>> hi, my name is melissa bum stid. i live in west hills. i'm the mom to started the change.org petition that has over 600,000 signatures. you're going to hear a lot today. we've got a lot of facts. we know the facts. we're all intelligent people here, but i think what is lacking is courage to dot right thing. so i wanted to bring you my daughter's bides of courage. my daughter's a two-time cancer survivor at 9 years old. >> can you do it? hachoo! you want to go to disney land today? >> yeah. >> okay. let's go to disneyland. >> oh, yeah! are you going to go too? >> i'm coming too. >> she earned all night beads through her cancer treatment program. each bead represents something different, for example, red represents when she had a blood transfusion. black when she got poked with a needle. yellow for in-patient stays. white for tee mow therapy. this is what she earned the first month. id' like to share with you what shy has earned over the last two times fighting cancer. a few of the photos, i just want to fly through rile quick of some of the children that we've met who are local. i went to camp with this little boy last weekend. he's about to lose his second eye. this little boy has t-cell leukemia. he's doing all right, he's in remission. we've had several who've passed away. we need to you step in and protect us and protect our children. do the right thing. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi. i love you. want to sit on my lap? my daughter, grace ellen had just turned 4 years old, when we found bruises all over her body. took her to the pediatrician and found out she had an incredibly rare and aggressive form of childhood leukemia. she had a 20% survival rate. she really endured a lot of suffering that first year. and then she had a year and a half of just wonderful cancer-free childhood. and then gracie's cancer relapsed, and it came back. >> it was april 2013, and my daughter hazel was 2. and i was noticing that she was not quite herself. i kept calling the doctors, and everybody was going, it's probably just the flu. and i turned to my husband, and i said my mommy instincts are telling me something's really wrong. i said i don't know why, but i think she has cancer. they performed some blood work tests and ultra sound. after several days of tests, we knew it was neuroblastoma. >> all right, hazel, are you ready for simon says? >> yes. >> simon says touch your nodes. simon says touch your head. simon says touch year ears. simon says touch your ears. simon says say "i love you." >> i love you. >> simon says sing "twinkle twinkle." [cheers and applause] >> hazel was in remission for two and a half years. in 2016 she relapsed. >> good job. >> first time grace had cancer, we lived over 100 days at children's hospital in los angeles. >> how cool is that? >> and. >> as we were meeting families, we would casually ask, where are you from? >> that's exactly what happened with the bum stead family. they were at the hospital the same time we and grace, and her daughter hazel, immediately became friends. they are similar in so many ways. so it felt great to have that connection. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ happy birthday dear gracie ♪ >> and we found out that we lived within 20 minutes of each other. >> and i kept meeting other families, and they'd say how about that, we live around the corner, two blocks over. three miles, five miles. >> then several other moms and dads in west hills, thousand oaks, and we were really at the time just thankful for it. but i think, as time went on, we're going wait a second, how is it that so many of us live nearby. we're going to children's hospital los angeles. a world-renowned hospital. people are coming from all over the world to come for treatment, and yet we're meeting people who live on our street. >> i kept pushing back against my own mental red flags until i met a family that said oh, we live on your street, and granted, we live on a long boulevard. it's three miles, but they lived on our street, and they said my neighbor had the same exact brain cancer that my son had. and there were two of them, neighbors, plus my daughter. that's three on the same street. so i panicked. and i set up a facebook group for all the local cancer parents, and we started mapping ourselves out on google maps. and for a long time we couldn't find the connection. we couldn't see what was going on, but we could tell there were too many of us. and it was about a year after that that someone mentioned the santa susanna field, and i had never heard of it. we'd already lived here for seven years. we had to live with the fact that maybe it could have been avoided. maybe our government hadn't protected us the way it should have, and maybe our whole community had been hiding this jienlt secret. hiding this jienlt secret. we are not getting you a helicopter. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ instantly clear everyday congestion with vicks sinex saline. for fast drug free relief vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. and try vicks sinex children's saline. safe and gentle relief for children's noses. i brought in ensure max protein, with thirty grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks! 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marvelous study to determine what would be the least-dangerous place to put a reactor testing facility. and the santa susana reactor rated very poorly. they chose to cite it anyway. >> santa susana ranked fifth or sixth but it was selected anyway because of the driving time to l.a. >> there was relatively low population density around it. >> this is a quiet place. the atom at work for peace is quiet >> so over the years, they built ten nuclear reactors. plutonium-fueled. dangerous rare earth and made nuclear fuel out of it, and a hot lab in which they shipped in and radiated nuclear fuel to be cut apart. none of those had a containment structure. those domes. they're just regular rooms. >> most well-known of those, a reactor was called the sodium reactor experiment. >> the sodium reactor experiment was different. >> built for industrial application, medical research and scientific exploration. >> on the first full power run, all systems operated smoothly, and full power was obtained with ease. >> for the first time in the united states, an entire community was illuminated by electricity generated by an atomic reactor. >> when we lived here before we learned the news it was just utopia. we had a rural atmosphere, close to the city. we had children who loved playing in the creeks. and i thought we'd found a dream place. >> you know, it was the '50s and the '60s. it was magical. in those days we'd go out the door. mom would say come back, you know, before dinner, and it was totally safe. nobody locked their doors. we just played outdoors all day. all the time. >> this is how american families are living in their new homes. >> the valley was the ideal place to go. it was agricultural at that time. it was rural and it would have been really the most idyllic place to raise a child but for the story that's unfolding now. >> i think i was 19 years old when i came to california. i started working at atomic center national in santa susana in 1963. i felt a sense of pride to be there and be involved. and avenue worker felt a sense of pride. i didn't know anything about what they were doing where i worked, except it was secret. >> employees of santa susana field laboratory changed the face of humanity. my father was employed by rocket dyne between 1962 and 1969. he was a tester on the saturn five rocket program. i was never concerned about what my father did for a living as a young child. he never really elaborated on what their duties were. they were sworn o to secrecy. >> tan just changed. because then we didn't know if we brought our children to a place that could be harmful to them. they loved wading creeks annette and spes getting frogs it was scary. . hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it 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the control desk. looked young to me. are these young men if your organization? >> yes, all of these operators are kind of young fellas. all with a high school education with some major in science. >> it was a cold wartime at that time and i was trying to help the united states outdo the russians. >> on the one side, the forces of freedom. on the other, the forces of communism. >> it was an honor to work there. i was working with the very best scientists in the nuclear business. in fact, the person that overseen the sre reactor was dr. marvin j. fox. he's the one that helped invent the atomic bomb that was dropped on hiroshima. and july 13th, about 11:00, usually when i got there on that particular graveyard shift. went in the building. i pulled up to the control room. looking through the door, and i seen my crew was already there. then i looked even closer, and i seen dr. marvin j. fox. and he had two others with him that i wasn't quite sure who they were, and i said man, there's something that's just not right. so i got brave and opened the door real quiet and then, as i stood there, i heard the words coming out of dr. fox's mouth. i herd my supervisor ask, can we tell our families what happened today? the three looked at each other for a minute, and dr. fox, he turned around real quick and stared me in the eyes, almost nose to nose. no one had say a word. from that point on, there was a coverup of what happened. >> it was the first step in a nuclear nightmare when a government official said that a breakdown in atomic power plant in pennsylvania today is problem lit worst nuclear reactor accident to date. >> i was teaching at ucla in 1979. and there was a sent at a nuclear power plant in harrisburg, pennsylvania called three mile island, and my students wanted to research whether there were nuclear activities in the los angeles area, whether they had any problems, i said sure, if ahead, and within a few weeks they found out there had been a partial meltdown at the nuclear reactor that we now call santa susana. they obtained footage. >> the fuel swelled in size and structural damage was sustained. >> partial meltdown occurred in a reactor with no containment structure. the radioactivity was so high they had to open this huge garage-type door to try to vent the radioactivity out. one scholar estimated that the amount could be 250 times greater than that from three mile island. this is a smaller reactor. the radiation was clear off the scale. whichever way the wind was blowing, that's where the radiation travels, of course. it's like smoke from a fire. the men that was working there, they were so disturbed about it. >> five weeks later, the saturday morning papers, and the press release didn't say there was a partial meltdown. they said just the opposite. >> despite the seriousness of the accident, the official news release claimed there was no indication of unsafe reactor conditions. >> they lied, and i couldn't say a word. 20 years i was 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been revealed to the public before. >> reaction was located 35 miles from downtown los angeles. it was called the sodium reactor experiment or sre. the general public was not informed. local public safety officials weren't told much either. >> today is the first time you've heard of the '59 incident. >> certain risks were taken. >> i was really appalled at the sort of the cavalier attitude that they demonstrated. >> it was actually very undramatic. >> it did not appear to be a hazard to the public or to our employees. >> i feel less concerned about it