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Richmond v Chevron: The California City Taking on its Most Powerful Polluter

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Richmond v Chevron: The California City Taking on its Most Powerful Polluter

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The Chevron refinery that looms over Richmond, California, its muted orange tanks nestled into the scrubby low-slung hills above San Francisco Bay, is older than the city itself.

The refinery processes nearly 250,000 barrels of crude oil each day. When it "flares", as it did more often in 2018 than in any other year over the past decade, dark smoke spirals up and across town in the bay breeze.

When it explodes, like it did in 1989, 1999 and 2012, the thick cloud is visible across the bay and beyond, a blot against the sky that ascends before falling and settling on everything within a multi-mile vicinity that is not covered, closed or sealed up.

A fire on 6 August 2012 sent more than 15,000 people to seek treatment for respiratory distress at local hospitals.

Richmond has long been known for the three Cs: crime, corruption and Chevron. You could also add coal to that list, which the Levin-Richmond terminal began exporting out of the city in 2013, along with coke, the petroleum-refining byproduct.

Despite its proximity to San Francisco and Silicon Valley's wealth, Richmond's median household income is below the California state average, with more than 15% of residents living in poverty. More than 80% of residents are people of colour. And Richmond children have roughly twice the rate of asthma as their neighbours countywide.

"It's a textbook example of an environmental justice community," said Matt Holmes, the executive director of the nonprofit Groundwork Richmond. "I think the whole country owes Richmond a debt."

And the city is here to collect. Richmond may be a company city, but it is in open and sustained conflict with the industries that sustain it. Environmental justice activists here are fighting a multi-front war against the fossil fuels that gave the city life, but which, they argue, are also slowly killing it.

The Guardian has collaborated with leading scientists and NGOs to expose, with exclusive data, investigations and analysis, the fossil fuel companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis - some of which have accelerated their extraction of coal, oil and gas even as the devastating impact on the planet and humanity was becoming clear.

The investigation has involved more than 20 Guardian journalists working across the world for the past six months.

The project focuses on what the companies have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions they are responsible for, since 1965. The analysis, undertaken by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, calculates how much carbon is emitted throughout the supply chain, from extraction to use by consumers. Heede said: "The fact that consumers combust the fuels to carbon dioxide, water, heat and pollutants does not absolve the fossil fuel companies from responsibility for knowingly perpetuating the carbon era and accelerating the climate crisis toward the existential threat it has now become."

One aim of the project is to move the focus of debate from individual responsibilities to power structures - so our reporters also examined the financial and lobbying structures that let fossil fuel firms keep growing, and discovered which elected politicians were voting for change.

Another aim of the project is to press governments and corporations to close the gap between ambitious long-term promises and lacklustre short-term action. The UN says the coming decade is crucial if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global heating. Reining in our dependence on fossil fuels and dramatically accelerating the transition to renewable energy has never been more urgent.

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California's Democratic politics and green global reputation belie the state's large role in fossil fuel production. The five refineries that dot the eastern span of the bay coast have a combined daily capacity of more than 825,000 barrels, and four of the five export the oil-refining byproduct pet coke.

Chevron's roots run deep in California - its headquarters is 34 miles inland from Richmond. The company contributes at least 10% of the city's budget through property taxes and fees, which it has frequently contested in court, seeking refunds and reductions.

Chevron and government investigations determined that corrosion in a pipe caused a leak that sparked the Richmond refinery fire in August 2012, sending a plume of black smoke over nearby residential areas. Photograph: Reuters

It also employs more people than any other single company - 3,456 in 2016 - gives back tens of millions in local community benefits and operates its own local online newspaper, the Richmond Standard, to get out the good word about the fossil fuel giant.

The population in closest proximity to the refinery has disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Data from the California Environmental Protection Agency places every community bordering the Chevron facility in the 99th centile for asthma.

And since the refinery's modernisation plan has come online, with the addition of a new hydrogen plant, its incidents have spiked.

It was this Richmond that in 2003 inspired activists to form the Richmond Progressive Alliance. The RPA ran a multi-partisan list of candidates for city government in 2004, who vowed to take no corporate money, instead keeping their hands clean and ready to take on Chevron should they win office.

"The community in many ways were like: 'Chevron's been here for ever, you know, for 100 years, and we can't beat City Hall when they are all aligned with Chevron. Chevron's got control,'" said the RPA co-founder Gayle McLaughlin. "And we said, no, that's not true. We can do this - we have to do this."

McLaughlin won a seat on the city council and went on to serve two terms as mayor. The RPA turned the tide in Richmond politics swiftly and decisively. Along with local environmental groups including Communities for a Better Environment, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and West County Toxics Coalition, they organised against a refinery expansion. And after the 2012 fire, under Mayor McLaughlin, Richmond sued Chevron for the first time in the city's history.

In 2014, Chevron spent more than $3m in campaign donations to city council candidates opposing the RPA. "And they bought up every billboard in town," McLaughlin said. The RPA won a supermajority on the city council.

"All of the things I'm working on come from my constituents - it's not me. It needs to come from the bottom," said Eduardo Martinez, an RPA candidate and former Richmond elementary school teacher who was elected to the city council in 2014.

"Elected officials too often get elected and then they just stay in touch marginally," said McLaughlin, who left Richmond city government in 2017. "But we kept organising."

A coat of grime

While Richmond progressives were making strides to rein in the city's most powerful polluter, a new operation began at the port, behind the private walls of the Levin-Richmond terminal.

The Levin-Richmond Terminal Corporation was already exporting pet coke, which contains lead, arsenic and mercury. In 2013, it began exporting coal, too, from Utah and Colorado mines - according to activists, nearly 1m metric tonnes were exported through Richmond in 2018.

This is an issue that has united communities all across Richmond. Residents are saying we don't want this

Because coal is prone to combust, it is transported in uncovered train cars, leaving the dust to catch the wind and scatter. Local residents and activists only realised what was happening months, if not years, later, when they noticed the new trains and the coat of thin black grime that came with them.

"Historically we have terrible health impacts in Richmond, but we have a whole bunch of sources of pollution," said Janet Johnson, an organiser at No Coal in Richmond. "This is an issue that has united communities all across Richmond. Residents are saying that we don't want this."

