EPA, Navy announce final plan to clean up Hunters Point Shipyard contamination
In the decades-long effort to clean up the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, the end may be in sight.
On Thursday, the Navy and Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan to clean up contamination dating back to the Cold War. The project will focus on the shipyard's last parcel, F, that spans about 443 acres underwater.
"We want to reduce the risk for animals and plants that live on the bay floor, fish and birds being exposed to contaminants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), mercury and lead. And to remove those risks from the environment," said Martha Guzman, administrator for the EPA Pacific Southwest Region.
While the cleanup won't begin until 2027, the project involves dredging, treating the sediments and capping them. The Navy will then dispose the contaminated sediment in a landfill, while the location has not yet been determined.
"With the exception...for potential low level radiological items, that's what the ships used for radioluminescence devices due to dredging that happened during Navy activities, we're going to have procedures in place in case of incidental finding of those," Danielle Janda, base closure manager at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, said.
Some neighbors, however, say that is not enough, for the chemicals in the soil that residents have been exposed to for years.
"We don't want them to cap it, we want them to clean it and close it. Nobody should be living on this toxic land, period," Leaotis Martin, a resident of Hunters Point, told CBS News Bay Area.
Arieann Harrison has also lived in Hunter's Point her whole life. She said she's been facing health complications.
"I've come up positive for uranium...also elevated levels of manganese and rubidium. And lead and cobalt," Harrison told CBS News Bay Area.
Harrison said the problem stems from living so close to the shipyard. The 866-acre yard was home to the Naval Radiological Defense Lab from 1948 to 1960.
The Navy's activities contaminated nearby soil, groundwater, surface water and sediments in the bay.
And now, the plan to clean Parcel F, is the latest announcement in an environmental cleanup that's lasted more than two decades.
Back in 2018, new homeowners used the landowner and developer, Five Point Holdings, for allegedly keeping them in the dark about toxic radiation in the soil. The contractor hired by the Navy to clean up the radiation, Tetra Tech, pled guilty for falsifying records of soil contamination.
That lawsuit was settled for more than $6 million.
"It's been lie after lie. And when you want to start building a relationship or partnership with community, you can't start that off with leading with a lie," Harrison said.
As for Thursday's announcement, leaders said their goal is to protect the ecosystem, prevent further contamination of sea life and fish in the bay, all while making sure the cleanup does not impact public health.
The work to clean up Parcel F is expected to cost about $32 million.