San Francisco County Grand Jury
• 2021-2022
Buried Problems and a Buried Process: The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in a Time of Climate Change
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 6 findings
F1
In the Hunters Point Shipyard, shallow groundwater rising with sea level rise and residual hazardous substances pose serious but poorly understood risks that should concern the City and County of San Francisco, the Navy, future developers, future property owners, and future residents.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
By September 1st, 2022, the Mayor and/or the City Administrator should direct the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning, in collaboration with the Department of Public Health, to commission and manage an independent, third-party study of Hunters Point Shipyard to predict the future shallow groundwater surface, groundwater flows, and potential interactions of groundwater with hazardous materials and planned modifications to the site under multiple sea level rise scenarios. (F1) 37
R2
The Mayor and the Board of Supervisors should collaborate to provide funding for the study recommended in R1, in the Fiscal Year 22-23 budget, or by October 1st, 2022. (F1)
F2
The Federal Facility Agreement signatories have neglected to investigate how groundwater rise may lessen the effectiveness of the Navy’s cleanup at the Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund site.
Related Recommendations (2)
R7
By March 1st, 2023, the Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee should prepare a report on its recommended requests for the Federal Facility Agreement signatories based on the groundwater study recommended in R1, and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor, and the Department of Public Health. (F2) 38 REQUIRED AND INVITED RESPONSES
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budget or by October 1st, 2022, and in future budgets. (F3) R6: From October 1st, 2022 and going forward, whenever there are outstanding questions and requests to the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, and especially during the lead-up to major cleanup document releases, a member of the management chain overseeing the Hunters Point Shipyard Program in the Department of Public Health should appear before the Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee at regular intervals to report on discussions with the Federal Facility Agreement signatories. (F6) R7: By March 1st, 2023, the Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee should prepare a report on its recommended requests for the Federal Facility Agreement signatories based on the groundwater study recommended in R1, and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor, and the Department of Public Health. (F2) 38 REQUIRED AND INVITED RESPONSES Required Responses Pursuant to California Penal Code §933 and §933.05, the Jury requests responses to the following Findings and Recommendations from these City institutions. From the Office of the Mayor : F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7 From the San Francisco Board of Supervisors : F4, F5, F6 R2, R3, R7 Invited Responses The Jury requests responses to the following Recommendations from these City departments From the Office of the City Administrator: R1 From the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning: R1 From the Department of Public Health: R4, R6 39
F3
The process governing the cleanup at the Shipyard encompasses decisions and value judgments that matter to all San Franciscans, but the extremely technical nature of the process inhibits City leaders and citizens alike from understanding it, or even knowing what is at stake.
Related Recommendations (4)
R3
By October 1st, 2022, the Board of Supervisors should pass an ordinance to create a permanent Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee that includes the Controller or their designee, relevant technical experts from the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Public Works, and representatives from other relevant City departments, to perform due diligence on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco into the Federal Facility Agreement signatories’ decision-making, and to prepare an agenda of questions and requests to be communicated to the signatories by the Department of Public Health in advance of major cleanup document releases. (F4, F5,
R4
By October 1st, 2022, the Mayor should direct the Department of Public Health to support the Cleanup Oversight Committee in its due diligence function by providing explanatory materials and briefings about cleanup governance documents and the discourse among Federal Facility Agreement signatories, as well as additional materials at the request of the Committee. (F3)
R5
By October 1st, 2022, the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors should collaborate to ensure that funding is available to generate the material specified in R4, in the Fiscal Year 22-23 budget or by October 1st, 2022, and in future budgets. (F3)
R22-23
budget or by October 1st, 2022, and in future budgets. (F3) R6: From October 1st, 2022 and going forward, whenever there are outstanding questions and requests to the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, and especially during the lead-up to major cleanup document releases, a member of the management chain overseeing the Hunters Point Shipyard Program in the Department of Public Health should appear before the Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee at regular intervals to report on discussions with the Federal Facility Agreement signatories. (F6) R7: By March 1st, 2023, the Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee should prepare a report on its recommended requests for the Federal Facility Agreement signatories based on the groundwater study recommended in R1, and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor, and the Department of Public Health. (F2) 38 REQUIRED AND INVITED RESPONSES Required Responses Pursuant to California Penal Code §933 and §933.05, the Jury requests responses to the following Findings and Recommendations from these City institutions. From the Office of the Mayor : F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7 From the San Francisco Board of Supervisors : F4, F5, F6 R2, R3, R7 Invited Responses The Jury requests responses to the following Recommendations from these City departments From the Office of the City Administrator: R1 From the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning: R1 From the Department of Public Health: R4, R6 39
F4
Despite the enormous stakes of the process governing the Shipyard cleanup, there is little understanding of the process throughout the City, or even that the City can influence this process.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
The City and County of San Francisco is poorly prepared to discover new information pertinent to the Shipyard cleanup, to proactively look for risks and problems overlooked or under-prioritized by the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, or to develop responses to new information or problems..