Richmond city council passed a resolution in 2015 requesting that local air-quality managers regulate the handling and transportation of coal and pet coke. But the trains kept running, inspiring a new tactic. Richmond may not wield police powers over its air but the city can make rules over how its land is used.

This month, the council will vote on a proposal by Martinez that would phase out the storage and handling of coal and pet coke and prohibit the expansion of new facilities.

"A land use ordinance is very strong. I mean, cities use this for billboards," Johnson said. "All the city needs is a rational basis for deciding they don't want this handling and storage of these toxic materials to continue in the interest of public health and safety."

Residential properties and the Chevron refinery in Richmond, as seen through the window of Amtrak's California Zephyr passenger train. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Contra Costa county supervisor, John Gioia, grew up in Richmond and has been an outspoken supporter of the ordinance. He also sits on the California Air Resources board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board.

"Right now, there's the most attention to pollution issues in Richmond that I've ever seen," Gioia said. That attention is based on local health and justice.

A bold move

But the global climate crisis is coming for Richmond, too, and its 32 miles of coastline - more than any other Bay Area city.

In January 2018, Richmond followed the lead of seven other California municipalities in filing a suit against Chevron and a further 28 fossil fuel companies, alleging public nuisance and negligence, and seeking the funds necessary to adapt to a climate-changed future. It was a bold move for little Richmond. But, said Martinez, "Where else could we go?"

The lawsuits contend the fossil fuel industry misled the public about the true impact of their products. While defendants attempted to have Richmond v Chevron moved to federal court, arguing that the regulation of emissions was essentially a federal issue, a judge remanded the case back to the state. Richmond v Chevron is pending in the ninth circuit court of appeals. The suit is ongoing.

Vic Sher, counsel for Richmond, said: "These are the first cases to apply this approach to climate change impacts on communities, but far from the first to apply them to injuries to communities suffering from a wide range of bad corporate behaviour."

He said if a company engages in a "campaign of disinformation about products that it knows are going to harm people and the planet, they are responsible for the injuries they cause".

And for Richmond and other frontline communities like it, those injuries are disproportionately damaging.

"They're even more dire in under-resourced communities of colour," Sher said. "Poor communities face more severe impacts, coupled with less ability to pay the high costs of adaptation and survival."

Green reputation

Some of California's global green reputation is well-earned: the state has some of the strongest regulations on toxics, refineries and vehicle emissions in the US.

In response to the Guardian's questions, Chevron said it had "a longstanding commitment to reduce emissions at our [Richmond] facility.

"Richmond refinery operates under the strict rules and regulations established by the California Air Resources board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the agencies responsible for monitoring and regulating sources of air emissions."

It declined to answer questions about the lawsuit or the health problems in the area, but pointed to its financial support for local groups, particularly in education.

The "cap and trade " programme, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has also been hailed as landmark environmental policy.

Everybody's throwing their garbage in the sky and nobody's really taking a fair assessment of it

But politicians and activists in Richmond say it has established a market of pollution for the fossil fuel industry that disproportionately hurts them.

"It does nothing to reduce pollution at their sources, including communities like Richmond, where we've seen emissions actually go up, because they're purchasing offsets they can afford," said Andrés Soto, an RPA co-founder and community organiser at Communities for a Better Environment.

As part of a bill renewing cap and trade in 2017, the state established volunteer steering committees in highly polluted cities to involve communities in local air-quality planning.

In September, Richmond's designated committee voted to delay regulation in favour of doing more monitoring. Soto said: "Monitoring is not bad, but monitoring with no emissions-reduction strategy doesn't accomplish anything other than show you that you're already getting polluted to the point that it's dangerous. But we knew that."

Holmes, who sits on the steering committee, added: "Everybody's throwing their garbage in the sky and nobody's really taking a fair assessment of it."

The Chevron refinery, seen from the hilltop of the Point Richmond neighbourhood in California. Photograph: Balazs Gardi/The Guardian

Some of Groundwork's money also comes from Chevron. For Holmes, it is all a means to an end: to present economic opportunity and good green jobs to best serve the young guardians of Richmond's greener future.

"We could be more principled and stomp our feet at the gates of the refinery, but we use that money to provide opportunity for these Richmond youth to do something about it," Holmes said.

Radical solutions

One way or another, the Chevron refinery will not be in Richmond for ever, and just as the city has had to grapple with the impact of so much pollution, it will also have to contend with the result of that transition - just or otherwise.

"It is the frontline communities that are articulating in many ways the most radical solutions, because they are dealing with the most radical impacts," Soto said. "As the situation gets worse, people are going to want more radical action. And that is, I think, where the hope is."

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Richmond v Chevron: the California city taking on its most powerful polluter

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Local activists are suing the fossil fuel firms that gave the city life - but may also be slowly killing it

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Richmond's story is one of community organizing, vision, and inspiration. In a city that is almost 90 percent people of color, that has faced a legacy of environmental racism, blight, and economic divestment for decades, community groups are building Our Power. This vision centers frontline community power to create innovative solutions for building strong and resilient communities. It also envisions a regenerative and non-extractive economy with energy democracy, food and land security, health and improved air quality, local ownership, and inclusive democratic governance.

For many years, unjust policies have allowed high-emission, low-job industries to concentrate in Richmond, stealing the health and wealth of residents. Contra Costa County, where the city is located, has the second highest concentration of heavy industry in the state, while the city of Richmond lies in the shadows of the 2,900-acre Chevron oil refinery. The refinery processes 245,000 barrels of oil per day and is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in California. The burden of pollution has led to severe consequences in air quality, public health, and safety. Children in Richmond are twice as likely to have asthma compared to children in the rest of the state, while the city also maintains higher rates of low birth weight babies, cancer, and respiratory illnesses.

Despite these conditions, community groups in Richmond are advancing innovative solutions to building strong and resilient communities. Richmond was the first majority people of color city in the nation to have Community Choice Energy and a progressive City Council majority. It is at the center of efforts to advance a Just Transition, moving away from an extractive and exploitative economy toward a local and living economy that supports the well-being of families, empowers people, cleans the environment, and creates safe and healthy neighborhoods.

