Supervisors press federal and state agencies on Hunters Point cleanup; city commits to independent study

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Sept.29 pressed federal and state cleanup regulators about the civil grand jury's findings on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and sought firmer commitments on sea-level and groundwater-rise risks.

Supervisor Shamann Walton, temporarily sitting on the panel, asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to make clear how they will respond to findings and recommendations in the grand-jury report "Buried Problems and a Buried Process" and whether the city can rely on the agencies to protect public health as climate change alters site conditions.

"This site is one of our biggest priorities," said Angeles Herrera, assistant director for EPA Region 9's Superfund and Emergency Management Division, who told the committee the agency will "ask the Navy to assess vulnerabilities of the remedies that are in place, and also to develop an adaptive plan" and said EPA will not sign off on remedies that do not meet federal and state standards. Herrera said EPA intends to factor sea-level and groundwater-rise vulnerability into the statutory five-year review of the cleanup.

Nelene Coble, chief of DTSC's Northern California Site Mitigation and Remediation Program, said DTSC also treats Hunters Point as a priority and relies on the "best available science" and state bodies such as the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Coble read a letter from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board describing its authority and the board's Oct.12 agenda item to consider amendments addressing groundwater and sea-level concerns.

Supervisors pressed agency officials on specifics. "If the Navy ignores the civil grand jury report and does not include strategies, what will the EPA do?" asked President Walton. Herrera responded that EPA can elevate disagreements into dispute processes and, if needed, "go to the Pentagon" to press Navy leadership.

Members of the public, including physicians, longtime community advocates and Bayview Hunters Point residents, urged the Board to insist on full removal of contamination rather than capping, to fund independent health monitoring and to restore a local advisory board. Dan Hirsch of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a longtime critic of the Navy remedy, urged the Board to make good on a pledge not to take transfer of the land unless the Navy completes a full cleanup.

Walton read a set of amended resolve clauses into the record that accept some findings and commit the City to implement recommendation 2: work to secure resources for an independent, third-party commission or study to assess shallow groundwater, contaminant mobilization and potential adaptation under multiple sea-level scenarios. The response states the City "partially agrees" with some findings and explains that the City lacks authority to compel federal signatories to change remedy decisions, but that the Board will use its leverage, including land-transfer decisions, budget authority and a short-term task force, to push for better safeguards.

Deputy City Attorney Anne Pearson cautioned that the committee must comply with Penal Code rules about the form of responses to a civil grand jury; the committee agreed to continue work on the responses and to return with revisions. The hearing was continued for further drafting.

What's next: the committee left Items 1 and 2 open for amendment, with staff and the city attorney's office to advise as to form. The Board requested the agencies provide specific information about the Water Board's Oct.12 amendments and asked the regulators to report back on staffing and on how planned studies will be timed with the five-year review.