San Francisco Unprepared to Handle New Risks at the Hunters Point Superfund Site

Civil Grand Jury releases “Buried Issues and a Buried Course of: The Hunters Level Naval Shipyard in a Time of Local weather Change”

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The 2021-2022 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury at this time launched a troubling report in regards to the unaddressed threat of rising groundwater at Hunters Level, and what it means for the cleanup and growth of the closely polluted former Naval Shipyard.

The Shipyard is a Superfund website the place the Navy, overseen by EPA and state regulators, has been cleansing up intensive radiological and chemical contamination for over thirty years. As every stage of the cleanup is accepted, the Navy has agreed to switch property to the Metropolis. A developer, working with the San Francisco Workplace of Group Infrastructure and Funding, plans to construct 1000’s of houses on the Shipyard, together with workplace towers, parks, a college and hundreds of thousands of ft of business area.

“Hunters Level is a part of the largest growth in San Francisco for the reason that 1906 earthquake,” stated Michael Hofman, Jury Foreperson. “But neither the Navy nor the Metropolis is being attentive to what is going on to occur there when sea degree rise pushes the groundwater nearer to the floor.”

The Jury’s analysis discovered that when sea degree rises, shallow groundwater close to the shore rises with it, and may harm infrastructure, trigger flooding from under, and mobilize contaminants within the soil. Within the low-lying Shipyard, the place the Navy intends to depart hazardous toxins buried, consultants informed the Jury that rising groundwater poses particular dangers to well being and security, and to future growth.

“There’s a lot at stake within the Hunters Level Shipyard,” Hofman stated. “However contained in the Metropolis, solely a tiny program within the Division of Public Well being is engaged with the cleanup. The Metropolis is not ready to reply when issues go fallacious. And the Metropolis is not devoting the proper assets to anticipate issues like groundwater rise on the Shipyard, whereas there’s nonetheless time to do one thing.”

To seek out the complete report, please go to https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/report.html

In regards to the Jury: Yearly, the Superior Courtroom selects 19 San Franciscans to serve year-long phrases on the Civil Grand Jury. The aim of the Jury is to research the operations of the federal government of the Metropolis and County of San Francisco. Civil Grand Jury experiences and knowledge can be found on-line.

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
2021-22 CIVIL GRAND JURY
400 McAllister Avenue, Room 008, San Francisco, CA 94102 • civilgrandjury.sfgov.org

SOURCE San Francisco Civil Grand Jury