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Rich City Rides (RCR), and Urban Tilth formally established the Richmond Our Power Coalition in early 2017. Since then, they have added two new member organizations, Cooperation Richmond and Safe Return Project, and two new ally organizations, Idle No More and Marin Clean Energy. Together, the coalition is determined to revitalize the city by investing in community innovation and governance, while fostering local resiliency and connections within the broader community. In April 2017, the group hosted a community forum to educate and inspire Richmond community members around the Just Transition framework. People had opportunities to discuss and generate strategies to achieve their vision for Richmond. Every August, the Our Power Festival brings hundreds of youth and families together to learn about Just Transition strategies. Participants watch musical performances powered by bicycles, eat locally grown food, and experience examples of how a Just Transition can become a reality in Richmond.

In the future, the Our Power Coalition would like to provide leadership development programs, neighborhood councils that ensure community control over public resources, and support for citywide policy campaigns. APEN and CBE are currently working on introducing a citywide energy policy that supports the expansion of equitable renewable energy access to bring sustainable development, transparency, community benefits, and energy democracy to Richmond's residents.

Asian Pacific Environmental Network is one of the few organizations in the country explicitly developing the leadership and power of low-income Asian immigrant and refugee communities to fight for environmental, social, and economic justice. APEN is building new models of development, land use, and resource allocation in Richmond and Oakland, and across the state, to bring fundamental changes to our economic and social institutions to promote healthy, green, just communities. www.apen4ej.org

Communities for a Better Environment works in working-class Latino and African American communities of Oakland, Richmond, Wilmington, and cities of Southeast Los Angeles County. CBE combines community grassroots organizing, science-based advocacy, and legal intervention into a uniquely effective strategy to successfully impact change and improve the quality of lives for the residents. www.cbecal.org

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RICHMOND: The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) & Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)

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Richmond's story is one of community organizing, vision, and inspiration. In a city that is almost 90 percent people of color, that has faced a legacy of environmental racism, blight, and economic divestment for decades, community groups are building Our Power. This vision centers frontline community power to create innovative solutions for building strong and resilient communities.

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Look through pages 119-120, 123-126 for stories from community organizers in this area.

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Brain cancer biomonitoring in Hunter's Point

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Brain cancer biomonitoring in Hunter's Point

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"In San Francisco's Hunters Point, 25,000 people live near a decommissioned naval base, including a 46-acre toxic waste dump and the remainders of the Navy's radiological defense laboratory. According to some, it is one of the most polluted sites in the world, possibly for a long time to come. Is the Navy fulfilling its responsibility to the residents ... or simply laying waste and walking off?" - Saul Bloom, "Shame About the Shipyard: The History of Environmental Contamination and Management of the Hunters Point Shipyard," Verdict, National Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2002

Brain cancers are rare. The chance that you will be diagnosed with brain cancer in your lifetime is 0.6 percent based on 2017 data. The number of brain cancers diagnosed each year in the US is only six cases per 100,000. In stark contrast, there are 125 cases of breast cancer and 120 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed annually for every 100,000 people.

The statistical odds are immeasurably low that in a community of 35,000 people multiple cases of brain cancer could be detected, yet Bayview Hunters Point residents often comment in community meetings and public hearings about friends, neighbors, relatives, pets and children who have been diagnosed with brain cancer!

Even more astounding is the fact the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program has identified multiple shipyard neighbors diagnosed with multiple brain tumors whohave undergone urinary screenings that detect a toxic body burden of radioactive biomarkers and cancer-causing heavy metals.

HP Biomonitoring has evidenced that a rare cancer of the glial cells of the human brain called a brainstem glioma - proven to be induced by prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation and heavy metals - has been detected in Hunters Point residents and workers.

The environmental science, environmental justice and public health consequences of detecting a cluster of rare brain cancers in a neighborhood located within a one-mile radius of three EPA designated federal Superfund sites are enormous!

Disparities in cancer incidences in Bayview Hunters Point residents were first documented in 1995 when a cluster of breast cancers was discovered by Health Department researchers. Between 1988 and 1992, 60 African American women were diagnosed with breast cancer - 41 percent were under the age of 50.

A 2000-2001 graph documents all cancers to be the third highest cause of excess deaths in BVHP and the second highest cause of years of life lost per death. The San Francisco Department of Public Health stopped publishing cancer data by zip code by 2009.

A 2019 review of breast cancer disparities analyzed in "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention" found that while African American women comprised only 7.2 percent of breast cancer diagnoses in San Francisco from 2006 to 2015, in Bayview Hunters Point Black women represent 25.5 percent of breast cancer diagnoses and had the worst five-year survival rate.
A 2010 Superior Court Civil Grand Jury report documented email collusion between Health Department officials, EPA regulators and environmental consultants for the shipyard's master developer, Lennar.
The findings starkly contradict the conclusions of Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPh - San Francisco's former health officer - in a March 6, 2019, letter to Mayor London Breed. Aragón analyzed the same data as the independent scientists and concluded "no excess cancers of any type was seen in women" in BVHP.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health released morbidity and mortality rates on the incidence of cancer, infectious diseases and injuries by zip code when I was a UCSF medical student during the 1980s AIDS era.

By 2009, DPH no longer published cancer incidences by zip code. Many believe it was due to unfolding events at the Hunters Point Shipyard, where a 2010 Superior Court Civil Grand Jury report documented email collusion between Health Department officials, EPA regulators and environmental consultants for the shipyard's master developer, Lennar.

Additionally, in 2009, the Navy disbanded the shipyard's boisterous Restoration Advisory Board while DPH expanded Article 31 of the Health Code - allowing the health director to bill Lennar for oversight of "earthmoving" activities on the federal Superfund site, including the entire 500-acre base. Article 31 turned the Environmental Division of the Department of Public Health into a revenue-generating enterprise department for the City and County of San Francisco.
The decision by San Francisco's population health officer to omit these cancers from the Bayview Hunters Point cancer review would likely have been deliberate.
The Navy's decision to disband the RAB was opposed by the EPA. The Navy took action because RAB members failed to review cleanup documents, called for a Parcel A moratorium and unanimously supported a Civil Grand Jury investigation that confirmed the conflict of interest between the Health Department and Lennar.

