Have residents of the Bayview been lied to about the remaining toxity of the Hunters Point Shipyard?
City Visions looks at accusations of environmental racism around the Hunters Point Shipyard clean up. While San Francisco has big plans to develop this Superfund site, questions remain about falsified soil tests, the health of Bayview residents, and about the government's failure to protect communities of color. Could this be happening in the Bay Area?
Producer: Wendy Holcombe
Guests:
Sheridan Enomoto - Community Organizer and Policy Advocate for Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice.
Theo Ellington - Resident of Parcel A in the Hunters Point Shipyard, member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and candidate for Supervisor representing Bayview Hunters Point.
Lindsey Dillon, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz with a doctorate in Human Geography. She studies the entanglement of toxic landscapes and racism in U.S. cities ad is currently writing a book about the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
Statement from the EPA:
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency remains committed to ensuring that the Bayview-Hunters Point community is protected from exposure to radiation and that the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard site can be used for work, recreation, and residential purposes.
The Navy is the lead agency responsible for the investigation and cleanup of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. EPA and its state regulatory agency partners oversee and enforce Navy compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (commonly called the Superfund law) and other requirements to ensure the cleanup at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard protects human health and the environment.
EPA is investigating the impacts of Navy contractor Tetra Tech EC Inc.’s failure to follow the cleanup work plan at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Our focus is on ensuring both that no current workers or residents are exposed to hazardous materials and that future residents and workers are protected. We believe that current procedures and protocols will protect current workers and residents, and we are working with the Navy and the state of California to ensure that any radiological contamination that may remain on-site is cleaned up to the standards set in the cleanup decision documents. EPA will not approve any further transfers or new development without ensuring public health and safety."