than i would the long-term effect of the smog of los angeles. >> the potential hazard of major release into the environment was just not there. >> it's taken until this week, 20 year later, for the details to be widely broadcast. >> we all have the idea, all of us who were involved in this project that it had been a coverup. we knew that we had to approach this in a very, very careful way. because we knew that we were looking at a very powerful industry that had not been challenged in the way that we were prepared to challenge it ever before. it was a scary proposition to take on the nuclear industry. a very scary proposition. >> so the accident at santa susana was serious but room for debate into how it was handled. >> we knew he had something that was very important, particularly in the context of what was going on at three mile island. i think what it reveals is that this great guarantee of the ultimate safety of the industry was a phony. it was fake. wrong. it was one of the worst nuclear accidents in history to that point. >> no one knew until my students uncovered the documents two decades later. >> the material that we got mostly came from an outfit in westwood called bridge the gap, which is an anti-nuclear group. >> what happened at santa susana would not have happened at a well-run facility. they cut corners over and over again. the risks continued for many decades. >> nuclear work was over four decades. the other aerospace work didn't really cease until 2006. so over the course of decades and the course of accidents, spills, releases. some intentional. the soil and the groundwater and surface water runoff has become very contaminated. >> produced by rocket dyne in the canyons of california, sometimes called the power plant, sometimes the booster, is born. >> and there were rocket tests. you used to have big booms, and we would see, like mushroom clouds above the facility. i would play outside with my friends until it got dark. i'd be in the cul-de-sac. and we'd all look up, and we could hear those roars. >> in california, santa susana mountains, rocket engineers had created the largest laboratory. >> the whole of the island would shudder. >> tens of thousands of rocket tests. and those would produce huge plumes of contamination that would spread a substantial distance. >> engines poured forth their pillars of flame. >> over 30,000 rocket engine tests, and a lot of the contamination at the site is a result of that. >> they released hundreds of thousands of gallons of tce in the groundwater. >> there was a hot lab there where they would reprocess spent nuclear fuel shipped in from around the country. they had fires. >> they all fed an open burn pit. there they would take each month gallons of toxic chemicals, shoot at them and workers were killed because they were illegally exposing hazardous material. >> ten nuclear reactors, three of which suffered accident. these activities went on for decades. >> the population just mushroomed around the laboratory. >> and i think anyone who has a fear of anything like that should be told. given a chance to say no, i don't want to live here. >> the potential hazard of release in the environment was not there. release in the enviros not there. >> the santa susana lab fill is contaminated with a veritable who's who of toxic chemicals. and multiple radioactive nuclieds. we describe not the half-life. we describe something called its hazardous life, which is equivalent to 20 half lives. we have a high awareness of this health impacts that go on for these hundreds, if not half million years. >> right now, half a million people live within ten miles of the site. >> i've asked over and over again, where is it safe? where would it be dangerous. and after studying this for almost 40 year, i'm afraid i can't answer that. people need to understand, the laboratory's on a mountain. gravity wants to carry that contamination downhill. there is not a glass wall surrounding santa susana that prevents contaminate sames. when it rains, the water carries the contamination down the streams. there was a children's camp called the brandeis bardin institute for young children and college students. it is right beneath the santa susana field laboratory. there has been some contamination found on the brandeis property and there is some concern about the children who have been or going to that facility. soil contamination goes down 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of me still grieves that she has to be that way. you know, i wish more than anything she could have just had a normal childhood. you know, she was diagnosed when she was 4. that's almost before anyone can have a memory. she was immediately eliminated from being around other kids because of the germ factor, but also my son was so emotionally impacted. both my children lost a big part of their childhood. and that's not fair, we can never get that back. my husband and i are trying to heal our marriage from all the separation and pain that we went through. and then, what's left over is me. but very a lot of friends whose kids are still suffering. she didn't get to make a choice if she wanted her child to live next to this radiation. she probably never heard of it before. i don't think any of us should have had to pick up this burden, but i can't unlearn what i know. >> um, so the, the, we'll have to wait for the -- you know what? why don't you tell them i'm being interviewed for a documentary on santa susana and i'll call her when i'm done. put the fear of [ bleep ] god into her. there's the department of energy which leased a part of its property from boeing. there's nasa, and then there is boeing itself, which owns most of the site. >> at some point, rocketdyne was sold to rockwell international, and rockwell international eventually sold its rocketdyne division to boeing, and boeing assumed the responsibilities of rocketdyne for santa susana. >> the ultimate regularity is california. and specifically the department of toxic substances control, which is a subdivision of the california epa. they are the ones wh gets to say this is what get the cleaned up. say this is what get the cleaned up [gaming sounds] [gaming sounds] just think, he'll be driving for real soon. every new chevy equinox comes standard with chevy safety assist, including automatic emergency braking. find new peace of mind. find new roads. chevrolet. bogeys on your six, limu. find new roads. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. there were a lot of people who had a stake in keeping this story under wraps. i had a lot of insiders tell me that people who run this agency have no interest in telling the truth about santa susana. my agency broke a huge story in 1979. a few years ago, that producer came to see me and said there is a lot more to the story than we broke back in '79. you have to continue our work. you have to keep digging. >> you might wonder why we care about a nuclear accident that happened more than half a century ago, because as you're about to see, thousands of people have been secretly exposed to radioactive fallout. >> it was pretty clear to me, that there were people inside certain government agencies like the dtse who were very close with boeing. >> that was a very important way for boeing to buy protection for themselves. i was look into the department of toxic substances control and how it's reviewing toxics. >> insiders at the state department of toxic substance control told us that they were often too lenient with polluters. >> they tell us there are no health impacts from santa susana. they have said it's not getting off site at levels that are harmful to human health. >> they're very adept at flattering them. >> i also, as you know, represent many private companies who have found ms. raphael to be open. >> people work in government on an issue, in this case, santa susana, and they leave government, and they can make a lot more money being a lobbyist for the company involved in the issue. >> the flotilla of fixers hired by boeing, many had connections to jerry brown or had worked for him. >> it's been like a game of musical chairs. a former head of the state epa. and the former chief lawyer of the dtsc have all switched sides and worked on behalf of boeing to kill a full cleanup. santa susana. >> the santa susana laboratory is a complex cleanup. it costs a lot of money. and anytime it costs a lot of money, there's going to be politics at play. >> in 2007, there was a consent order signed by the dtsc and the parties that did not establish much of a cleanup standard. it was very week and what boeing wanted. >> it is based off of people being on the site very unfrequently. that would result in 98% of the contamination not being cleaned up. people who live near santa susana do not live in recreational areas. they live in residential areas. >> all through the 2000s there was an effort to require a full cleanup. then state senator sheila kuehl who represented the area introduced bill after bill. >> workers and neighbors have become sick and too many have died. it's time to require full and complete cleanup. >> ask for your aye vote. >> in 2007, she finally got her legislation through. >> believe it or not, under schwarzenegger there was an actual serious effort to clean up that site. but after governor brown came to office, things shifted very dramatically. >> boeing, however, went to court and overturned the law and through some exceedingly troubling action by the administration, that lawsuit was lost. within five weeks of jerry brown being sworn in 2011, a secret stipulation was entered into between the state and boeing in that lawsuit. >> the state of california actually stipulated that they would not contest any material fact that boeing would put forward in the suit. and they actually agreed to that stipulation, it's my understanding, before having seen the material facts that boeing was going to put forward. the judge found it very easy to overturn the law. >> the state waived the right to dispute anything that boeing might say without knowing what those things would be. >> it was a major blow. and it was exactly what boeing wanted, and they got it. . there are those who think your agency is too cozy with boeing. >> i haven't seen it, and i looked for it. >> nasa and the department of energy also signed 2010 agreements with the state of california. and these were actually really historic agreements. and what they do is they say the santa susana field laboratory has to be cleaned up to background levels. and essentially, what that means is if there is contamination on-site, it gets cleaned up. >> from your vantage point, what is the status of nasa's actions with respect to the cleanup? >> congresswoman, all that information you just related is my understanding as well as where we are. and nasa is committed to fulfilling our obligations under the afc. >> i'm tired of fighting. let's clean up the background. let's get this site closed. yes, things happen. yes, they are unfortunate. and we've made a commitment to clean it up. >> that cleanup was supposed to have already been concluded by 2017. and boeing and the federal agencies have ensured it hasn't even started. and i'm certain that these federal agencies do not want to set a precedent in terms of really cleaning up to a proper standard. and what happens when you cut your corners on safety is you kill people. and that's exactly what boeing did with the 737-max. that is their style. >> the department of energy, nasa, and boeing have made repeated promises to clean up, as has the state toxics agency that oversees them. and those promises have been broken again and again. >> anyone from your agency talk to us at all? >> my public people have talked to you. >> we've made a commitment to clean it up. >> i've said all i'm going to say. >> at the end of the day, it's the right thing to do. >> you've said nothing. >> and that means that there have been years and years of additional migration possible that wouldn't have been possible if they had lived up to the commitments. >> it's my commitment to the people of california that when i'm gone, i've left in place a system that is robust, defensible, and meaningful for the future. >> can you see how some people would think this is more lip service? >> i would hope they wouldn't. doesn't your family deserve the best? eggland's best eggs. classic, cage free, and organic. more delicious, farm-fresh taste. plus, superior nutrition. which is now more important than ever. because the way we care... is anything but ordinary. only eggland's best. ♪♪ (burke) i've seen this movie before. only eggland's best. 