Additionally, the Navy references twice the January 2009 unanimous vote to unseat Amy Brownell, PE, as DPH's environmental regulator after emails obtained via FOIA documented Brownell's collusion to shut down a community air monitor - HV12 - that registered astronomical exceedances in asbestos on a daily basis, along with a dialogue between Mark Ripperda of the EPA and a Lennar environmental consultant on "minimizing shut down days" and the health impacts of toxic dust exposures generated by the grading of the Parcel A hilltop.

In a letter dated March 2019 to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH, examined cancer incidence for 12 types of cancers linked to radiation exposure and found a 31 percent increase in lung cancer in men living in 94124 for the years 2008-2012.

The list of 12 cancers Aragón analyzed excluded a major group of cancers widely accepted to be caused by radiation exposure: cancers of head, neck and brain!

Cancers of the head, neck, brain, breast and respiratory system are also cancers linked to airborne exposure to toxic pollutants, according to World Trade Center Health Program entry guidelines. Thus, the decision by San Francisco's population health officer to omit these cancers from the Bayview Hunters Point cancer review would likely have been deliberate.

I believe the exclusion of brain cancers from the DPH 2019 analysis of cancers in Bayview Hunters Point was deliberate. By 2018, a front-page Chronicle investigation of San Francisco police officers stationed at Building 606 on the Hunters Point Shipyard had identified two officers who underwent neurosurgery and/or died from brain cancer.

By 2019, SFDPH was in the legal crosshair of a high-powered law group representing 400 officers. The detection of excess brain cancers linked to radiation exposure at the Hunters Point Shipyard opened the Health Department to public embarrassment, disrepute and a "deep pocket" legal recovery for criminal negligence in a wrongful death class action suit.

Wrongful death class action suit

She was as tall, smart and strong as any boy her age while growing up in the South Basin region of the Hunters Point Shipyard. After college, she began work as a physical therapist and started to "roll her ankle" over and over again. On medical evaluation, problems with how she walked and how well she could balance herself were noted and an MRI scan was ordered. It showed a rare tumor at the base of her brain called a brainstem glioma.
The 2020 urinary screening was remarkable for a young, fit and otherwise healthy woman. She had accumulated an enormous body burden of toxic chemicals that included "Group 1" cancer-causing heavy metals.
Everything started to move real fast in her life after that brain scan! Over the next weeks she received 30 rounds of radiation treatments that caused her brain to swell. Her weakness and imbalance worsened after radiation but over time she regained her strength and moved on with her life.

But she wondered why, out of all the people around her, she was afflicted with brain cancer! She was fit and healthy and ate a healthy diet - that is, until stress at work, nibbling, long hours and sleepless nights caused her to gain weight. She remembers growing up near Yosemite Slough, a muddy channel of water that runs west towards Third Street into the residential neighborhood where she spent her tomboy girlhood.

In 2016 the EPA sued the Navy, the City and County of San Francisco and over a dozen private polluting industries to secure funds for the clean-up and restoration of Yosemite Slough, and in so doing, designated it a federal Superfund site - the third in a one square mile region.

Yosemite Slough was once a spacious marine-based ecosystem, home to wildlife and multiple species of plants and animals. After years of toxic industrial waste, trash and debris generated by the runoff of the shipyard's chemical and radiation-contaminated shoreline and industrial landfill, lead, arsenic, PCBs and petroleum products were detected in a "stew" of contaminated mud.

She underwent biomonitoring evaluation and urinary screening in 2020, driven by lingering questions about the cause of her brainstem glioma and smoldering concerns she was being exposed to toxic chemicals. The urinary screening was remarkable for a young, fit and otherwise healthy woman. She had accumulated an enormous body burden of toxic chemicals that included "Group 1" cancer-causing heavy metals.

Nickel was detected in high concentrations along with cadmium - one of the most dangerous heavy metals. Toxic levels of aluminum, copper, iron, molybdenum, manganese, vanadium and chromium were also detected.

Almost all heavy metals cause cancer when present in toxic concentrations, but arsenic, cadmium, chromium and nickel are classified as Group 1 carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Heavy metals used in industrial areas increase the opportunity for heavy exposure due to environmental contamination and accumulation in the human body. Heavy metals are found in batteries, paint and pigments used in children's toys, jewelry and in vehicle emissions.

In 2002, 130 scientists from 16 countries met at the Conference on Metal Toxicity and Carcinogenesis to present research on metal-induced cancers. Heavy metals had been proven to alter genes in human and animal studies.

Researchers analyzed data to better understand how heavy metals cause toxicity and cancer. They found heavy metals induce "oxidative stress, DNA damage and cell death processes resulting in an increased risk of cancer and cancer-related diseases."

Gliomas arise as a result of genetic changes in glial cells. Several research studies document an increase in glioma incidence in people with prolonged exposure to heavy metals - specifically, lead, nickel, chromium and cadmium. Brainstem gliomas are also linked to ionizing radiation exposure.

Brainstem gliomas are even rarer in adults and comprise only 1-2 percent of all intracranial gliomas. While research shows the incidence of brain cancer is higher among whites, African Americans diagnosed with brain cancer face a 13 percent increased risk of death due to surgical outcomes.

I followed Saul Bloom down the enormous "rabbit hole" that remains of him in the historical archives of the Hunters Point Shipyard and discovered the connection between heavy metal exposure and gliomas. Bloom was 62 years old when he died of a malignant glioma in 2016. He was loved and hated, recognized and respected as founding director of Arc Ecology in San Francisco, where he agitated for environmental, ecological, economic and social justice.

Bloom will be remembered as the principal author of Proposition P - a voter-led initiative on the Nov. 7, 2000, municipal ballot on which 287,000 San Francisco voters said yes to the nation's first community acceptance action codifying cleanup at a federal Superfund site. Proposition P called for cleanup of the Hunters Point Shipyard to residential standards - the highest standard called for under the federal Superfund Act.

