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Hunters Point Naval Shipyard - EPA Cleanup

Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, also known as Treasure Island Naval Station, was originally established in 1869 as a commercial shipyard. It contained the first dry dock on the West Coast. During World War I, the U.S. Navy appropriated its use for repairs to the Pacific Fleet, and while there was talk at that point of establishing a naval base there after the war, it was not until 1940 that the Navy actually acquired the land. Throughout World War II, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard served as a major shipbuilding, repair, and servicing yard for the Navy. Located midway between two other Naval shipyards, it saw nearly constant use.

With the end of the war, the Navy sited another project at Hunters Point - the National Radiological Defense Laboratory - whose mission was to decontaminate and study ships that had been used in the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. In addition, the shipyard continued to serve as a repair and shipbuilding facility, though activities shifted to submarine servicing and testing. In 1974, the Navy closed the Annex as a shipbuilding facility and in 1976, leased most of the facility to Triple A, a private ship repair company. Triple A held the lease until 1986, and sublet buildings and facilities at Hunters Point to numerous small companies.

In 1986, the San Francisco District Attorney received complaints of improper disposal of hazardous wastes at Hunters Point. An investigation revealed nearly two dozen separate sites were highly polluted with a wide variety of hazardous pollutants, including PCBs, solvents, hydraulic and motor oils, contaminated soil, and radioactive waste.

Description of the Contamination

An Environmental Protection Agency investigation revealed 20 different locations at Hunters Point that were contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), trichloroethylene, solvents, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, and heavy metals. In 1989, the EPA added Hunters Point Shipyard to the National Priorities List, a list of heavily contaminated sites that are eligible for special funding to assist with hazardous waste cleanup. In 1991, the Navy officially closed the shipyard. On January 22, 1992, the EPA signed an agreement with the Navy and the State of California to coordinate the investigation and cleanup for the site.

To make it easier, the site was divided into parcels designated as A through F. Each of the parcels were to be treated separately for investigation and cleanup. The intent of the EPA's action plan was to clean each parcel and make them available to the city to be reclaimed or sold as they become habitable. The Navy has completed much of the fieldwork to determine the scope of work that needs to be done, but the cleanup efforts are ongoing.

On April 5, 1999, the EPA removed a part of Parcel A from the Federal Register after investigation revealed that the contamination there was negligible. Parcel A had been the military housing part of the base. In 1995, the Navy had signed a no-action Record of Decision - an official statement that no action was needed to clean sections of Parcel A. The EPA concurred, and its deletion of parts of Parcel A from the NPL was the first time that the agency had agreed to that type of deletion from the National Priorities List. It took nearly five years to confirm all the testing and certify that Parcel A was "Suitable to Transfer". The Navy issued a final FPST (Finding of Suitability to Transfer) for Parcel A and EPA concurred with the FPST on September 30, 2004. Parcel A was transferred to the City of San Francisco in December 2004.

The remaining parcels are all in the early stages of cleaning. Much of what is currently being done at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is monitoring and testing, as the full extent of the contamination is still being determined more than 20 years after the original reports of improper disposal of contaminated waste were made. A summary of the remediation recommended for the remaining parcels includes:

- Removal of contaminated soil from parcel B and disposal of that soil in approved hazardous waste disposal sites

- Regular monitoring of groundwater in Parcel B to ensure protection of San Francisco Bay

- Soil excavation and fill removal from each of Parcels C and D

- Removal of underground storage tanks in Parcels C and D

- Removal of contaminated steam and fuel pipelines on Parcels C and D

- Removal of shoreline debris and radioactive contamination on all parcels

- Removal of metal debris and metal slag on Parcels E and E2

A surface brush fire on the Parcel E landfill in August 2000 led to the onset of another problem. While the Navy extinguished the fire immediately upon its discovery, smoldering and smoke showed that the fire had spread under ground. The underground landfill continued to smolder for weeks, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry required regular air monitoring. There was judged to be no danger to human health from the smoke, but the Navy was penalized $25,000 per day for failure to notify the EPA of the fire immediately.

The fire, however, led to the discovery of landfill gas migrating offsite, and the Navy has had to begin monitoring and abating the methane gas problem in the Parcel E landfill.

The cleanup at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard continues, with the Navy taking a lead role in the abatement actions. When all actions are completed, the parcels will be returned to the city for disposal as the City of San Francisco sees fit.

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