At the height of the Cold War, 15 of the 25 largest aerospace companies in the United States were based in Southern California, and the U.S. counted on these companies to build modern military weapons like fighter planes, bombers, and ballistic missiles.

As the U.S.’s attention turned toward the race to outer space, California aerospace companies were there creating the firepower and making the components needed for the Apollo and Gemini space missions. Throughout these times, the U.S. government was driving what the aerospace companies made, how they made it, how they handled the various hazardous materials that went into it, and how they disposed of the hazardous waste generated during its production. The directions given by the government to these ends came in several forms and generally left no room for deviation. ...

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