Since 2004,
community volunteers have worked diligently with the Cal EPA Department of
Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to ensure a robust clean-up. However we have lost confidence DTSC is
adequate to the job of holding AstraZeneca (the primary Responsible Party) to a
clean-up standard protective of human and environmental health.
Currently
over 98% of 550,000 cubic yards of hazardous waste, much of it cancer-causing
and/or linked to other health risks such as reproductive and developmental
disorders, is proposed for burial but not encapsulation at this shoreline site,
with dense residential (4,000 units) on top.
DTSC
ignored updated science of sea level rise and its impacts of saltwater
intrusion; they also ignored new more protective health risk levels for
tetrachloroethene (TCE), which is predominant throughout the site, and used
40hrs/wk worker risk levels rather than full-time residential risk levels, in
calculating the cleanup goal. The
contaminated soil contains high levels of heavy metals (predominantly arsenic),
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
herbicides, fungicides, pesticides (many banned worldwide) and more. Many independent experts have weighed-in on
the dangers of allowing the hazards to remain on the shoreline and especially
underlying development.
Deed
restrictions prevent on-site day care, schools, hospitals, or other facilities
for seniors or anyone under 21 years old, yet families with children, seniors,
and other vulnerable populations are likely to end up living there.