=. Fires big and small are popping up along the So Cal coast.

=. Coronavirus is increasing in Malibu by the only community indicator we’ve got. 

=. Case counts are up 24 percent in LA County … four cases detected at Malibu High School last week.

=. 15 years after a promise was made to clean up a nuclei disaster site near Malibu … another deal is made.

=.  Neighbors accuse the state of letting the defense contractor Boeing off the hook.

=.  The coastal commission meets today … Malibu is not in the Agenda … but desalinization is.

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This is Malibu’s Only Local Daily News … the Wednesday edition … I’m Hans Laetz reporting. 

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Brushfire North Of Trancas Held To 1/4 Acre

A small brushfire generated a lot of smoke but not much damage in the hills a few miles north of upper Trancas Canyon yesterday. 

About a quarter acre burned … but it was contained quickly … and put out.

The fire was reported at 11:20 yesterday morning …. west of Highway 23 and north of Mulholland Highway.

It was specifically located amongst the mansions south of Lake Sherwood … in Carlisle Canyon.

Ventura County firefighters knocked it out by noon with the use of helicopters … one of the choppers was flown over by Los Angeles County in a unified command scenario. 

Ground crews cut lines around it … and the total acreage that burned was kept it to only about a quarter acre of heavy brush.

Brushfire season may be coming early.

660 acres burned yesterday in the coastal hills at Camp Pendleton. 

The live fuel index in the local Santa Monica Mountains is around 115 … meaning the brush has 15 percent more moisture in it than average for this time of year. 

That means the small amount of rain that we got last winter was enough to generate a lot of growth in the brush … even in the areas that have burned recently.

Fires do not generally spread significantly this time of year.

But it was this time of the year … in May of 2013 … when the Springs Fire burned 24,238 acres in a day and a half.

The Springs Fire burned the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains … it was carried by hot dry Santa Anas that do not usually appear in the month of May. 

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Support for KBUU Radio also comes the the Malibu Association of Realtors.

When choosing someone to represent you when you buy … sell or rent a house … local knowledge is very important.

Malibu zoning rules … Coastal Commission rules …

Members of the Malibu Association of Realtors are local experts.

The Malibu Association of Realtors …  supporters of our local community … and supporters of local radio 99.1 KBUU.

Indications From Malibu High School May Confirm Covid 19 Comeback In Malibu

Malibu High School tested 4 kids as positive with Coronavirus last week.

And given the lack of community wide testing .… that is the best indicator we’ve got as to the progression of the disease locally.

The statewide indication ….  an estimate …  is that the number of new cases is increasing.

Up about 18 percent.

That would be the highest case rate since the end of February.

As of yesterday … L.A. County was averaging a 24% increase. 

The case rate is rated as critical if it is over 100 cases per 100 thousand people. 

Right now the case rate is 177 cases a week for every 100,000 residents.

And here is perhaps the most important statistic.

As of yesterday … 32 thousand people in Los Angeles County have been killed by Coronavirus.

13 of those deaths were in Malibu.

19 of those deaths were in the surrounding Santa Monica Mountains.

2.9 million people in L A County have come down with an infection so far. 

While COVID case numbers have risen sharply in recent weeks, hospitalization numbers have held relatively steady, and daily deaths have continued declining.

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Support for KBUU radio… For eight years now… Has come from Rancho Del Cielo. Perched high above the Pacific Ocean and overlooking Paradise Cove… Rancho Del Cielo is a partner bringing public radio to the Malibu.

15 years After Promising Cleanup Of Chemical Mess Near Malibu, State Promises Chemical Mess Near Malibu Will Be Cleaned Up

Once again … the State of California is promising to enforce a cleanup of an environmental disaster zone just north of Malibu.

They promised that 15 years ago … and it did not happen. 

The state did not enforce the cleanup … the state agency in charge was accused of bumbling incompetence.

Some Simi Valley area parents say the Santa Susana plan has caused clusters of cancer.

The California Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced a new agreement with the Boeing Corporation … the defense contractor that ended up owning the Santa Susana Field Lab … 20 miles north of Malibu.

That was were there was a nuclear meltdown 63 years ago … and for 50 years … rocket engines were tested at the once-isolated site … in the mountains west of the San Fernando Valley.

The ground is thoroughly contaminated with half burned rocket fuel … and radioactive pollution.

It sits next to the headwaters of Malibu Creek … which could wash pollutants to our city. 

Santa Susanna is also the point of the ignition of the Woolsey fire… And some independent scientists believe it’s possible that tons of radioactive material or toxic rocket fuel got lifted up into the atmosphere as Woolsey turned through the test lab.

