A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has ruled that a case filed by environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists against the toxics department over the cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site in southern California can proceed, rejecting a motion for summary judgment by The Boeing Co., which is at the center of the dispute.

A Sacramento judge has denied the Boeing Co.’s motion that argued that demolition and disposal of old buildings on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory can proceed without any intervention by state regulators.

Santa Monica, CA -- Sacramento Superior Court has denied Boeing’s motion for summary judgment in a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit over the demolition and disposal of radioactively contaminated structures from the site of a partial nuclear meltdown near Los Angeles, Consumer Watchdog said today.

July will mark the 55th anniversary of the partial nuclear meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the hills near Simi Valley.

That event occurred from July 12 to July 26, 1959, which some have described as the longest nuclear accident in history.

Any way you cut it, the situation at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site outside Simi Valley is a mess.

The 2,850-acre former rocket engine test center is contaminated by a vast menu of radioactive isotopes and toxic chemicals. The condition of its soil, groundwater and structures makes it one of the most challenging cleanup jobs in the state, possibly the country.

Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based advocacy group, is accusing Boeing Co. of hindering efforts to properly clean up its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Simi Valley.

Boeing owns about 80 percent of the former field lab, including a portion known as Area IV that experienced a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959. The rest of the site belongs to the federal government.

A Santa Monica-based advocacy group that has been critical of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control called on Gov. Jerry Brown Thursday to appoint a new director who will raise regulation standards on contaminated sites and bring reform to the agency.