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(woman) yeah, y-you did. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ (tiger) this is the dimension of imagination. ♪ ♪ you're going about your business, and all of the sudden a nightmare. >> it is the biggest nightmare a parent could ever imagine. >> in 2006, there were a cluster of retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer affecting children. there is just under 300 diagnosed in the united states, and there were 11 cases right near the site. we have very, very strong evidence that the first group of mothers whose children suffered from retinoblastoma did sue boeing and did settle and as part of that settlement were no longer allowed to talk to the media or get involved. if you have a child with cancer, it's very expensive. i know one mother in particular i talked to recently who their family is medically bankrupt now caring for their daughter. so i can understand if i was one of those mothers why they might have went with that agreement. and now several years later, we're seeing new cases of pediatric cancers that are near the site. >> exposes you to some background of cancer, particularly for pregnant women and children. >> the beer-7 report which came out in 2006, that landmark study ended up showing that there is no linear threshold, that any level, any level of radionucleide exposure above background had an inherent increased risk of cancer. there is a dramatic increase in very rare and bizarre cancers that typically may happen a few times across the nation. and what we've been noting over the years is we have children who are not one, but two or three or four children within the community surrounding the test lab have these unusual cancers. >> boeing itself did risk assessments of what the risk would be if someone were to live on the property, and their own estimate for some of the locations was that the cancer risk was as high as 96 out of 100. meaning if 100 people lived there, 96 would get cancer from the contamination. epa and dtsc normally require the risk be capped at 1 in a million. so you can see how serious the contamination is and how large the problem would be if they left it behind. >> we found documents that show the radiation has moved offsite, including at the brandeis bardeen institute. >> i was the president of the brandeis bardin institute. prior to accepting the job, i asked the chair of the board if there was anything i needed to be worried about, and she said it's all good. we've had a settlement, and everything in that land has been cleaned up, and there is nothing to worry about. >> i think one of the most surprising documents we unearthed was an internal report commissioned by the camp that proved there was a lot of contamination from santa susana that ran down into this children's camp. and it was the basis for the camp suing the owners of the field lab and then secretly settling that lawsuit. >> so when i hear about a settlement, what comes to mind is that there is liability there. we don't often want to hear the dark side of things. well don't often want to hear that there is something wrong they have not been transparent in exactly what is going on up there, even now. >> how can one person be diagnosed with tie ride cancer at age 4, two recurrences and end up with an extremely rare uterine cancer with no family history of any kind? >> we were four women, we're all cancer-free, and now fast forward, we're only one cancer-free. >> i had stage 3 to 4 bladder cancer. i just was shocked. and then i was so angry. >> my mother was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2001. she passed away seven weeks later at the age of 58. and my father was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. he passed a away. >> my daughter was diagnosed that turned into thyroid cancer. my father survived his cancer and my mother suffered with ovarian cancer and colon cancer and she couldn't take it. so my mom actually ended up committing suicide. my oldest sister was diagnosed with brain cancer and glioblastoma. and she was dying two years later, her own daughter was diagnosed with cancer too, and she passed about just eight months after my sister. >> to hear that your child has a life-threatening disease absolutely shakes you to your core. >> it was really, really devastating to the family. every day was like the rug was being taken out from under us. >> our world ended on that day. and this new reality had to come into existence. >> i thought she was going beat it. i really did. she didn't. i think we were just in denial. >> it's a beautiful thing to be in denial because you get to enjoy every moment, you know. so that's the best thing. >> i can't just leave. it's hard to give everything up, because somebody can't do the right thing. >> where do you go that you really know you're safe, you know? i mean, i moved here thinking i was safe. >> and why should we leave? we came here in good faith. why should we leave? they need to clean up their crap. >> you can't sit back and pretend it's not real. you have to do something. >> who is the person who could make a difference in all of this? who can make a difference? od ch! it is. so is screening for colon cancer. when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. hey, cologuard! hi, i'm noninvasive and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. early stages. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. (all) to screening! ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ as someone who resembles someone else, i appreciate that liberty mutual to unveil them to the world. knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. oh, yeah. that's the spot. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ ♪ (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. i'm never not thinking about it. and i'm never not thinking about how we can -- we can change things, because it's not only my community we're trying to protect, we live here. my kids live here. >> look both ways. good. let's cross. >> i do not. >> i never thought i was smart growing up. i never trusted myself, and i never really valued myself. i do feel incredibly small. and it's hard to say that, because with that comes the lack of control that i feel. when gracie got diagnosed, there was this one moment in the hospital where, you know, she had a port underneath her skin, and they had to pierce the port with a needle to get her chemo or blood transmusicians or whatever it was she needed. but they had a very specific process of cleaning and sterilizing all the equipment before you attach the tube. two days earlier, i had had a huge lesson on how to do it properly because we had to do that at home. and we were in the operating room, and i saw the nurse wipe it twice, and they were supposed to do at least ten seconds of that. and then they're supposed to let it dry for 20 seconds. and in that one second, i realized i need to say something. i need to stop this woman because if she does that and there is bacteria, it can go straight into gracie's bloodstream through her heart. it can kill her. in that same exact second, i thought if i say something, she'll say what do you know? you're not trained. i'm an authority figure, you are not. i'm going to embarrass you for bringing this up and rocking the boat. and as she is going to get her, i didn't do anything. because i ended up being more afraid of what she would say than protecting my daughter. and thank god nothing happened. but i swore that moment, i will never, ever let my children be put in danger because i was too scared to speak up. and i think that was the day i decided i might as well make a difference. >> melissa bumstead. >> i hope i'm not talking too fast, but i'm pretty nervous. >> this is alarming, and we are concern issed. the cancer moms in my community. on my street that had it. >> a group of seven mothers and i, not really understanding what we were doing came to our first dtse department of toxic control meeting to find out what is wrong. are we in danger? and that was the fist day i realized we are in danger. through the change.org petition, we started to get traction. and people started to care and i realized we weren't alone in this fight. >> i'm a teacher and i'm not irrational. >> we're here because of numerous failures of legislators to protect the people. >> this should not be happening. >> i got up there and i was shaking my hand. how dare you do this to my community? you're lying about this, trying to confuse all of us? why would you do all this? >> because it's cheaper for bowing to pay the relatively measly fees than to clean up your mess. you regulate boeing, not the other way around. >> we are a force to be reckoned with. ♪ papa was a rolling stone, wherever he laid his hat was his home ♪ . >> i've really changed. i've really healed, and now i am willing to have confrontation not for continue trags's sake, but to protect people that i care about. i still wanted to throw up afterwards. >> she has always been fierce. her motivation to never stop just keeps getting stronger and stronger. >> melissa bumstead is a super hero. >> i've never met anyone like her. >> she is the face of this cleanup. >> she has to keep going. >> peep like melissa will change. i know she has changed it already. >> there is nothing like a mom wanting to protect her children. there is no force on earth that is more powerful. >> my daughter went through excruciating pain, and she buried two of her friends last year. we are praying to god that we finally get the cleanup, because sometimes i can't sleep at night, worrying that my children are in danger. and i know i'm not the only one. >> but what people maybe don't remember is that we're fitting a lifetime. >> yes. >> into a year or two or three or five. >> yes. >> and that's -- >> portfolio, the future, and that's true. it's true for all of us. >> one of the things i wish we could have done, because she was in the process of getting a second wish granted. >> yeah. >> and her wish was to go to kleinfeld's in new york and try on wedding dresses because her favorite show was "say yes to the dress." we would watch it in the hospital all the time. and we got approved, and we were planning it in january of last year. >> right. >> and we were going to try to go in april. >> yeah. >> but -- but she didn't get to. and sometimes it's really hard because oh, gosh, she never got to try on a wedding dress. she'll never get to walk down the aisle. like you said, we're trying to fit in a lifetime. >> right. >> in just a small number of years. and that's -- that's so powerful. >> the day she passed away, my husband and i, we