The SLAM Coalition of Bayview Hunters Point Community Organizations Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, 650 Poydras Street, Suite 2523, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 March 21, 2011 US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460 San Francisco, CA 94105 San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee San Francisco City Hall, Room 200 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102 FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Stephanie Douglas 450 Golden Gate Avenue, 13th Floor San Francisco, CA 94102-9523 The San Francisco Board of Supervisors San Francisco City Hall, Room 244 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102 California State Attorney General Kamala Harris 455 Golden Gate Ave# 11000 San Francisco, CA 94102-7004 San Francisco Public Health Director Barbara Garcia 101 Grove Street San Francisco, CA 94102 EPA Region IX Administrator Jared Bloomenfeld 75 Hawthorne Street Subject: Emails Show Conspiracy by EPA Region 9 and San Francisco Department of Health Officials to Cover-up Dangers of the Lennar Corp.'s Development Project at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard We bring to your attention the enclosed report that exposes the email correspondence between Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Amy Brownell, Environmental Engineer, San Francisco Public Health Department, and employees and consultants of the Lennar Corporation. The email correspondence reveals a conspiracy to manipulate facts regarding asbestos exposures from activities taking place at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and present false claims in support of the Lennar Corporation's redevelopment plan. The email correspondence was obtained through a public records request. Given the severity of this matter, we urge you to take swift action that includes the following: • Launch a full investigation into public corruption involved in the Lennar Corporation redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. • Remove Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and any other EPA employee found to be involved in the cover-up, from their roles in the Hunters Point Navy Shipyard project. Place a moratorium on all activities that fall under the authority of the EPA Project Manager at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and conduct a comprehensive investigation of past and present environmental hazards and public health threats associated with both remediation and redevelopment activities. Remove Amy Brownell, Environmental Engineer in the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and any other city c. employee involved in the cover-up, from their involvement in the Hunters Point Shipyard Project. """' ~ ~ • • ~ - f-:E ~ c..n~ l>:oo. z XJ ~~,.,, XJU'I (") l>c:~ z-,,< .z:a v;::ioo n!: Cc: United States Senator Diane Feinstein United States Senator Barbara Boxer -. Ol'Tlrrt <..) 0(,1') 0 O'\ XI r.n 1 The SLAM Coalition of Bayview Hunters Point Community Organizations Advocates for Environmental Human Rights 650 Poydras Street, Suite 2523, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 Emails Show Conspiracy by EPA Region 9 and San Francisco Health Department Officials to Cover-up Dangers of the Lennar Corp.'s Development Project at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Officials Suppress Data Showing Asbestos Exposures in the Bayview Hunters Point Community Amy Brownell, Environmental Engineer San Francisco Department of Public Health Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager March 21, 2011 Since 2006 when heavy grading and excavation began by the Lennar Corporation at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, residents of the Bayview Hunters Point community, a majority African American, Samoan and Latino low-income community, suffered from health problems including nose bleeds, rashes and headaches that they believed were caused by asbestos and heavy metals being unearthed from these actions. Residents complained en mass to the EPA, the San Francisco Health Department, and other federal, state, and local environmental and health agencies demanding testing of the community and regulatory enforcement. However, little did residents know that officials in the Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 and the San Francisco Department of Public Health were conspiring with the Lennar Corporation to conceal the health threats of asbestos laden dust. Email correspondence obtained through a public records request now reveal that Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and Amy Brownell, Environmental Engineer at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, used their offices to manipulate environmental data and create false reports in support of the Lennar Corporation's plan for a major redevelopment project on the shipyard site. Their numerous emails to employees and consultants of the Lennar Corporation show a concerted effort to conceal asbestos exposures in order to avoid the shut-down of redevelopment activities. Additional email correspondence indicates a conspiracy to create a justification for the Lennar Corporation's redevelopment project to move forward. See excerpts of emails below. EPA Email Excerpts: Asbestos Exposure Cover-Up May 14, 2009 3:37 pm From: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 To: Jeff Austin, Lennar Corp. Employee "Hi, Jeff, as you've probably heard, the NO/ [Nation of Islam]* is now beating on our door about asbestos. 11 *Note: The Nation of Islam operates a school for children ages 3 to 18 that is located next to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in the Bayview Hunters Point community. June 24, 2009 10:00 am From: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 To: Rob Balas, Principal of Iris Environmental, Inc., Consultant to the Lennar Corp. RE: Asbestos data flow chart call - 6/22 "we would like to take Lennar up on their offer to analyze the additional 8 samples from Lennar monitors so that we can do 16 filters from the City. This will also help lower the 'worst case risk' by including more samples with lower counts. 11 Oct. 28, 2009 1:26 pm 1 From: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 To: Rob Baias, Principal of Iris Environmental, Inc., Consultant to the Lennar Corp. RE: Hunter's Point data reanalysis "We're meeting with the BAAQMD [Bay Area Air Quality Municipal District] and the City on November 3, and would like to meet with you soon thereafter to discuss the details and talking points. I prefer to keep our message as simple as possible and stay away from health assessments and from shut-down days. Something along the lines of: Our analysis using more detailed methodology showed that there are fewer 'health risks fibers'* present than what the Air District assumed in setting the trigger levels.