Yesterday … the governor’s office announced a new agreement with Boeing … to clean up Santa Susana:

NEWSCART A73370 MEREDITH WILLIAMS 

“The agreement sets forth a path for a very stringent cil cleanup and it includes protections of humans … ecosystems … and groundwaters.”

Meredith Williams there … she is director of the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Under the complicated agreement …. Boeing will remove all detectable radioactive material.

Toxic rocket fuel residue will be cleaned up to what the state cryptically says could … note the word could … be total safety,.

The state says Boeing will remediate chemical contamination to a health protective standard that could be as stringent as a “Resident with Garden” exposure scenario. 

That  means the cleanup would ensure that it would be safe for people to live onsite and consume homegrown produce from a backyard garden.

But that is only listed a a possible standard.

Dan Hirsch is a nuclear waste expert at UC Santa Cruz … and has been sounding alarm bells about Santa Susana for years.

NEWSCART A73377 BOEING DAN HIRSCH 111

“This agreement assures that we will never do a full clean up. It will leave the vast majority of the contamination in place.”

Hirsch told NBC 4 Los Angeles. yesterday that Boring should be held to the agreement that was reached in 2007.

NEWSCART A73376 BOEING DAN HIRSCH 2222

“This cleanup agreement lets Boeing tremendously off the hook. It allows them to leave 100 times higher of contaminants.”

U C Santa Cruz nuclear waste expert Dan Hirsch … in an interview with NBC4 Los Angeles. 

This is going backwards … it;’s not making our kids safer … and it’s wrong.

From 1947 to 2006, Boeing and its predecessors, along with NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy, conducted research, development, assembly and testing of rocket engines, small-scale nuclear reactors, and chemical lasers at the site. 

All industrial activity at the site ended in 2006 … but bad contamination remains. 

The state says this new agreement is the result of a 15-month legal mediation … trying to avoid additional litigation to enforce the 2017 consent order. 

Neighbors are not happy. 

The state order has to be approved by the state waterboard… They will hold a public meeting on June 9th to vote on the compromise. 

We will have more information as that hearing gets closer.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

Major Decision On Water Supply From The Sea Faces Coastal Commission Tomorrow

The California Coastal Commission meets today tomorrow and Friday… and a huge controversy is due for a decision.

A one point five billion dollar desalinization plant … the conversion of an old electrical generating station into a source of water. 

Poseidon is the name of the company that proposes the 1 point 5 billion dollar desalinization plant at the site of the old Huntington Beach natural gas power generating station. Viren mentalists are dead set against the project… which would produce enough freshwater to supply 35,000 families with their water.

The governor is strongly in support of the desalinization plant… He says we need every tool we can get to supply people with water during a massive drought.

The proposed desalinization plant in Huntington Beach would not directly supply Malibu. In fact… The regional water agency that supplies Malibu has put the brakes on a similar proposed desalinization plant near LAX.

They say conservation would provide more water than the desalinization plants we deliver… without the massive environmental impact.

The vote on the desalination Thursday at 9 a.m.

And this note… The coastal commission begins at three day meeting today… And the word Malibu does not appear on the agenda.

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Brewing Company.

Malibu Brewing Company is a locally owned craft brewery, proudly supporting our community, and local public radio.

Just released: a limited, holiday-spiced Winter Ale …  a perfect fireside companion.

It makes a special gift for the beer-lovers on your list.

Find Malibu Brewing Company premium craft beer in select retailers, or order direct at brew malibu dot com

Old Guy On Scooter Leads Cop On PCH Chase, Interrupted By Sudden Tent

Here’s an only in Santa Monica scenario … as reported by the Santa Monica Daily Press.

One of three lanes on PCH … coming out of the tunnel … was clocked when a tent blew onto the right lane.

Then … according to the newspaper ,… an elderly man drove his motorized scooter onto the highway with a Santa Monica PD officer in very slow pursuit. 

The officer broke off the scooter pursuit  to remove the tent from the highway …  the scooter guy flipped an illegal right U-turn to zip up the Incline.

The cop was not fooled … he tracked down the old guy  with the scooter in Palisades Park.

The Santa Monica Daily press reports that the scooter driver was given a verbal warning to stay off the PCH..

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Support for KBUU Radio comes from the Malibu Foundation.

The Malibu Foundation underwrote the KBUU solar panels and batteries at the transmitter … which keeps KBUU’s FM transmitting on 99.1 during storms and blackouts… 24 seven… on clean renewable Malibu sunshine.

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You can hear the news live every morning until 9:30 on KBUU.

FM 99.1 in western Malibu.  Also: streaming at www.radiomalibu.net

Between 10 and 2 … you can hear the newscast playback loop on KBU2. That’s on FM 99.1 HD2 in your car, or streaming at s7.viastreaming.net/6500

If humanly possible, the KBUU NewsScript is usually published at around midday at www.radiomalibu.net