weren't -- we weren't ready to go home. we left her at the hospital, and that was the hardest thing we ever had to do was to leave there without her. it was so hard to trust in anything, because all you feel is that tangible loss. >> keep praying and stay strong. >> i tried to get to a protest the other day, but my body wouldn't let me. melissa and i tell each other all the time just do what you can, and that's okay and don't feel bad. but it was hard because i continued to feel guilty because i was like this fight doesn't stop just because i do. but watching what melissa has done over this last year has just been remarkable. being a mom is hard enough. being a mom of a child who has cancer makes it harder. and being a mom who is trying to protect all the kids in her community from some insidious exposure, the level of responsibility you end up taking on and feeling is daunting and draining and overwhelming. i've seen the toll that it's taken on her because it's frustrating when people don't listen. but she still gets up, and she still fights, and she still is pushing so hard. because she's watched her friends bury their children. >> melissa is the key to the cleanup. melissa is now leading the community in this effort, and her voice is critical in the leadership that she has shown in organizing her community is critical. and that will make or break everything. anything else that is worth putting a flag on. >> but i was thinking something like this may be good to put out to the community. we're trying to figure out how to message it. >> right. >> to the right target. and we don't really know what the right next target is. >> right. >> and then randomly -- >> i admire melissa more than i can begin to say. she has taken this personal tragedy and used that as motivation and energy to try to protect others. and i've been in meetings where melissa and grace have gone to meet with state senators, and they touched their hearts some. it becomes much easier to do what a polluter wants you to do if you don't see who gets hurt from it. >> to commit to us that the site will be fully cleaned up in a timely manner, and that they will make that a priority. >> how did you feel about the meeting, melissa? >> it sounds like she is talking like a human instead of a politician. i mean, it doesn't mean that they'll actually do it, like you said. >> the hundreds of thousands of signatures on the petition has turned things around quite a bit. the question is it enough? 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and daily vicks super c for me. vicks super c is a daily supplement with vitamin c and b vitamins to help energize and replenish. dayquil severe is a max strength daytime, coughing, power through your day, medicine. new from vicks. well, it sounds like they're driving through the campaign trail, and we fit in it. he said they're going bring a lot of film cameras, national news. what if he is not ready to sign, like they know he is not ready to sign? but that's a conversation that he might go to immediately. because i'm going to call him. he asked that i would call. >> hi, hon. how you doing? >> right. yep, yep. yep. okay, okay. right. okay. okay. yeah. good, at least i -- okay. thank you so much, you guys. i so appreciate you. all right. all right. bye. hey, hon. >> i got a call from john cox's campaign manager. they weren't really making a huge effort. and now it's four days before the election, and all of the sudden they're like hounding me to come host this thing where cox can step in with all these, you know, crying cancer moms. and it was so much pressure and such a short amount of time to try to figure things out. you know, denise has been great and saying melissa, in the end this has to be your call because this is your community, and you need to do what you feel is right. and dan is going you can't do this. you're walking into a trap, essentially. and so when i got that word, i called them up and said i've been praying about it. i don't feel good about it. i'm sorry. i just can't do it. and so i canceled. i hate that. i hate that politics has to be a part of anything i do, to be honest. i just like to be honest and do what i feel is right and kind of always have my cards out. i don't even know if i made the right choice. and now people are mad at me, and i don't know if they're right or wrong. i don't know anything. i just feel like i don't know anything. and then dan is saying -- i know he is trying to be nice, but i kind of wish he hadn't. he is saying it's kind of on your shoulders now, melissa. you've got to make this happen or we're all going to lose. some people are trying to say these people are using you and these people are using you. i'm a very small person, you know. this is not what i thought my life would be. and i feel so little and i feel so powerless right now. and it doesn't stop. and then i have these little times of melting down, and then i pack it up and wash my face, and i go pick up the kids from school, and life just moves on. i think that's all i have to say. >> i've been dealing with the santa susana facility for 39 years. i tried to walk gray the santa susana issue several years ago after the aoc was signed. i thought there is no real need for me to continue. it was going get cleaned up. and then when the administration started to undo it, i failed at trying to stop them, but i have not been able to somehow break what i feel is a promise i made to those people, even though it was a promise i had no idea could take so long. >> santa susana is not for the faint-hearted. it's a long complicated struggle. i'm an adversary. we've been working for 30 years with other groups who have invested a similar amount of time. so it's hard to not also wonder, you know, what more -- is there anything more that could have been done. >> it's a fight between those who have conscience and those whose concern is primarily power and profit. these fights never end, and if you don't fight them, you always lose. circumstances right now this fire is still growing pretty quickly here, blowing out of the north-northeast. and still continuing at about 35 to 40 miles per hour. >> launch, we're looking at some of these hot spots out here, and it is very disheartening for any of the folks that are living nearby. >> the woolsey fire now over 30,000 acres. >> it's just a monster, a nightmare. >> this entire neighborhood has been obliterated. all the mountains around here are scorched. >> the wind here not really helping the situation. >> this fire is fast. it is fueled by the santa ana winds. flames continuing to burn. we have been seeing this really run down the hillside. you really can see how vast this wildfire is, direct affecting tens of thousands of homes. >> this fire here is still being very stubborn, working its way out of the rocketdyne complex over in the canyon. ♪♪ and it is terrible the air quality sought here as well. we had to get to breathe around here. >> our worst fear for 15 years, that if a fire ever happened at the lab, it would be the easiest way for those contaminants to get to the public, and here it's happened. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can. downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load. and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. if you want laundry to smell 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is growing concern over toxic fallout from the woolsey fire. >> government officials say testing shows the air is safe. some doctors and advocates call that a smoke screen. >> smoke from any brushfire is dangerous to inhale. in this case with these very hazardous element, it makes it far more dangerous. >> a statement friendswood the department of toxic substances control show -- >> initial news release show there is no -- >> no risk to people living nearby. >> it did not appear to be a hazard to the public. >> no discernible signs of radiation. >> the potential hazard of major release into the environment was just not there. >> what is significant about the woolsey fire is that it started on the property of the santa susana field laboratory. it's very distressing when you know how terribly polluted it is to then turn on the television and see it in flames. after the fire, 80% of the site burned. we have learned since then that nasa took down tanks and piping and removed a fire station that had they been in place could have put that fire out. regardless of what happens to the site, it's always going to be in a fire risk area. so why would reremove water tanks and piping? i don't know. >> to me that's a cardinal sin. i've worked in nuclear radiation, radiological cleanup. those sites have multiple fire crews, mull approximately trucks, tons of equipment because it's a legitimate concern. there is no secret surrounding the state of california and fires happen here. >> after the fire, dtsc releasing an interim report. for them to release a report that shows them doing air monitoring after the fire is silly. the greatest risk was during the fire. they have now admitted that the burned vegetation made the contaminants in the soil more mobile. and that's part of the reason why we have these 57 exceedences in storm water runoff after the fire. but the bottom line is if it had been cleaned up as it should have been by 2017, we wouldn't be having this conversation. >> the vegetation on-site is contaminated. and as the regtation burned, it then aerosolized high up into the atmosphere and was able to spread across the basin. our concern, admit lid for the fire was that the contamination probably spread mainly the toxic chemicals which come from the burning of fuels and the rocket engine firings, the dangerous levels of exposure to chemical contaminants somewhat follow a similar par to the radio nucleotides. every level increases the risk. >> much like chernobyl, the burning of those things, you had ash and small pieces of what would be considered nothing falling on people and killed hundreds of people. the people on those bridges, the people in those cities didn't realize there was some massive level of misinformation given. boeing has come out and said yeah, absolutely, all of these exceedences came from the fire. i mean that. >> can't deny that. what they're trying to deny is the impact that it could have. there are people close enough to that site that absolutely suffered the effects of it, and they will. >> my name is mike sinstrom. i'm a member of the expert panel. i'd like to say we've been involved in this, the panel has, since almost the inception of the fire. we're an independent panel. we are funded by boeing and we've been using geo syntech to assist us. but you see there is a trend of decreasing exceedences as we move forward in time. >> concentration over the course of the season are returning to prefire levels. >> what we have here is a lot of exceedences in areas where you don't see a lot of legacy contamination. >> so the system is already recovering, and we're happy than. >> i'm the associate director of physicians for social responsibility los angeles. i feel like i'm living in an alternate universe, though, after this presentation. it's 57 exceedences in violation is astonishing. the expert panel is paid by boeing. that begs a lot of credulity on their inspection. >> it's an open seeping wound in our community that threatens our public health every time it rains or the wind blows or the fires burn. i live in simi valley. i have a 3-year-old. i'm a golden state water customer. i've got groundwater from below sssfl pumped in with every meal, every bath. it's your job to protect my water source. you regulate boeing, not the