Whittaker-Bermite Brownfield (Santa Clarita, California)

 pollution, brownfield land, production

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22116 West Soledad Canyon Road
Santa Clarita, CA

From 1934 until its closure in 1987, this site was used for the manufacture, testing, and storage of dynamite, oil field explosives, flares and munitions for the U.S. military. A fireworks subsidiary of Bermite Powder Co., Golden State Fireworks, was also located here after WWII. It was first known as the Los Angeles Powder Company, then Halifax Explosives Company, the Bermite Powder Company, and finally, starting in 1967, the Whittaker-Bermite Company.

It was recently discovered that extensive amounts of perchlorate (a component of rocket fuel which causes iodide uptake inhibition in humans; at medicinal levels, it is used to treat thyroid gland disorders) leaked into the ground water from this site, prompting an extensive clean-up effort that has been underway for quite some time. As a result of the spreading of perchlorate throughout the groundwater, valuable nearby water wells have been forced to shut down.

whittakerbermite.com/
www.santa-clarita.com/cityhall/cd/planning/bermite.asp
www.dtsc.ca.gov/SiteCleanup/Projects/Whittaker_Bermite....
www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2336.htm
plus.google.com/photos/111948110244543091121/album/5563...