Bloom is singularly credited for shepherding the EPA designation of Yosemite Slough as a federal Superfund site. Arc Ecology was slated to lead the remediation and restoration of the slough in 2016 when Bloom died, "in the loving arms of friends and family," of a malignant glioma - no doubt induced by decades of exposure to radiation and heavy metals he publicly documents having been in contact with beginning in 1995 working alongside Astoria Metals at Hunters Point Shipyard Dry Dock 4.

Saul Bloom offers medical documentation and legal proof of his exposure to radiation and heavy metals at the Hunters Point Shipyard in the legal journal Verdict, Vol. 8, April 2002. In 1995, the Navy agreed to lease Dry Dock 4 to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and Arc Ecology for a project designed to bring ship recycling opportunities to laid off shipyard workers.

Arc Ecology conducted an environmental compliance verification that revealed "the dry dock was a source of both metal and chemical contamination and the failure of the Navy to provide San Francisco with a correct report on the status and leasability showed the project was off to a bad start and that there was much to be worried about." Saul Bloom was right: There was much to be worried about!

The Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program has conducted urinary toxicology screenings on residents who have been diagnosed with multipletumors and cancers arising in the brain, including a minister with a tumor of the pituitary gland diagnosed with an inoperable brainstem glioma.

The minister has never met a neighbor who lives two blocks away. She has been a Hunters Point homeowner for 20 years, and in 2020, she spoke courageously to the mainstream media after HP Biomonitoring conducted a urinary screening that revealed an enormous body burden of radioactive biomarkers and heavy metals in astounding concentrations that included cesium, gadolinium, nickel, rubidium, thallium, strontium, manganese and vanadium. Additionally, chromium, copper, zinc and magnesium were detected in elevated levels.

She walks her dog along the boundary of the shipyard's radiation-contaminated shoreline less than 500 feet from her house and served as an elected member of the Hunters Point Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board until the Navy disbanded it in 2009. She worked overnight shifts for the San Francisco Chronicle until disabled by chronic pain and multiple cancer and tumor diagnoses.

She underwent surgery for breast cancer followed by neurosurgery - twice - to excise tumors compressing her brain. An ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor examined her and obtained an MRI scan that showed tumors growing out of the auditory nerve in both ears.

Living in a South Basin home about six blocks from her is a neighbor she has never met. She is a physically commanding, professional woman with a doctorate in education who serves as a high-ranking administrator for the San Francisco Unified School district. She has owned two homes in Hunters Point.

In 1983, she was living in a modern development on the Hunters Point hilltop when she began experiencing symptoms of chronic asthma and underwent excision of a pulmonary nodule in her lung. That same year, she was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor in her brain and underwent neurosurgery performed by Charles Wilson, MD, founding chair of the internationally acclaimed UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery. I was her admitting intern in 1983.
High levels of thallium - a radioactive element so dangerous it was banned as a rat killer - are also detected.
Two years ago, she developed problems with balance, and an ENT doctor examined her and obtained an MRI scan that showed tumors growing out of the nerves of both ears - just like her Hunters Point neighbor who lives next door to the minister who was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor!

HP Biomonitoring conducted a urinary screening that detected arsenic in toxic concentrations. Arsenic has been classified as a Class 1 carcinogen by the International Agency of Research on Cancer and is associated with multiple tumors.

Gadolinium, cooper, manganese and rubidium are also detected in potentially toxic concentrations. High levels of thallium - a radioactive element so dangerous it was banned as a rat killer - are also detected.

Pathways of exposure at the Hunters Point Shipyard

To understand how toxins documented to be present at a federal Superfund system accumulate over time in the human body, let's take a look at several important graphs.

The EPA conceptual model depicts various pathways of exposure of known toxins to sensitive receptors in the environment, including families with small children and the ecosystem. The findings of a consistent profile of shipyard soil elements in multiple urinary screenings conducted on residents and workers within its one-mile perimeter can be best explained by airborne transmission.

Indeed, HP Biomonitoring screened a Hunters Point hilltop resident during an asthma attack triggered by dust she sees in her environment, detecting numerous soil elements in her urine corresponding to Parcel A soils.

Many of the soil elements detected in urinary screenings conducted by the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program are derived from the serpentinite bedrock of the Hunters Point hilltop that has been graded for years, creating a community-wide exposure independent of age, gender, race and ethnicity in shipyard workers and neighbors. All are documented by the Navy and the EPA to be chemicals or radionuclides of concern at the federal Superfund site.

The original pre-clean EPA Hazard Ranking Score for the Treasure Island Naval Station - Hunters Point Annex predicted an 80 percent likelihood that sensitive receptors nearby would be exposed to hazards at the federal Superfund site, and a 100 percent probability that sensitive receptors would be exposed by groundwater migration.

Thus, the EPA predicted with 100 percent certainty that in January 2019, when the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program launched, we would detect toxins from one EPA designated federal Superfund site. In 2021, we have spawned to a system of three Superfund sites.
SF Bay View Health and Environmental Science Editor Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, MD, PD, founder and principal investigator for the Hunters Point Community Biomonitoring Program, founding chair of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board's Radiological Subcommittee and contributor to the 2005 Draft Historical Radiological Assessment, can be reached at asumchai@gmail.com. Dr. Sumchai is medical director of Golden State MD Health & Wellness, a UCSF and Stanford trained author and researcher, and a member of the UCSF Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors.

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Brain cancer biomonitoring in Bayview Hunters Point

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The injustice continues with Ahimsa Porter Sumchai's ongoing exposure of the relentless suffering and death attacking the residents of Bayview Hunters Point - the result of the U.S. Navy's poisoning the land with no cleanup or accountability, handing it off to profiteering developers, years of government and corporate corruption and greed, and crimes against humanity, culminating in three federal Superfund sites now confirmed.

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Join Bayview Hunters Point Mothers and Fathers Committee, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, youth Vs. Apocalypse and other allies to demand a FULL cleanup of ALL
contamination at the Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund Site and adjacent areas.