other way around. >> thank you. >> i'm a little disappointed today. i had actually assumed that it would be an independent panel, expert panel speaking today. i didn't know anything about politics until the last five years, and i've learned that you always have to follow the money. that's the basic understanding of how america works these days, unfortunately. i was very disappointed. i'm sure their intellect is better than mine, hands-down. however, that's not an independent panel. and the people of los angeles deserve better on such a critically important issue. we've got a lot of facts. we know the facts. we're all intelligent people here. but what i think is lacking is courage to do the right thing. and so i wanted to bring you my daughter's beads of courage. my daughter is a two-time cancer survivor at 9 years old. i heard a lot of good news about nominal exceedences, but you need to understand that these exceedences affect us. we've come to find 80 that our area is above the national average for childhood cancers. we've had several who have passed away, and this is the cost of exceedences. and i would really ask you to have the courage to do the right thing. thank you. >> thank you. >> this was part of what was so amazing about this story to me. i grew up near the field lab. thousands of people have lived near the field lab, and most people have never heard of it. the santa susana issue was almost dead, and that fire jump-started a whole new round of tension. ♪♪ >> millions are learning about the toxic threat from the contaminated santa susana field lab, all because of tweets from the kardashians. >> when the woolsey fire hit, it blew up. >> without a doubt there is new life. people are paying attention. >> people are listening. >> the community support has radically changed. kim kardashian tweeted. all of the sudden we've got 100,000 shares on a tweet. >> kim kardashian telling her 58 million twitter followers she is shocked and furious to learn that woolsey fire started at santa susana and is potentially radioactive. >> the reporting we did brought some attention, but of course the kardashians can bring the issue way more attention. >> people are believing in this, you know. this is the real thing. we're not just playing games anymore. >> come on, guys. the other side of the sign, okay? these are all my other children here. >> and seeing enough happening that i am hopeful. it could be ripped out from underneath us in any minute. >> know what it's like to lose a child from cancer, and nobody should ever have to face that again. ♪ you can't break me down ♪ ♪ i got gas in the tank, i got money in the bank, i got news for you baby ♪ >> it happened so fast, i'm still out of breath. we're trying to put together a coalition with all of our elected officials. take leadership. ♪♪ >> they're counting on us not being able to see the bigger picture. >> you never know what domino we're setting into effect when we just do what we can. >> secretary, so you're supposed to be completed by 2017. you haven't started by 2019. will you come to the san fernando valley and explain to people when this site will be cleaned up? >> the cleanup timeline was 2017 back in 2010, and it's 2019 and we haven't gotten started. >> a history that is just depressing. it's a complete mess. >> and i got to say i'm the mom that started to change. we have 650,000 signatures. did you say 250,000? no. 650,000. all of the sudden they're oh, tell me more. what was your name again? where are you from? >> it's not about winning or being right. it's about children. it's about families. it's about quality of life. >> i know that there is a risk of a large segment of this community and maybe even the larger los angeles area looking at this and questioning our sanity, but i would urge anybody to put on your reading glasses and whip out that 13 pages. it's only 13 pages. 2007 epa report, preliminary report at the santa susana field lab. and then call me crazy. it is as if the officials have not read the data, as if they're completely unaware that the citizens could be at risk. and that was alarming to me because i felt like we weren't being taken seriously. it makes me sick that these women have given so selflessly of themselves and have fought and continue to fight. this is not what they want to talk about over dinner. they don't want to sit up and read epa documents. they want to have a good time. they want to have a barbecue, and they want to watch their kids play in the yard. and i want that too. sorry. i want that too. and i want that for my family. but i can read. i'm not going to pretend that i didn't read it. sorry. so they only 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they are the regulator. they set the cleanup standards. this is not an ongoing negotiation. the polluters have a role. they have to pay for it, and they have to adhere to the standards that we have. these entities, boeing in 2007, department of energy and nasa in 2010 entered into agreements. those are legally binding agreements. we will hold them to those agreements. >> we'll see. >> we'll see. >> i have no faith. >> given the length of time that the cleanup plans have been made and broken, it's always a concern that this will go into another administration. >> they signed a legal binding document in 2010 when we thought we had won the victory. >> additional studies performed after signing the aoc identified less contamination than previously projected. >> had no idea it was all going to get thrown apart. >> i am a two-time cancer survivor. it has turned my life upside down, and i never feel safe living here. i want to feel safe. >> this way. >> we're here at the nasa meeting right now. they're trying to justify why they should be able to leave contaminated waste in our community. >> i want to show you one of these justifications that i can't believe, and i've seen a lot of falsehoods. this one is amazing. >> oh, my gosh. >> found no discernible differences to health and safety across the action alternatives. that's absurd. >> nasa claims that under federal environmental law that they have to look at different alternative ways to clean up the santa susana field laboratory. they're wrong. california has been clear over the years that the level that the site has to be cleaned up to is to background. so if there is contamination, it gets cleaned up. >> we clearly signed an agreement for full cleanup, and they have proposed at least two meetings to break those and walk away from the contamination. >> if they found contamination on the surface, they're saying we're going have to dig 20 feet down to bedrock, and that's going moon scape the property. you don't have to dig 20 feet down to remove contamination that's on the surface. they're doing that to try to scare people about trucks and moon scaping and all of that stuff. >> what nasa and the department of energy have been doing in the past few years is looking at different levels of cleanup rather than different ways of reaching the standards that california has set. >> their stated thing is we did more work, we found more contamination. that would result in even more damage. so we want to do the recreational cleanup. >> recreational measures are just -- it's an absolute joke. that's almost doing nothing. >> it's not okay to just clean it up a little bit. it's kind of like you can't be just a little bit pregnant. either you're radioactive or you're not. >> nasa says that it will take 25 years to remove the soil that needs to be removed in order to comply with the administrative order on consent. >> and reaching out to larger contractors in the industry, all these guys agreed to the same level that they are likely inflating numbers to get an approval to not go that far. >> for the department of energy and nasa to be successful in walking away from santa susana field lab, all that has to happen is that nobody stands in their way. >> in order to make our informed public comment, we need to have some visuals. >> when you go the a public place and everybody says they have their exhibit set up, to come in and set another one. >> what we do during public comments is we give an opportunity, a platform, if they have a power point so they can show the power -- >> they have an opportunity. >> in public hearings, when they were done the way they used to do them, we would stand in front of the microphone, and people before the responsible party, before their community members speak for two minutes and give their input on a proposal before them. nasa just destroyed all of that. >> this whole thing was set up intentional to prevent people making informed public kpent comment. the community needs to hear the truth, and we're the ones who can do it. we're going to do it as part of our public comment. >> but they put the public on for their display. all the things -- >> this is maps they're not going to show people. >> they feel is going to take away -- >> it's a public hearing. >> everybody, nasa is preventing public comment on their eis that rates their cleanup fitness. people want to be able to show you lou they're violating the law, and physically is physically blocking you from seeing it. >> free speech, free speech! >> free speech! >> this is live right now, you guys. this is crazy. they set this up in this kind of a situation where we don't have a microphone like we normally do to say our problems. >> and as "the l.a. times" -- >> the court reporter is at a little table in the corner that's not marked, trying to limit public participation, prevent the media from knowing how much we disliked the proposal and prevent officials from knowing it too. there is a protocol for how public hearings are handled, and that's not it. >> the only option we have right now is to try to read our comments loudly. and that's just absurd. >> the majority of its contamination not cleaned up. this is illegal and a direct threat to public health and the environment. nasa is preparing the supplemental dis. >> they are trying to evict me before i can make my public comments. >> he should be able to give three minutes and then you can do what you want. >> free speech! >> trespassing. >> trespassing? this is a public meeting. [ cheering ] >> free speech, free speech! free speech! free speech! >> you willingly left. >> no, you ordered me to leave. >> i did say you have to leave. >> yes. you ordered me to leave. before i could submit my comment to the government, period. there is a lot at stake here that side is dangerous. it was a legal process that i was supposed to go before that and make comments and you stopped me from doing that. >> in 50 years of this kind of work, i have never experienced such a kind of thing. nasa knows what it is proposing to do is indefensible, and they took every measure that they could to prevent the public from hearing about it. >> for the responsible parties, this is a game. nasa and boeing continue to put forth a story line that their recommendations, their offerings of cleanup are adequate. and we know as we've alluded to that so many of the agents, there is absolutely no safe level. and again, if there is no safe level and you far ecke seed those levels on-site, and again, 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only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ in business, setbacks change everything. so get comcast business internet and add securityedge. it helps keep your network safe by scanning for threats every 10 minutes. and unlike some cybersecurity options, this helps protect every connected device. yours, your employees' and even your customers'. so you can stay ahead. get started with a great offer