San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and Supervisor Shamann Walton today announced that experts from the University of California San Francisco (USCF) and University of California Berkeley will begin an independent review of the radiation testing procedures used at the Hunters Point Shipyard. The goal of this review is to determine if the radiation testing procedures established by state and federal regulatory agencies at the Hunters Point Shipyard were appropriate and sufficient.

Mayor Breed, City Attorney Herrera, and Supervisor Walton first asked for an independent analysis of the testing procedures in January of this year, and UCSF officials agreed to put together a plan to help provide this analysis to the City and public. UC officials have informed the City about their plan for conducting the review, which will begin immediately and consist of three phases.

• Information Gathering (Approximately 10 weeks) – UC researchers will conduct interviews with different entities including the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Navy, the California Department of Public Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health, and individual experts. The researchers will also participate in a community listening session coordinated by Supervisor Walton and the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizen’s Advisory Committee to hear directly from residents and community members.
• Analysis (Approximately 10 weeks) – UC researchers will review the gathered data and write a report based on data gathering and analysis.
• Public Presentation (Approximately 4 weeks) – Present the findings to City officials, and the community.

“We have requested an independent and thorough analysis of the testing procedures at the Shipyard so that the community can have clarity on whether or not the testing that has been done is appropriate and sufficient for this site,” said Mayor Breed. “This community deserves transparency and accountability. We are deeply appreciative that UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, two of our most trusted public institutions, have stepped up to take on this important task.” 

“The Bayview-Hunters Point community deserves this independent, transparent review of the Navy’s cleanup,” said City Attorney Herrera. “This will allow an impartial panel of health experts to look at the information and reach their own conclusions about whether the testing of Parcel A and the rest of the shipyard has been adequate. That way everyone gets the facts, and the public has confidence in the analysis.”

“We have been working hard to ensure that our residents at the Shipyard and the surrounding area are safe and that the Shipyard is clean,” said Supervisor Shamann Walton. “We said we would fight for independent oversight of testing on the Shipyard and push to bring in Academia, as they have no conflicts. I am excited to announce that UCSF and UC Berkeley will be providing that oversight by revising the rating protocols of both Parcel A and Parcel G on the Shipyard, and inform everyone of testing is appropriate. This is one of the promises we made to our community.”  

The Hunters Point Shipyard is composed of approximately 496 acres along the southeastern waterfront of San Francisco that will be developed in two distinct phases. At full build-out, both phases of Hunters Point Shipyard will consist of approximately 4,882 units of housing, 4.3 million square feet of office/R&D, and 258 acres of open space, plus artist, retail, and community spaces. To date, 439 units have been built with another 66 currently under construction at Shipyard Phase 1, and there is no development activity on Shipyard Phase 2.

The land in Shipyard Phase 2 is a federal Superfund site that required extensive cleanup by the Navy. A portion of Phase 2 land is subject to an investigation into fraud committed by Tetra Tech EC, a Navy contractor that was hired to test the Phase 2 parcels after the Navy completed its environmental clean-up work. Due to the Tetra Tech EC fraud, Phase 2 land must be retested. The Navy, EPA and other regulators must finalize a Workplan for each parcel prior to retesting. Parcel G will be the first to be retested.

Shipyard Phase 1 (also referred to as Parcel A) consisting of two sub-parcels, Parcel A-1 and Parcel A-2, are not part of the federal Superfund site, and have been confirmed by the EPA to be safe for people to live and work there. In response to community concerns, the City, federal and state regulatory agencies requested that the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) conduct a radiological survey of Shipyard Phase 1. CDPH has scanned Parcel A and concluded that it did not pose radiological health or safety hazards. The scope of that work will be part of the independent review.

All inquiries regarding specifics about the independent review should be made to Laura Kurtzman at UC San Francisco at (415) 502-6397 or laura.kurtzman@ucsf.edu.