Save the date - more details soon

WHEN

Saturday, February 12, 12 PM

WHERE

Meet at 3rd and Evans, San Francisco

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Demand Full Cleanup at Hunters Point, February 12

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Join Bayview Hunters Point Mothers and Fathers Committee, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, youth Vs. Apocalypse and other allies to demand a FULL cleanup of ALL contamination at the Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund Site and adjacent areas.

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Read the article, and/or scroll down after the introduction to watch a short video.

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Scroll down to towards the bottom to find information about protests and cleanup efforts.

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Historical Essay

by Eric Matsumoto, 2019

Treasure Island, sitting off the coast of San Francisco, is intimately linked with a history of nuclear activity. Starting in Word War II through the Cold War, the Navy operated a base on the island. There, the Navy hosted nuclear war academies to prepare sailors for nuclear and chemical warfare and also used the base to clean contaminated ships and dispose of waste. In the 1990s the naval base was closed and transferred to civilian control and today, many civilians, especially the poor and formerly homeless, live on the island. However, Treasure Island's nuclear legacy resurfaced when radioactive materials were discovered, raising health and environmental concerns. Treasure Island has become embroiled in an ongoing controversy surrounding redevelopment, affordable housing, environmental racism, and an ongoing scandal about mishandled cleanup practices at contaminated sites and the subsequent denial and cover-up by authorities.

Aerial view of Treasure Island that sits off the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland.

Photo: C. Huang, courtesy sf.curbed

Treasure Island sits just off the coast of San Francisco along the Bay Bridge, connecting San Francisco and Oakland. The 400-acre artificial island was originally built to host the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition. The Exposition was designed to highlight San Francisco and California as the gateway to the Pacific and celebrate the city as a cultural, political, and social hub.

The island was then considered as a potential site for a new airport, but the idea was soon abandoned due to other, more pressing concerns. In 1941, with the onset of World War II, the Navy took control of the island through the use of eminent domain and established a naval base and facility. During the war, the island processed approximately 12,000 military personnel per day for service overseas (Former naval station treasure island).

US Navy sailors in protective suits learn radiation techniques aboard the USS Pandemonium when it was used as a training ship.

Photo: The Masthead, Oct. 18, 1968, National Archives and Records Administration, San Bruno, CA

During its time under Navy control until the 1990s, Treasure Island served as an important strategic location, but perhaps more importantly it became intertwined with the history of nuclear research and development. This history links Treasure Island with several other islands in the Pacific, located 4,600 miles away (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). Starting in 1946, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons on the atolls of the Marshall Islands. This "Pacific Proving Ground" became a laboratory where the military tested nuclear technological developments (Dillon, 2018). In "Operation Crossroads," two atomic bombs were exploded over Bikini Atoll. Contaminated ships stationed at Bikini Atoll that had been drenched in radioactive fallout steamed across the Pacific into naval bases on the West Coast, where half a dozen ended up at Treasure Island according to Naval archives (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). There the ships were decontaminated, dismantled, repaired and, in some cases, used for educational purposes. One such ship, the USS Independence, was so dangerously radioactive that it was sunk off the coast of San Francisco near the Farallon Islands in 1951 (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014).

As the United States prepared for the possibility of nuclear warfare, Treasure Island became the site of several nuclear war academies and training schools, often dealing with radioactive materials including radium, plutonium, and cesium 137 (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). The island's damage control school sought to teach sailors methods for radiological protection and prepare them for atomic, chemical, and biological warfare (Dillon, 2018). The USS Pandemonium acted as a training vessel where radioactive materials were used to simulate nuclear fallout and sailors would wander the decks in rubber protective suits and learn to use Geiger counters (Dillon, 2018). Sailors also went on "treasure hunts" where they searched for buried radioactive objects that were planted as part of a training exercise (Harvey, 2019). Until the 1960s, the Navy also used to dispose of their radioactive materials and equipment in solid waste disposal areas, a technical term for large garbage pits on the island (Johnston, 2017).

The US Navy stationary training ship USS Pandemonium at US Naval Station Treasure Island. Radioactive materials were placed on the ship and used to simulate nuclear fallout and train sailors in radioactive detection and cleanup. The ship was built in 1957, used until 1969, and finally demolished in 1996.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In 1993, the Department of Defense selected the Treasure Island base for closure (Dillon, 2018). On September 30, 1997, the Naval Station at Treasure Island officially closed as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, which sought to increase efficiency by closing military installations as the Cold War ended (Former naval station treasure island). The island was then turned over to the City of San Francisco and then to the Treasure Island Development Authority (Former naval station treasure island).

The Navy and their contractors set about dismantling and cleaning up the old base and preparing it to transfer to civilian control. This cleanup included dealing with the nuclear history of the island and the radioactive wastes left behind. In 2007, after many civilian residents were already living on Treasure Island, Robert McLean, a specialist working for New World Environmental, was assigned to conduct a survey of radiation. Despite the Navy's assurances that the island was safe, McLean discovered a surprising amount of radioactive materials. He recounts, "We picked up readings from inside the truck, without even getting out of the vehicle" (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). He reported "finding radium pieces that emitted enough radium for a person at close range to receive, in an hour, five times the maximum radiation a nuclear worker is allowed to absorb in a year" (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). While the readings were not high enough to be sure to cause harm, they were certainly alarming. McLean tried to report his findings but was fired for not having adequately protected himself from the radiation. Company President Don Wadsworth stated that the Navy required the company to fire McLean or risk losing its contract (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). Instead of addressing the issue, the discovery set off a conflict between agencies and organizations with different stakes on Treasure Island.

Typical warning sign on fence separating residential area from radiation-contaminated areas on Treasure Island (this photo was taken in 2012).

Photo: Chris Carlsson

The Navy and their contractors continued to deny that Treasure Island was unsafe or that the cleanup had been mishandled while state health officials began to push for more investigations. Some city officials also downplayed the significance of any findings, possibly worried that concerns might risk slowing down future development as it had in other potentially contaminated areas around California (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). According to records, the Navy was warned of potential contamination and chastised for their waste disposal processes but did little to address these concerns. The Navy and the state's toxics agency have continued to reassure residents that there is minimal risk and that the cleanup was going smoothly, despite further discoveries of radioactive waste and contamination, including the discovery of radioactive cesium 137 in 2013 (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). Residents have thus been unaware of the extent of the potential health risks.