and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. call today. an emergency has been declared at the hanford nuclear reservation. >> potential exposure to people living near cold water creek in north st. louis county. >> enriched uranium was detected inside zahn's corner middle school. >> botched cleanup as san francisco's hunter's point has residents taking matters into their own hands. >> there are calls tonight into a new investigation into another possible cancer cluster in indiana. >> just sit and think that over and over again, this was brought to you, and over and other again we said our kids are sick. >> something that felt like a very isolated problem in my community, it's a little bit terrifying to realize this is happening all over the country. >> we sat in a room and listened to people from other areas list exact same issues -- poorly or unlined pits, massive dumping, open air tests. i was completely chilled to my core because i realized this isn't an accident. nor is it a mistake. . there are many santa susanas all across this country. that remain highly contaminated in threatened communities and have not been cleaned up. >> it's all across america. it's the same players. different humans, but the same agencies, the same attitudes. >> let's face it. this community has been traumatized enough. >> if it wasn't for this group of moms that made this facebook page, i would have not known. >> there is an endemic problem with the whole system. you can have wonderful environmental laws and we have really powerful ones, but if they're not enforced, they're useless. and that has happened dozens and dozens of toxic sites in the state of california. and probably is emblematic of what goes on unfortunately all over the country. >> those stories are not -- we have entire towns having these similar issues and until it's completely undeniable, nothing is done. >> committee on oversight and investigations would now come to order. i would now like to introduce the honorable anne white who is the assistant secretary office of department of environmental energy. >> honored chair, the government's nuclear defense programs played an integral role in ending world war ii and the cold war. our nation has unified to end those wars. that kind of resolve and unity of purpose is needed today as we address the resulting environmental legacy. we remain committed to completing cleanups so our communities can envision a vibrant future. well can continue to live in the past or we can choose to understand the past, make course corrections and move forward with collaborative solutions. it's time to choose the latter. >> you know, i've been on this committee a long time. we've seen doe make these promises before with regards to cleanup operations. >> what exactly does it mean doe's environmental management office does not follow management practices? >> anybody who has been on this job site should be fired. they're not doing their job right. >> where does hanford sit? it sits on the columbia river. it sits on the savannah river. these are areas that are environmentally sensitive. >> look, i'm not a nuclear engineer, but i'm a mom and a citizen, and i can tell you that leaving it out there longer, waiting for some type of accident is not making our constituents across this country safer. >> we need to do better in program and project management. and i think we can do better. i do not believe government has done enough to try and build that bridge of trust. my name is anne white, and my position was assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, referred to as em1. obviously when you've got portions of the public all over the country who are unhappy with what you're doing, you're probably not doing enough. especially for a site like santa susana. a small site. it doesn't even usually come to the radar of an em1. it's tough. those kind of big bureaucracies are very challenging. it kind of just felt sometimes like a culture of mall molasses. >> and yesterday we seem no closer to cleaning up the sites or reducing the department's environmental liabilities. >> em cleanup right now is the third biggest liability to the u.s. taxpayers. we throw $7 billion a year into that pot, and the liabilities don't go down. >> did the taxpayer get good value for the $6 billion spent last year on nuclear waste cleanup? >> i believe the taxpayer got good value for their money. we can do better, though. >> so many of these sites are in places where they are the only game in town in terms of employment. if the cleanup gets completed, the jobs go away. and so to some degree, em has become a jobs program. >> cleanup of these sites is critically important. we need to have it happen. and we can't be sitting here again in five, ten, or 20 years hoping that it will. >> the actions em needs to take involve significant cultural change at doe headquarters, the sites and the contractors. >> when it involves kids and moms and all of these things, maybe they've been heard, but not listened to. and there's a difference i suppose. there is a big difference. and at santa susana right now, honestly, the conversation, well, could be so poisoned that there is no reversed gear in terms of building that trust. you just maybe never come to common ground, and thats a pity. but that's maybe the nature of the beast there, unfortunately. >> last year i didn't have enough energy for it, i don't think. i don't know if daddy will want me to do it this year. >> yeah. it is his car now. >> maybe put up posters instead. you need to push down your cuticle. . >> i feel more hopeful even though right now it's looking pretty slum again. i am more at peace with the thought that this could be the rest of my life. before that thought was just too frightening. i feel like whether or not it's okay to feel like that or maybe helping others. if this were to be the rest of my life i would want to fight it. i had my own plans for my life, i wanted to illustrate kids books, i wanted to be an author, i wanted to garden. i had a really simple life planned out. and the thought of not getting to have time to excel at any of those things was really hard. just thinking about it, i thought, i'm allowed to have a hobby. and i was like, all right, i could take my dreams and let them be a hobby. doing this is more important than anything i have planned. i definitely feel like this is where i'm supposed to be in my life right now. it took gracie a lot of hard work and time to really be a regular kid again. she is not the kind of kid to lay down and take it. she is really strong. but the health effects will follow her all of the rest of her life. i have had some people accuse me of using grace's story. to some degree, that's really true. if i could've brought peoples hearts along without having to show graces dory, i would've. but if it helps other families not have to go through the same thing, you know, then i don't regret it. i don't think grace would regret it. i think she understands that we are willing to do anything to protect other kids from what she is going through. i've seen your name. her birthday. it's just so final. sorry. the santa suzanna field, i wouldn't say it's always in the front of my mind but it is consistently in the back of my mind. in the back of my mind when i give my kids water. or giving them a bat. in the back of my mind when i see a new kid diagnosed. in the back of my mind when i see a kid has passed away. it's a hard one. i know i can put all of my energy there. i am still working my way back to being fully present with everybody. my kids need their mom. i have been slowly putting pieces back together and i am not as lost. i am still lost, but not as lost, if that makes sense. for me, i know i could never give up trying to fight. but i also know, i have to use this brain sparingly because it is focused on so many different things right now. i'm trying to heal, i'm trying to process, trying to breathe, trying to be a mom. but it is always there. it's always just lingering question in mine. it's always this idea that is there. and it can't be quieted until it's cleaned up. i hope that there is an end to the story. given what's happening in our country. i worry about all of our efforts to protect public health. i worry that focusing on santa suzannah, will seem like a luxury. that it will seem like the days have passed when you actually could protect the fight, and you could do community organizing, and you could speak freely. >> we are in a world of distraction and of self-centered-ness. we don't sense any connection to others to cling to those who suffered. to connect to the damage that we do to the planet. the everyday people who are effective are just being walked all over, the damage that is done will last for centuries, we simply have to keep fighting. i've been working for a years, i've seen just about everything. i am still surprised that there were government officials who looked me in the eye and said, santa susana field is not a problem. even when there were so many government documents that said otherwise. and i think the public is not so easily frightened. they know that they are settling here. the truth, always comes out in the end. >> i think it takes an enormous amount of courage and the hell a lot of work to see that there is an accountability. it's up to the mothers. and the others who have the courage, have the time to make sure that something happens. it may be the only way. >> who is going to be the next person in your community. you don't ever give up on something like this because it's the right thing to do. when the people lead, the leaders will follow. >> right now, it doesn't feel like were defeated, it just feels like part of the journey. and the thing that's heartbreaking is that it's just going to continue. but it's the kids who have to suffer, and it's the parents who have to bury them. they have to bear that for the rest of the years. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> no, i'm not going to stop. so we'll just have to find out who has more endurance, me, or them. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ ♪ (man) still asleep. (woman vo) so, where to next? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. do i need to pretreat my laundry? nope! with tide pods, you don't need to worry. the pre-treaters are built in. tide pods dissolve even when the water is freezing. nice! