EPA letter reveals Navy's downplay of radioactive soil in SF's Bayview

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A letter the EPA sent to the U.S. Navy in December reveals the Navy far understated just how much radioactive soil needs to be cleaned up at the Hunters Point Shipyard.

This week, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility published a letter to the Navy. In it, the EPA says they found 90 and 97 percent of the soil samples on two major land parcels suspect compared to the Navy, which only recommended resampling 15 and 49 percent of those samples.

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"They're dodging the truth," said Bradley Angel, Executive Director for Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice. "But it's time for accountability and better cleanup."

Angel has been working on the shipyard cleanup for more than a decade.

"This federal superfund site, one of the most contaminated sites in the nation is our San Francisco Bay, not just Bayview Hunters Point. It's leaking into the Bay," Angel added.

"It was clear that nobody wanted to answer questions," said Michelle Pierce, Executive Director for Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates.

On Wednesday night, she attended what she thought would be a presentation and question-answer session from the Navy, but that never happened.

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"They had a corner station, a desk set up with a laptop and you could do a video public statement and that's what they called giving public comment," Pierce told ABC7 News.

Pierce also says City Hall needs to take interest in the health of the Bayview Hunters Point community, not just the transfer of the contaminated land for more housing.

Supervisor Malia Cohen said Thursday that she'll be introducing a hearing to look into ongoing allegations of mismanagement and false tests.

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