Another site, just across the Bay Bridge sitting along the waterfront of San Francisco, closely mirrors Treasure Island's story. That site is Hunter's Point Shipyard. Carol Harvey, who writes for the SF Bayview and one of the few reporters who covers Treasure Island, refers to them as "Siamese twins" (Harvey, 2019). Following "Operation Crossroads," where naval ships were subjected to radioactive fallout, these ships not only found their way to Treasure Island but also to Hunter's Point where they were cleaned, contaminating many sites. The shipyard was also home to a nuclear defense laboratory that conducted radioactive experiments (Myers, Wagner, Witte, & Villarreal, 2018). Similar to Treasure Island, Hunter's Point is also in the process of a radioactive cleanup and the site of planned redevelopment. However, one of the Navy's lead contractors for decontamination efforts was caught falsifying records and tests. As a result, two former Tetra Tech supervisors were later sentenced to prison and Tetra Tech was subsequently sued by the government (Myers, Wagner, Witte, & Villarreal, 2018). The story picked up news coverage and became a major scandal, thanks to the efforts of grassroots activists and whistleblowers within the company that came forward to report mishandling of the cleanup (Harvey, 2019).

While Treasure Island and Hunters Point seem like twin entities, Hunters Point has received much greater coverage than Treasure Island. And yet the two sites were exposed to a lot of the same radiation and are being cleaned by many of the same companies and agencies. In an interview, Harvey claims, "They find one radiological object on Hunter's Point and the news blows up, but they find 1280 objects on Treasure Island and there's complete silence. The media doesn't write about it at all." (Harvey, 2019) In fact, according to Harvey, there has also been a media blackout on the subject. The Chronicle and the Examiner have largely ignored Treasure Island and most officials downplay any health risks posed by the situation. Harvey argues that many powerful players have a financial stake in the redevelopment of Treasure Island (Harvey, 2019). According to Harvey, "Dianne Feinstein, the senator from California, Nancy Pelosi, who is the representative of California, Willie Brown, the former mayor [of San Francisco] and the Navy all stand to gain financially - personally, financially - from the redevelopment of Treasure Island." (Harvey, 2019) Such politicians advocated strongly for redevelopment and some have family or business ties to the corporations overseeing development, including the developer Lennar Corporation. Some activists have also accused them of preventing investigations into falsification of reports of the cleanup by Tetra Tech (United Public Workers for Action, 2018). The redevelopment companies, agencies, and housing authorities themselves also have incentives to cover up or downplay anything that would prevent the cleanup and subsequent redevelopment from moving forward. Harvey describes the situation as a "huge scandal that is being covered up" (Harvey, 2019). According to Harvey, Treasure Island, along with Hunters Point, is technically designated a Superfund site, meaning it has been classified as a polluted location requiring long-term cleanup of hazardous materials. Superfund sites are the most dangerous, polluted sites in the country. However, "if you if you look up the National Priorities List of Superfund Sites, you try to find a Superfund number or the mention of Treasure Island on the National Priorities List of Superfund Sites - which is online - you will not find Treasure Island there" (Harvey, 2019). Such practices make it hard for residents to be informed about the situation and potential risks of where they are living.

Protesters at Hunters Point protest the Lennar Corporation who is involved in the redevelopment there and on Treasure Island. Activists at Hunters Point were crucial in exposing the contamination and mishandled cleanup of Hunters Point.

Photo: courtesy GreenAction

At the time of the last census in 2010, it was reported that over 2000 civilian residents lived on Treasure Island (Johnston, 2017). Given the severity of San Francisco's housing shortage, it is an attractive location for its low rents. Harvey says that the island is "one of the last holdouts for anything approaching affordable housing" in San Francisco. The City also viewed it as a potential way to address homelessness. Starting in 1997, the City effectively moved the homeless - mainly poor people of color - from the city streets to toxic Treasure Island. (Harvey, 2017) Many formerly homeless residents received subsidies from HUD and other organizations that sponsored the housing programs, and were able to live on the island. Many of these programs are found under the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative (TIHDI), an umbrella organization that provides services to the homeless. Due to these programs, the island is disproportionately composed of poor and marginalized groups. Three-fourths of the residents are people of color. Harvey calls this "one of the most egregious cases of environmental racism in the United States." The poor and marginalized groups face the environmental and health consequences posed by the radioactive contamination and have few options for recourse (Harvey, 2019). Since the initial report by McLean in 2007, radioactive objects have been found in playgrounds, in neighborhoods, and in backyards (Smith & Mieszkowski, 2014). The fence that separates civilian residences from the solid waste disposal areas is within feet of ongoing cleanup activities. Some residents, many of whom Harvey has met in her visits to the island, have also shown signs of illness, likely linked to the contamination. Given the status of many formerly homeless residents, who must report to social workers and rely on homeless programs for their welfare, few residents speak out for fear of eviction or losing support. (Harvey, 2019) Coupled with efforts to cover up or downplay any potential hazards, Treasure Island residents are often left with no voice.

In 2011, the City approved a new development for the project that would transform Treasure Island and create "8,000 new homes, 500 hotel rooms, 300 acres of parks, 140,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of office space" (Robinson, 2017). The new project is supposed to take advantage of sustainable and green designs, for example by incorporating a solar farm and positioning buildings to soak up warmth efficiently (Torres, 2016). The new project is also set to be a mixed-income neighborhood and with many more public amenities. While the project has its supporters, it also has its detractors. With the new redevelopment, the tenants of Treasure Island - largely poor and people of color - are at risk of eviction and will likely be forced out. Having already suffered the health consequences, these residents will be displaced once again (Harvey, 2019). A resident of Treasure Island, Ben Reyes, worries about what will happen when "the city demolishes his apartment to make way for new development" in which case "he's likely to get kicked out, with very little help" (Johnston, 2017). The estimated project completion is in 2032 (Torres, 2016).

A model of what the planned redevelopment of Treasure Island will look like, including new homes, buildings, and public amenities featuring sustainable urban planning.

