from the site) and contaminated the buildings across the street from the site,” said Klea. She called it “a disaster.”

The Los Angeles Water Board is reviewing the results of the testing done by RTX Corp. at several properties in the areas north, west, and east of the former Rocketdyne site, according to Voisin.

“The off-site properties, where additional soil vapor and groundwater samples are being proposed to be collected from, are located around various properties including retail, industrial and apartment buildings,” Voisin wrote.

The Rocketdyne facility at 6633 Canoga Avenue was built in 1955 and was part of America’s space program. Its engineers developed the Rocketdyne F-1 rocket engine later used in the Saturn V rocket in the 1960s.

The sprawling campus housed two small nuclear reactors developed for NASA nuclear power systems.

For decades, an F-1 engine adorned the entrance to Canoga Park until it was taken down in 2013. Manufacturing activities stopped in 2014 and two years later all of the facility’s buildings had been demolished.

Triple Five Group tried to purchase the property for $150 million, but the deal fell apart in 2023 when the Canadian firm backed out.

The parcel is back on the market, according to Brad Rosenheim, president and CEO of the consulting firm Rosenheim & Associates, Inc.

Williams said her group, the California Communities Against Toxics, has been pushing for years for testing vapor inside homes and businesses near the old Rocketdyne site to determine if vapors are present from the contaminated groundwater.

She said, “Action needs to be taken now to protect public health.”