Tracy Press

An appeal by local activist Robert Sarvey convinced air pollution regulators to revoke a permit that would have allowed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to increase the size of explosive tests at Site 300 southwest of Tracy.

“The pollution control district did the right thing to protect the health and safety of the citizens of Tracy,” said Sarvey.

Lawrence Livermore obtained a permit last November to detonate 350 pounds of TNT per day and up to 8,000 pounds per year — up from a previous 100-pound per day and a 1,000-pound per year limit.

But the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District revoked that permit Tuesday after reviewing an appeal filed in December by Sarvey, owner of a local shoe store.

Sarvey’s appeal questioned whether the Lab’s explosives tests, which sometimes use radioactive materials like depleted uranium and tritium, truly abide by state environmental laws.

San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District Director Seyed Sadredin says the permits will remain invalid until his agency has reviewed whether the radioactive emissions, left out of the lab’s permit application, endanger local people.

“They (the Lab) did not quantify the emissions or describe the radioactive emissions on their application,” said Sadredin. “We have to quantify those emissions and plug them into a risk assessment analysis and a sophisticated computer model to see the effect of emissions on people downwind.”

So far, the district has only looked into the health impacts of nonradioactive toxic materials and fine dust released in the test blasts.

Lawrence Livermore maintains that its tests abide by all state and federal laws. It argues radioactive materials were absent from its permit application because those substances fall under the federal jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sadredin said this is a question he plans to probe, but that some local regulations certainly apply to the Lab.

“We do have a general nuisance rule that says you cannot release any emission that exposes health risk to population, vegetation or physical structures,” he said.

“Our regulations do apply to federal facilities; it’s a question whether (the California Environmental Quality Act) would apply, or a federal requirement.”

Sarvey says that the act requires the district to evaluate the risks of any “heavy metal” pollutants. He says the lab’s use of depleted uranium, which is not only slightly radioactive but also a heavy metal — which can cause neurological damage if accumulated inside the body in sufficient amounts — means that it is covered by the state’s environmental law.

Sarvey insists that air regulators investigate the combined effects of heavy metals, particulate matter and radioactive emissions from the Site 300 outdoor explosive tests.

“Any type of chemicals have synergistic effects,” said Sarvey. “When you combine them, they are more deadly together than when they are separate.”

• To contact reporter Niko Kyriakou, call 830-4274, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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written by David Hardesty , March 08, 2007

Poor title for this article. Not nixed, placed on hold until they can investigate the matter further. And if this local board determines there isn't a problem will that satisfy everyone? Care to place any bets?