“The VA must remediate its mishandling of this resource so that the land may once again be available for its intended purpose: the housing of veterans,” the judge writes.
As pointed out by DOJ/VA in the most recent pleading they filled, on August 30,, 2024, by entering into 3 land leases to apartment developers under the EUL program, VA subjected itself and its land lessee/apartment developers to a law enacted by Congress 38 U.S.C. 8166, which provides as follows:
"§8166. Construction standards
The construction, alteration, repair, remodeling, or improvement of a property that is the subject of an enhanced-use lease shall be carried out so as to comply with all applicable provisions of Federal, State, and local law relating to land use, building standards, permits, and inspections."
That opened a Pandora's Box of problems for the V.A. and any Special Master appointed by Judge Carter, because the V.A is now subject to the jurisdiction of:
Los Angeles County Public Works Department for grading and building permits for the veterans housing;
Los Angeles County Public Health Department as deputized agent of the State of California's landfill Regulatory agency CalRecycle, because an old toxic and radioactive substance containing landfill is on the VA property, next to apartment building sites, because the State of California has enacted a massive set of detailed laws and regulations about landfills, with the West LA VA Landfill existing since the late 1940's just south of where at trial Judge Carter has said he wants 600 more permanent apartments built next to/north of the landfill;
California Regional Water Quality Control Board - LA which regulates the leaking of toxic and radioactive substances from old landills into underground water, especially if a plume of toxic and radioactive underground water goes off-site from the VA North Campus;
South Coast Air Quality Management District - Another California state agency which gains jurisdiction when a real estate developers activities "moving dirt" cause toxic or radioactive substances to be emitted into the air during construction activities stirring up contaminated dirt and dust.
The VA's goal, when it adopted the 2022 Master Plan for the North Campus was to leave the West LA VA Landfill alone, not clean-out the toxic and radioactive substances and liquids in it and ignore it.
It looks like that VA plan to "llay low" is not going to work her, given Federal law, I.e.38 U.S.C. 8166, requiring the VA to comply with State and local law any Special Master appointed by Judge Carter as well as VA officials, are about to discover the hornets nest the judge and the plaintiffs have disturbed, in the form of 2 state agencies and 1 county agancy "deputized" by the state and having no discretion to "invent" loopholes or exceptions in state law having to do with landfills, especially those with toxic and radioactive substances in them. Naturally occurring Methane gas from the soil*, as well as from the decomposition of the "waste" in the landfill, such as thousands of animal carcases, which were the subject of radionuclide-using medical experiments, decomposing and producing methane, will prove to be the least of the problems building veterans housing on the West LA VA North Campus.
And then there's the VA's 2014 written agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which provides that the VA won't build anything on top of the landfill, or any part of it, without the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval. That agreement exists because of the radioactive waste in the West LA VA Landfill.
* California's State laws about controlling methane near places of human habitation first arose from the naturally occurring explosion of methane which in 1986 had seeped into"Ross Dress for Less" on 3rd St. at Fairfax. Few older Angelenos can forget the cracks in the sidewalks from the block where Ross Dress For Less was located flaming for several days. Look for photos from old news stories on the internet to see how the store building was demolished due to the naturally occurring methane gas explosions. After that explosion the State had soil gas testing done to find the neighborhoods in LA whose soil and soil gas created the risk of explosion. The West LA VA Campus is right at the western edge of that explosive soil gas zone. As a result the one hack employee-expert from the VA, saying "There's no gas in the soil" is NOT going to get the VA or its land lessees, present or future, out of complying with County and State law about methane monitoring regardless of whether the soil is naturally methane filled, or whether methane is being created by the decomposing remains of puppies, kiddies and bunnies who died in medical experiments and were buried in the West LA VA Landfill.
As pointed out by DOJ/VA in the most recent pleading they filled, on August 30,, 2024, by entering into 3 land leases to apartment developers under the EUL program, VA subjected itself and its land lessee/apartment developers to a law enacted by Congress 38 U.S.C. 8166, which provides as follows:
"§8166. Construction standards
The construction, alteration, repair, remodeling, or improvement of a property that is the subject of an enhanced-use lease shall be carried out so as to comply with all applicable provisions of Federal, State, and local law relating to land use, building standards, permits, and inspections."
That opened a Pandora's Box of problems for the V.A. and any Special Master appointed by Judge Carter, because the V.A is now subject to the jurisdiction of:
Los Angeles County Public Works Department for grading and building permits for the veterans housing;
Los Angeles County Public Health Department as deputized agent of the State of California's landfill Regulatory agency CalRecycle, because an old toxic and radioactive substance containing landfill is on the VA property, next to apartment building sites, because the State of California has enacted a massive set of detailed laws and regulations about landfills, with the West LA VA Landfill existing since the late 1940's just south of where at trial Judge Carter has said he wants 600 more permanent apartments built next to/north of the landfill;
California Regional Water Quality Control Board - LA which regulates the leaking of toxic and radioactive substances from old landills into underground water, especially if a plume of toxic and radioactive underground water goes off-site from the VA North Campus;
South Coast Air Quality Management District - Another California state agency which gains jurisdiction when a real estate developers activities "moving dirt" cause toxic or radioactive substances to be emitted into the air during construction activities stirring up contaminated dirt and dust.
The VA's goal, when it adopted the 2022 Master Plan for the North Campus was to leave the West LA VA Landfill alone, not clean-out the toxic and radioactive substances and liquids in it and ignore it.
It looks like that VA plan to "llay low" is not going to work her, given Federal law, I.e.38 U.S.C. 8166, requiring the VA to comply with State and local law any Special Master appointed by Judge Carter as well as VA officials, are about to discover the hornets nest the judge and the plaintiffs have disturbed, in the form of 2 state agencies and 1 county agancy "deputized" by the state and having no discretion to "invent" loopholes or exceptions in state law having to do with landfills, especially those with toxic and radioactive substances in them. Naturally occurring Methane gas from the soil*, as well as from the decomposition of the "waste" in the landfill, such as thousands of animal carcases, which were the subject of radionuclide-using medical experiments, decomposing and producing methane, will prove to be the least of the problems building veterans housing on the West LA VA North Campus.
And then there's the VA's 2014 written agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which provides that the VA won't build anything on top of the landfill, or any part of it, without the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval. That agreement exists because of the radioactive waste in the West LA VA Landfill.
* California's State laws about controlling methane near places of human habitation first arose from the naturally occurring explosion of methane which in 1986 had seeped into"Ross Dress for Less" on 3rd St. at Fairfax. Few older Angelenos can forget the cracks in the sidewalks from the block where Ross Dress For Less was located flaming for several days. Look for photos from old news stories on the internet to see how the store building was demolished due to the naturally occurring methane gas explosions. After that explosion the State had soil gas testing done to find the neighborhoods in LA whose soil and soil gas created the risk of explosion. The West LA VA Campus is right at the western edge of that explosive soil gas zone. As a result the one hack employee-expert from the VA, saying "There's no gas in the soil" is NOT going to get the VA or its land lessees, present or future, out of complying with County and State law about methane monitoring regardless of whether the soil is naturally methane filled, or whether methane is being created by the decomposing remains of puppies, kiddies and bunnies who died in medical experiments and were buried in the West LA VA Landfill.