No recommendations for this finding
F6
No proactive mechanism exists for the City and County of San Francisco to articulate its interests and concerns about the cleanup for the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, nor does a mechanism exist for the City to monitor progress towards obtaining satisfactory responses to such interests and concerns from the signatories.
Related Recommendations (2)
R6
From October 1st, 2022 and going forward, whenever there are outstanding questions and requests to the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, and especially during the lead-up to major cleanup document releases, a member of the management chain overseeing the Hunters Point Shipyard Program in the Department of Public Health should appear before the Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee at regular intervals to report on discussions with the Federal Facility Agreement signatories. (F6)
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budget or by October 1st, 2022, and in future budgets. (F3) R6: From October 1st, 2022 and going forward, whenever there are outstanding questions and requests to the Federal Facility Agreement signatories, and especially during the lead-up to major cleanup document releases, a member of the management chain overseeing the Hunters Point Shipyard Program in the Department of Public Health should appear before the Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee at regular intervals to report on discussions with the Federal Facility Agreement signatories. (F6) R7: By March 1st, 2023, the Hunters Point Shipyard Cleanup Oversight Committee should prepare a report on its recommended requests for the Federal Facility Agreement signatories based on the groundwater study recommended in R1, and deliver that report to the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor, and the Department of Public Health. (F2) 38 REQUIRED AND INVITED RESPONSES Required Responses Pursuant to California Penal Code §933 and §933.05, the Jury requests responses to the following Findings and Recommendations from these City institutions. From the Office of the Mayor : F1, F2, F3, F4, F5 R1, R2, R4, R5, R6, R7 From the San Francisco Board of Supervisors : F4, F5, F6 R2, R3, R7 Invited Responses The Jury requests responses to the following Recommendations from these City departments From the Office of the City Administrator: R1 From the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning: R1 From the Department of Public Health: R4, R6 39
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 35In the early part of this century, there was little anticipation of how much could go wrong at the Hunters Point Shipyard. No one imagined that the low-lying, more polluted parcels would still be unready for transfer to the City in 2022. No one thought the City would need to be so vigilant in the cleanup process for so long, or that the City would need to put in place a mechanism to ensure such vigilance. In the course of the Jury’s investigation, we did not identify any City department that was failing to perform the tasks expected of it with regard to the cleanup. But thirty years in, it is clear that those expectations are much too low. Plans have gone terribly awry; serious new issues have been overlooked, and far too few people have been paying attention. As the cleanup continues for another decade or more, more things will go wrong, more mistakes will be made, and the situation will keep changing. The Jury began this investigation by looking at the risks that rising groundwater poses in the Shipyard. Rising groundwater should be the first issue the awakened City successfully takes to the Federal Facility Agreement signatories for action. It should not be the last. The next time something goes wrong, the next time something is overlooked, the City must be prepared to engage fully––for the sake of those who live in Bayview Hunters Point today, and for all the individuals and families who will live in the Shipyard over the next century. 35
No Responses Found 2
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San Francisco County Board of Supervisors
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