Image: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Works Cited

Dillon, L. (2018). The navy's legacy on treasure island Former naval station treasure island Harvey, C. (2017, Sept 1,). Death camp treasure island. San Francisco Bayview

Harvey, C. (2019). In Matsumoto E. (Ed.), Treasure island interview

Island history Johnston, A. (2017). [ https://www.kalw.org/post/hey-area-should-we-still-be-worried-about-radioactive-waste-treasure-island Hey area: Should we still be worried about radioactive waste on treasure island?]

Myers, S., Wagner, L., Witte, R. & Villarreal, M. (2018). Hunters point contamination, cleanup and development.

Robinson, M. (2017). [ https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-treasure-island-san-francisco-transformation-2017-8 This former radioactive-waste site off the coast of San Francisco is turning into a $5 billion housing development].

Smith, M., & Mieszkowski, K. (2014). Treasure island cleanup exposes navy's mishandling of its nuclear past.

Torres, B. (2016, Jun 24,). Treasure island is set to become San Francisco's new $5 billion neighborhood. San Francisco Business Times

United Public Workers For Action. (2018). On Father's Day: Pelosi & Feinstein partners in crime at Hunters Point & Treasure Island.

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Historical Essay by Eric Matsumoto, 2019 Treasure Island, sitting off the coast of San Francisco, is intimately linked with a history of nuclear activity. Starting in Word War II through the Cold War, the Navy operated a base on the island.

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Rally for Environmental Justice for Hunters Point and Treasure Island, April 22

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Join a People’s Earth Day rally at San Francisco City Hall to call for environmental justice for Bayview Hunters Point and Treasure Island residents. Demand that Mayor Breed and the SF Board of Supervisor:

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Treasure Island is located in San Francisco Bay and is a man-made island filled with beautiful views, but on this Island it is what you cannot see that might harm you. Formerly the site for a US Navy Base, the land is contaminated with radioactive and hazardous wastes from military operations.

In the San Francisco Bay, gentrification is forcing low income people of color to live next to contaminated areas and Treasure Island is just one example. Treasure Island's residents are living in subsidized housing just feet from toxic and radioactive waste, this is a violation of environmental human rights and justice.

Even with the presence of contamination, inadequate cleanup, and the threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change, city officials and mega-developers want to move forward with their mixed-use development project and build upscale housing and businesses on Treasure Island. Greenaction is working together with residents to defend their rights to live in a toxic-free and safe environment.

Relocation for Treasure Island Residents Now

Greenaction is working with residents in the fight for relocation from their toxic and radioactive contaminated community - and for improved cleanup of the contamination sites threatened by rising sea levels. The community of Treasure Island is rising to defend their right to life. It is a violation of human rights that our government allows low income people of color to live in subsidized housing next to, and likely on top of, radioactive and toxic waste at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. We stand with the residents of Treasure Island and will support them as they move forward with this battle.

Important Documents
Factsheets, Reports, Action Alerts and Flyers

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Treasure Island is located in San Francisco Bay and is a man-made island filled with beautiful views, but on this Island it is what you cannot see that might harm you. Formerly the site for a US Navy Base, the land is contaminated with radioactive and hazardous wastes from military operations.

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CBE ADVOCATES FOR A JUST TRANSITION FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO BUILDING A NEW HEALTHIER AND THRIVING ECONOMY

CBE has worked to build a healthy Richmond for over 20 years. Richmond is a working class community, predominantly people of color, and it's been impacted by decades of environmental blight and economic divestment. Richmond is home to the 3,000 acre Chevron Oil refinery - the largest polluter in the area and the top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in the state.

Refinery pollution contributes to high rates of asthma, cancer, and heart disease among Richmond residents. CBE's Richmond Health Survey identified the chemical exposures eating away at the public health of this community.

The Chevron refinery has compiled a long record of safety and pollution violations. The latest major incident occurred on August 6 th, 2012 where an explosion sent 15,000 residents and 19 workers to the hospital. Federal and state investigators discovered the root causes: processing of heavier (dirty) crude oil and management failures in refinery safety and maintenance. CBE was the first responder fighting for worker and community health and safety ( news archive of this event here).

Chevron has incessantly flexed its financial muscle, attempting to expand its Richmond refinery. The expansion would allow processing of dirtier crude oil, which would mean even more pollution and a refinery more prone to accidents.

CBE lawsuits in 2009 and 2014 (still pending) successfully protected Richmond from almost 1 million additional tons of GHGs and other toxins from being released.

In the face of Chevron's pollution, CBE and residents are creating a healthier Richmond by working towards a greener and more democratic local economy powered by renewable energy.

On July 10 th, 2014, CBE and allies won key conditions ensuring the expansion project doesn't expand threats to the health and safety of Richmond. The Richmond Planning Commission approved a plan to reduce pollution from the refinery, comprehensively replace aging pipes, which will dramatically increase safety, and calls on Chevron to invest in green jobs and clean energy projects for the Richmond and San Pablo areas.

Energy and Climate Action Plan

Despite the presence of the Chevron refinery-the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter California-Richmond is still one of the first cities in the U.S. to include an Energy and Climate Change Element in its General Plan update. In 2009, the City of Richmond completed its first ever greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Based on the City of Richmond's analysis of greenhouse gases inventory, we noticed that the city did not address reducing industrial and commercial sources of emissions, which comprised over 80% of the City's total GHG emissions. CBE is still working on Chevron accountability to reduce emissions and invest in clean energy at the refinery and will reduce local pollution.
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Community Choice Energy

In 2011, a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) motion was introduced by City Councilmember Tom Butt to conduct a feasibility study with Marin Energy Authority and City of Richmond consultants. CBE participated in the first community meetings on CCA and spoke at the Richmond City Council. CCA would build local renewable energy, local jobs, and strong energy efficient measures.
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CBE has worked to build a healthy Richmond for over 20 years. Richmond is a working class community, predominantly people of color, and it's been impacted by decades of environmental blight and economic divestment. Richmond is home to the 3,000 acre Chevron Oil refinery - the largest polluter in the area and the top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in the state.

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Watch 20:41-23:00 (click on the Environmental Justice "chapter" below the video)

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Pollution and Prejudice in Bayview Hunters Point