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide. in business, setbacks change everything. so get comcast business internet and add securityedge. it helps keep your network safe by scanning for threats every 10 minutes. and unlike some cybersecurity options, this helps protect every connected device. yours, your employees' and even your customers'. so you can stay ahead. get started with a great offer and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. welcome to a special call today. presentation of the meet the press film festival beau. what you're about to see is a little piece of this year's broader festival program. these are the best in class short documentaries. covering the most consequential issues across the country. in the last five years the meet the press film festival showcase more than 100 films around the world. dozens of the films that are festival of ghana meant to be nominated for emmys an oscar's, including the winner of the 2020 academy award for sure documentary. this, year we have some of the best films we have ever been privileged to showcase. they tackle the biggest issues of the last 18 months, from dot microscopy and covid to race in history. that's where we will start >> the film you're about to see is called meltdown in dixie, it looks at just tie that hurdles can, before people trying to heal the wounds of violence. we hope you enjoy. my name is tommy. and this is my creamery. . big ole quarter pounders, all beef. when i bought the creamery, i saw a beautiful park. i said, what is not to lake. >> what kind of ice cream honey did you want? enjoy baby. thank you. >> but if i could rewind this whole situation, i would've never came to south carolina in the first place. made a little a screenshot to sell a scream cones in a park. and here i am in the middle of this crap. >> the battle over a confederate flag. >> the flag flies atop this pool right next to the sign for the edisto river creamery but the flag is not owned by this ice cream fire parlor. the sons of confederate veterans only a tiny piece of property where the flag stands. >> that flag is not mine. it's a piece of property that the confederate veteran's own. >> an issue lee, he accepted the flag. but that changed in the aftermath of the 2015 shirt shooting in charleston. >> a mass shooting in downtown charleston. nine people have been killed inside an african american church. >> a white man is under arrest. >> investigations uncover a photo of him posing with a confederate flag. >> after the charleston shooting, the confederate veterans came down with a flag that was three times as large as the one they've ever had on their. people screaming at me calling it racist. i said, something's got to happen. >> after nearly 20 years of flying, the confederate battle flag is being removed from an orangeburg business. >>. . >>. ? >>. standing here i phillies peoples hearts. there's no justice in the? >> fine. >> are you still going to try to take it down? >> absolutely. there will be no stopping me at this point. we came down here because of the fishing in the nice people we have met. and my wife debbie and i got bored in this little restaurant looks like a good opportunity. it prong to marie's's barbecue shop and it was need of repair. i wasn't worried about the rebel flag. i never deemed that as racist, it was history to me, and it was cool because it was like a rebel flag, that meant to us in maryland that we were against the grain, you are a bad ass. when i lived in maryland i was a race car driver,. we had a rebel flag not on the car but we had a flagpole by the race car, especially when we would go up north, when the guys from down south with the guys to beat. i was cleaning out my closets and founded in the closet, i would wear this in public. anywhere i went without a problem, when it became what it is today, my wife said, there is no place for that on our race team. . i'm not a racist by any means or a hater. the claws it was probably the best place for. >> my name is buzz braxton. i'm lieutenant commander at the sons of confederate veteran camp 8:42. this is general robert e. lee, probably the greatest man that ever walked the face of this earth. a lot of people don't understand the sons of confederate veterans, the confederate battle flag, is the soldiers flag. our ancestors, that's why we're so proud of it. to use the confederate sons, it's your duty to see that the true history of the south is presented to future generations. and that's what we try to do. and it's a tough job. there is a picture, we were down there right where the flag is, selling confederate still. >> i'm marie's best injured, chairman -- the south shall rise again. mr. maurice was a member of this camp. he owned and operated nine barbecue restaurants in the area. and one in orangeburg to. >> after almost four decades in a bigger debate, removed -- after 38 years the flag began its descent down the flagpole. >> on july the 1st, 2000. the flag was taken off the dome. >> i'm out here to protest the taking down of our heritage flag. >> it went up in orangeburg that same day. >> mr. mores called me one day and asked me if we would like to have the little piece of property where the flag is. that was one best thing he needed to worry about. after, the incident in charleston. the whole emphasis change to the flag. i said if the flag is going to be under attack, the bigger the better. as someone who resembles someone else, i appreciate that liberty mutual knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. oh, yeah. that's the spot. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. you can give people information but you can't give them courage. tommy reached. out he's i had issues on my property, can you take a look? i remember as a kid riding in orangeburg with my grandparents. and we went near this restaurant. i recently put a sign up in his restaurant that said the government may say we have to serve the n-word, but we are gonna take that money and give it to the kkk. when tommy and his wife bought that property, the flag was there. they knew it was there. but they didn't know was what the culture was like here in south carolina, more specifically in orangeburg. >> orangeburg is a majority african american town. it's 60% black according to the 2010 census. >> that makes me a minority. >> there's a racial divide in orangeburg, i guess that has a lot to do with the history. i feel like they sometimes feel like we've done something wrong to them, even though that happened years ago. >> even though i do see whites and blacks all around, and they can be in the same vicinity, everybody knows what's going on. >> after that original showdown at the creamery, we said let's look at the law. local government, can't regulate speech, but they can relay uses of the property. and it hit. let's look at zoning. this is the actual zoning map. you can zoom in, and you will see, that's us right here. that entire area is zoned as commercial. that's it. this is the little piece that this fight is over. how is, 0.003 acres illegitimate business commercial piece of property? it's not. the sons of the confederate veterans want to use that piece of property, to keep his passengers and legacy living on into perpetrated. >> in orangeburg a battle to remove a confederate flag that flies next to an ice cream shop continues tonight. >> they took their concerns to the city, with hopes the zoning of where that flag sits could be challenged. >> what's up man? >> maybe what is clear from the record. i was contacted by camp 8:42. the issues that were being presented, were at the very foundation of what our american constitution is made up of. and the constitution is very important to me, being in an attorney and being in american. >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. we will now call the board of zoning to order. >> this particular area was zoned commercial. the moment that mores messenger sub divided that piece of property into two separate parcels, each partial is then required to comply with your zoning ordinance. this property is intended to be used and i has been used for well over ten years, as a historical marker. zero commercial use. and i would ask, that you find that this piece of property, flag included, does violate the city of orangeburg zoning ordinances. >> i can't keep up with that ball. >> with all due respect, that was a beautiful argument that was made. but this is not the forum to handle a piece of property that has been defeated to a private entity, with no problems. there are being some raised, but uniquely they're being raised schematically, all across the united states of america. this is first amendment speech. it would be who the leadership of this group, to not overturn a well founded decision by the zoning, that falls in accordance with the law. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm david, dusting zoning administrator. the current used is flying the confederate flag, and maintaining a monument. the city of orangeburg does not regulate the location of flags or the display of flags they're owned by zoning or any other regulation. therefore, the property is in compliance. thank you. >> all in favor of upholding the motion of our zoning administrator? let it be known by showing your right hand. any opposed? so the zoning board has agreed upon the decision, that the zoning administrator may. the meeting is adjourned. >> [applause] >> we lost. for an issue that the does this contentious. i would be hesitant for a rule, i already have. >> i love you to man. they went to the path of least resistance. >> i think they got it wrong personally. the confederate flag flying beside a south carolina ice cream parlor is renewing concerns. it received this racially charged letter. >> his business has been vandalized multiple times. his employees have been harassed. and a riot nearly started outside of his shop. >> keep that flag flying. >> ♪ ♪ ♪ this peg is where their property line is. and that peg there, when you stand out here for a moment, there hollering take it down, or leave it alone. or a few. >> my wife debbie things they're gonna burn our house down, she's up hours of the night looking out the damn window. it's aggravating to me. she's going through all of the suffering. >> so, i guess you know in this big ole world, it's not perfect these days, is it? >> no ma'am. >> but miss debbie tells you that jesus was? >> loves you. >> so much. >> i was in the doctor's office, and a lady said to me, i heard you people be a black people. that's the kind of rumors that went around. she had some of her grandchildren with her. i said you bring those babies to my bible study on wednesday night, and you will know what we are about. you need to have? what faith. what's so stressful, and so sad, because i want to please everybody, i want to love everybody. sometimes i often wonder god why did you bring me to this place why did you bring me to this town? why? and undying devotion, the cause for which it stands. >> thank you may all be seated. for those of you who have not heard or do not know we did have a wonderful victory in orangeburg. our flag will continue to fly. i hope it will continue to fly forever. >> can't pay a lot of attention to what you see in the news media. don't read any modern books cause they're extremely slanted. if you read the original accounts, you will find the real reasons that both sides fall. >> i wish i was in the land of gaza and, an old times there are not an forgot, and look away, look away, look away, look away dixie land. >> the second coming of the klan he used the battle flag, and then some groups now carry a swastikas,. it got misappropriated. but that does not mean that it wasn't not honorable, for those men from 1861 to 1865 carrying it. >> it's heritage. this symbol of the south. it's a part of dixie. >> segregation is been over for a while, and something like that still appearing in a small town, is still creating division. >> why take it? down >> the blacks not to be proud of that flag that they fought under. just like the whites. >> it needs to come, down along with all these other statues and symbols of supremacy. they need to come down. >> morning how can i help. you good how are you? >> i can remember maurice barbecue, they've portrayed an image of presidents, and making racial slurs tortoise. i wouldn't dare go in there. when it changed to the creamery. we were glad, because we wanted the positive image there. the owner told us that he was trying to get the flag down. we was excited, to bring it down. but he did not have the proper paperwork. there's nothing we can do. we're going to step outside of our scope of authority. >> i think that most people in orangeburg, want to move forward. not everybody is willing to ruffle some feathers, to try to make it happen. e feathers, to try t make it happen make it happen ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ - oh...oh. - what's going on? 