MULTIPLE COMMUNITY GROUPS rallied outside San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday, demanding that the city provide full cleanups, health reparations, and community health monitoring after more radioactive pollution was discovered in the Bayview-Hunters Point area.
Protesters with Greenaction for Health & Environmental Justice and the Marie Harrison Community Foundation called for community supervised retesting of the former site of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and government funding which will allow experts selected by the community to investigate the contaminated area. They also urged Mayor Lurie and government officials to take accountability for the radioactive damage that has been plaguing the community for generations.
“Right now, this city is letting the block that raised me steal the very breath from my lungs.” said Sabrina Hall at the rally. “I’m standing before you on an oxygen tank today because of the toxic legacy, the radioactive corruption, and the blatant environmental racism that San Francisco has shoved down our throats for generations.”
Environmental justice, community, social justice, and youth groups all took part in the rally after learning that new pollutants were detected at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard site.
In April, a contractor reported that they discovered radioactive materials inside a cabinet at the shipyard.
The site was occupied by the Navy from 1945 to 1974, during which the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory conducted research on the effects of radiation and atomic weapons. The site was also used to decommission radioactive ships, leading to the accumulation of radionuclides contaminating the surrounding soil and water.
In 1989, it was designated as a federal Superfund site, which are areas contaminated with hazardous materials that require long-term cleanup. The site now consists of abandoned buildings and a shoreline that is blocked off by fencing, with signs warning people of the hazardous contamination in portions of the land that have not been cleaned up.
The Navy is leading ongoing cleanup efforts with oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The cleanup has been divided into multiple phases, focusing on different sections at a time on the 934 acres of land.
The Navy has split the former shipyard into parcels to prioritize highly polluted areas and so that land determined to be safe from contamination can be transferred for use to San Francisco for commercial and residential development. One parcel already has newly constructed condominiums just several hundred feet from the shoreline.
But some Bayview-Hunters Point residents and environmental justice activists are skeptical of cleanup efforts, saying that only surface-level remediation has been done for some parcels.
Residents cite lasting health impacts
Many residents of the area have ongoing health challenges like asthma and cancer, caused by this radioactive pollution.
Leaotis Martin, resident of the Bayview, said his family has been riddled with health issues.
“I had a twin brother, he died of an enlarged heart, my mom died of cancer, my father died of high blood pressure, my sister died of sickle cell anemia,” he said at the rally.
The groups said Lurie has not yet responded to their requests for support.
