Week 40 Recap: From Ladera to Sacramento, LHW Reaches Statewide Policy Discussions
A busy week for Ladera Health Watch, with two invitations to contribute to statewide policy discussions, continued environmental research and growing connections with Ewing sarcoma families across the country.
1. Taking Ladera's Experience to Sacramento
One of our goals since founding LHW in May has been to turn what we're learning in Ladera into meaningful statewide policy changes.
This week, we were invited to two separate meetings:
• California Senate Environmental Quality Committee: We met with staff from Senator Catherine Blakespear's committee to discuss Orange County Public Works' herbicide applications and the broader problems we've encountered with pesticide notification, transparency and environmental oversight.
• UCLA Law: Students working on California environmental legislation invited us to share our experiences and discuss potential reforms, including HOA pesticide transparency, residential notification and improvements to existing pesticide regulations.
We're excited to see Ladera's experience contributing to conversations about problems affecting communities throughout California.
2. Connecting Ewing Sarcoma Families Nationwide
We've continued connecting with families in other communities reporting multiple Ewing sarcoma diagnoses, helping share resources and bring attention to their experiences.
The Orange County Register is investigating reports from Murrieta, California, and Spectrum News is planning a 10-minute segment about families in Adams, New York, scheduled for October 1.
Because Ewing sarcoma is so rare, we hope connecting these communities will help encourage a national, multicenter study investigating possible environmental and other risk factors. No environmental cause has been established, but bringing together confirmed cases from multiple communities could help researchers investigate questions that individual communities cannot answer alone.
3. Continued CalGEM Investigation
We learned this week that CalGEM inspected the former O'Neill #1 well on August 31, following our request for a reevaluation. The agency reported detecting no gas, but questions remain about the well's historical abandonment and the scope of its recent inspection. We're still waiting for the complete inspection records and additional explanations we requested.
On Monday, we'll meet with an independent well expert to review the historical documentation and CalGEM's findings.
4. CSUF Testing Update
Preliminary environmental testing is underway. The CSUF research team will likely conduct a second round of sampling before results are available.
This is exploratory research. Findings that warrant further investigation may require confirmation through a formal sampling program using a California ELAP-accredited laboratory and appropriate quality controls.
We're also working with Orange County Public Works and the Regional Water Board to obtain historical monitoring data and identify potential resources for additional testing.
We'll share findings when the researchers are ready to release them.
5. Two New Submissions to California DPR
LHW submitted comments to two state pesticide advisory committees this week.
Our Environmental Justice Advisory Committee submission addresses the barriers we've encountered obtaining pesticide records, residential notification problems and questions about repeated or overlapping pesticide applications.
Our Sustainable Pest Management Advisory Committee submission draws on Ladera's proposed Organic Land Management Plan. We discussed how large-scale demonstration projects could help communities overcome difficult implementation challenges, including steep slopes, wildfire requirements and landscape renovation, while producing results other communities can use.
Both submissions are part of our continuing work to bring Ladera's experiences into statewide regulatory discussions.
6. LARMAC Board Election
We've been researching how LARMAC voting works, how many votes the developer still retains and what that means for homeowners. Together with another resident, we reached out to request a discussion about the apartment owner's voting position but have not yet received a response.
We've also been meeting with potential candidates and exploring the possibility of hosting an additional Meet the Candidates event, with a recording available on our website for residents who missed the first event or couldn't hear its recording.
With two Board seats open and significant decisions ahead for Ladera, we want residents to have the information and opportunity to hear from candidates themselves.
Thank you for continuing to support this work. We'll keep sharing developments as they happen.
Thank you to everyone continuing to help move it forward.
Sincerely,
Jackie French Ladera Health Watch