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i don't know. but when you pair that with what was going on, it makes you a little nervous. i've had conversations with people, they see the fight that we are in with the sons of confederate veterans over zoning. and they literally are like, wait, isn't orangeburg like 60 disseminate percent black? why is bringing down that flag even the topic of discussion? it should've been down. you just have to let them know that white supremacy has its roots everywhere. orangeburg is no different. orangeburg is home to one of the worst things that's ever happened in terms of civil rights in south carolina. students were protesting for the integration of the local bowling alley. fearing violence, the governor sent in the south carolina highway patrol. one night, the patrol broke out in gunfire killing three students in injuring 28 others. it was 50 years ago. but that's not something that people in town have forgotten. it's kind of like the shadows of a dark era are constantly on you. and i think some people just don't want to think about the confederacy, or think about what it means or what it meant. you would have this expectation that when you do have black leaders in a city that on issues like this, they will be very bold. they will be very outspoken. in a lot of times they are. not everybody in government or in politics is comfortable with what comes with bucking a system that's been in place for 400 years. as as long as there are confederate monuments everywhere, white supremacy will always be here. ♪ ♪ ♪ i just don't know what to do. >> the community, the city council, the city administrator. none of them are helping to get this thing going. i think they've got someone to make sure it won't come down. i don't know if i will ever get to the bottom of it. it's sucks. >> the controversy over a confederate flag continues tonight. >> justin and i have tried to exhaust all reasonable avenues, and it is just not working. >> this man is now threatening to remove the flag and the confederate marker himself. >> maurice best injured planned it so he could shove that flag up everybody's butt for eternity. >> he sent the songs -- they needs a come and get it. >> they put flags, swastikas, and whatever, all over it. is the city going to be okay with that? no. so they better get their bums on board. >> i'm just getting ready for pick up. the sons of confederacy. i donated it to them. e no days go by without something happening. >> okay, since we were here last, you can see where he has been digging around the monument. he's undoubtedly trying to cause so much chaos that somebody will react. a i just don't understand. i just don't understand. some >> i want people to know, that our ancestors were good people. most of them did not have sleeves. now i've told people all along, that was the best thing that ever happened to folks that came over. they would not be driving bmw's today had their ancestors remained in africa, because they would've been eaten by other trump's or eaten by lions or tigers. i know that ain't politically correct to say but it's true. my father had a grocery store in washington d.c., in 1968. i was about 12. my father was working his story, and they were expecting a riot. about 10:00 that night, they got a phone call, the store was burned to the ground. , i will never forget this. my father stood in front of the store and cried. my father was a huge man. and in the meantime, i saw black people lining up over here, and it was like you know like, dad these guys. all these people are lining up. my father says i don't know those people. don't worry about. the first one rock through my dad and said i owe you money i'd like to pay you. my father said mom i have no much no idea how much you owe me, and all burned to the store. i think it was $12 and some cents. she paid him, within minutes the line grew and people paid my dad money. and we left. in my father never had a racist bone in his body. i want people to know i'm not no races bastard standing here holding that flag. holding that flag. [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. this morning, new details over a dispute over the confederate flag flying near in orangeburg restaurant. it's unfolding before a circuit court judge. >> we are continuing here and an appellate hearing today, i'm standing before martin luther king junior quote which says injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. i feel that too in my heart. there's a real assault on traditions, our history, particularly the confederacy. >> i'm here for jury duty. >> when i write by there and i see that flag, i think about the fact that as a kid i used to ride by they're afraid. this is not a challenge to just a flag, what we are challenging is the use of the property. >> now is a man, i get to ride back there and think i could play a role, to make it go away. that's a pretty dope dream. >> so the judge, she's going to review it. >> she's going to go through the argument presented today. she will look at the record. and then she's going to reach her decision, so now we have to wait. >> sometimes i wonder if old mores wasn't up there chuckling. look at buzz. he is in hell down there. he is doing all right. the sons of confederate veterans have staunch feelings about the fact that some of their ancestors fought in the civil war for the confederacy. but if you were to give half of those members the original documents of south carolina seeding from the union, most of them probably either haven't read it, refused to read it because they know what it says, or will read it and say yeah, but that's not why my ancestors fought. >> jim i'm not going to say that slavery was not in any way shape or form, involved in the decisions about secession. but those men, did not leave their family and their home and their warm bed to go fight so somebody could own a slave. declaration of the immediate cause which justified the secession of south carolina from the federal union. a geographical line has been drawn across the union and all of the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of president of the united states, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. e the slave holding states will no longer have the power of self government, and the federal government will have to become their enemy. e if you want to come at me and say that it's sole purpose was slavery, so be if that's your desire. e but, if we agree to disagree, that will be our right, you know? because i admit it, that slavery played a part in. slavery was a factor. but there was other things. >> if you stand e for an institution that supported slavery and you don't denounce that and you choose to ignore it, i think that implicitly means this somewhere in you, you are okay with. e ♪ ♪ ♪ >> new developments tonight, a circuit court judge agrees the confederate flag does not violate the city of orangeburg zoning ordinance. the owner of the creamery now says because it affects his business, he closed that shop and is now selling it. here's my closed down little store. it is all gone. it's not comfortable to be here. >> i feel sorry for him. i think that people could not differentiate between his property being someone else in this property being the creamer. >> i think it's sad. nothing that plants there is going to be successful as long as that is not far. e >> i do feel like i've been pushed out. but we knew exactly what happened when they put that bigger flab up. when the people were killed in charleston. we knew exactly what was going on. and that was not our heart. >> now that it's closed and it's over. i'm very relieved. at the end of the day, getting my family away from here and moving back to familiar people in places is just a plus, plus. shop closed. the shop is closed. >> our success in orangeburg had inspired other people to stand up. everybody else is taking them down and we're putting them up. >> yeah, yeah. >> today we are raising the first confederate battle flag on i-95 in south carolina. >> when illiberal, also known as a lid toward, comes down the road in it offends them to see a battle flag, that's what we want. because they don't have anything to do with that. they can have their head, and we will keep hours. >> do you worry there will be a day, when the confederate flag does not fly in orangeburg? >> yeah. how can you not help to not worry about it. i don't dwell on, it but there are times when i can foresee and i worry about they're not being a confederate flag flying in the city of orangeburg. or the majority of the united states. >> no peace. no peace. >> anger, frustration, pouring into the streets of america. huge numbers of people coming up in every single state in the country. standing together to say this is not acceptable anymore. black lives matter. >> black lives matter. black lives matter. >> african american ahmaud arbery's seen running. >> no justice, no peace. >> george floyd repeatedly cried, my next hurts. i can't breathe. breonna taylor shot eight times and killed by police. >> don't shoe. don't you. don't you. >> here in south carolina and all across the nation, community members have been challenging their local and state governments to take down confederate statues. what do we? what justice. when do we want to? now. >> today at noon city council members and orangeburg will vote on a resolution to remove a confederate statue. >> the protest outside city hall, 127 year old confederate statue at courthouse square removed. >> when people say it's our heritage. i say it's not my heritage. i think of confederate anything i'm in fear. it's one of those things where you can't talk about, you don't say anything about it. but we are now in a time when we have a voice. >> we are here today because, of course, the mayor and city council are meeting on the resolution in regards to the statue. >> we just hope that the city will remove the statue from downtown square along with renaming the street. we live in this community. orangeburg. >> those symbols are a part of the symbols of oppression against my people. >> our first goal is to remove the racist statue and racist street names in orangeburg. and then of course the confederate flag at the creamery. we called the mayor's office, we called the city council members. >> i'm excited to see what's going on in orangeburg. we are seeing people who want change. and they are not asking for change. they are demanding it. as we continue we got to do a much better job collectively of being willing to fight the fight, when it ain't the popular thing to do. and if we can keep doing that, keep pushing for change and we can keep standing up to people who stand behind institutions of bigotry and hate and slavery, under the guise of heritage, we will get there. i look forward to the day when i jump in my car income into orangeburg, that that confederate flag is no longer flying there. that's all we have for this year's special presentation of the meet the press film festival. will be back next, year more of these best in class documentaries. until that, thanks for watching. l that, thanks for watching i'm craig melvin, i'm natalie morales. this is dateline. i'm natali it was very exciting. they met in vegas. a professional poker player. >> said he was professional -- she fell for. but she didn't gamble on this >> i could smell the odor of decay and blood. >> or this. >> at every turn there was another >> married, with a child and women in multiple cities. >> what else is he capable of? >> capable of murder? he had an >> credit card transactions and