* Thus the Air District's methods and levels are appropriate and we will defer all regulatory issues concerning asbestos to the District. "I'm not the asbestos expert, so is this a true statement?" *Note: "Health risk fibers" refer to a concentration of asbestos that can cause adverse health effects. "Trigger levels" refer to the standards set by the Bay Area Air Quality Municipal District that require the shut-down of redevelopment activities by the Lennar Corp. at the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard when an air monitor detects 16,000 or more asbestos fibers in a cubic meter. May 29, 2009 4:16 pm From: Rob Balas, Principal of Iris Environmental, Inc., Consultant to the Lennar Corp. To: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Subject: RE: Hunters Point - Follow-up to Tuesday's conference call "... if we proceed with the limited sampling to check the correlation between the two different counting rules as it pertains to the fiber distributions, it is unlikely that we would use this initial evaluation to reach publicly communicable risk conclusionssay by using any found correlation to draw risk conclusions about current AH ERA* dataset. To make any conclusions, a more robust, statistically significant sampling would need to be conducted. Even then, robust risk conclusions, ready for public consumption, may be impossible without activity-based sampling.* Ultimately this will be a policy management decision." *Notes: AH ERA stands for Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act and refers to one method of counting asbestos fibers in a given sample of dust. Bayview Hunters Point residents repeatedly called on the EPA and the Health Department to conduct activity-based sampling, which is more statistically representative of actual human exposure to asbestos fibers. The EPA and the Health Department never complied with this request. San Francisco Department of Public Health Email Excerpts: Asbestos Exposure Cover-Up Jan. 19, 2007 8:26 am From: David Rizzolo, San Francisco Department of Public Health To: Amy Brownell, San Francisco Department of Public Health Cc: Raj iv Batia, San Francisco Department of Public Health Subject: Re: Fwd: worst case exposure assumption "there may be other problems with reanalyzing worker exposure samples by TEM. * you would have to get the okay from Gordon Ball. the big problem i see is that measurements that were low by PCM* often turn out to be very high when reanalyzed by TEM. this is not a problem with OSHA because OSHA does not recognize TEM measurements. however, explaining to workers what this new information means for them can be a problem (pandora's box). that may be a bigger problem in reality than the one were are trying to address. "in general, i see that in trying to put together a case to argue that exposure was "low," were are legitimizing the allegations. it seems to me that the available facts are on our side, so we should stay away from trying to create more data. more data might not help us. we can talk more about this directly." *Note: TEM stands for "transmission electron microscopy" and PCM stands for "phase contrast microscopy." Both are methods used in microscopes to count the asbestos fibers. Oct. 13, 2006 3:52 pm 2 From: Amy Brownell, San Francisco Department of Public Health To: Sheila Koebuck and Jeff Austin, Lennar Corp. Employees Subject: very, very rough draft "I'm sure you will also want to change my wording on how I portray the problems, lack of monitors, etc. Go ahead and change any way you want. I may change some of it back but I'm willing to read your versions. as noted, don't bother adding the worker monitoring information. I don't want to use it. I understand your sensitivity on this issue and if specifically asked in a public meeting, I will be willing to verbally state the facts related to worker monitoring. But I'm not willing to make it part of this narrative." EPA Email Excerpt: Concoct Reason for the Lennar Redevelopment Plan to Move Forward Nov. 3, 2009 12:10 PM From: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 To: Rob Balas, Principal of Iris Environmental, Inc., Consultant to the Lennar Corp., and Amy Brownell, Subject: EPA's preliminary results and conclusions from asbestos slide re-analysis Hi Rob, here are the main talking points that we will be presenting at this afternoon's meeting. You've been a careful reviewer of my language in the past - do you see any problems in how I've worded any of these points? Nov. 4, 2009 9:25 am From: Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 To: Rob Balas, Principal of Iris Environmental, Inc., Consultant to the Lennar Corp. RE: HP [Hunters Point] asbestos re-analysis conclusions (2).doc. "Thanks Rob, I appreciate your input and yes, you can share this internally with Lennar. These were talking points for yesterday's meeting with the City and the Air District. ... I need a different focus for meeting with both the NO/ [Nation of Islam, administrator of the school located next to Hunters Point Shipyard] and the greater community. The conclusions for general communication will probably stay similar, with one addition, a statement that EPA sees no reason to stop the development.* "I'm not sure how to create a basis for the conclusions however, for the general public. The information in the first set of points is appropriate for government/industry types, but I'm searching for a way to justify that the development is acceptable · without getting into details of risk assessment. Given NOl's sophistication, maybe we do have to provide more details than I hoped. I'm open to any written narrative or bullet list that you think might work. "While I'm not going to use the list you edited again, partially because of confusion it created for even informed people like you and Rajiv, *I'll try and clarify a few things so we're on the same page as we massage the message. ... My statement in the conclusion is ambiguous, because I presented a risk for single worst case earlier in my list, but am then assuming that an average of the data will result in a much lower risk, without actually calculating a risk. I can't use that logic for general communication for several reasons, one of which is because Christopher* will quickly point out that the highest level that we re-analyzed is not the highest level overall." *Notes: Following this email, Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager, repeatedly stated in public forums and meetings with local officials that EPA sees no reason to stop the Lennar Corp.'s redevelopment project at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Mr. Ripperda's statement served as justification for the City of San Francisco Planning Department to draft an Environmental Impact Report in support of the redevelopment plan by the Lennar Corp. and a majority of the County Board of Supervisors to approve the Environmental Impact Report. The people referenced in this email are Raj iv Bhatia, the Director of Occupational & Environmental Health in the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and Minister Christopher Muhammad, a community leader advocating for health protections from the Lennar Corp.'s redevelopment activities at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The Cozy Relationship Between Regulators and Industry Governmental statements that have downplayed the dangers of recent environmental disasters, such as the BP oil drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the exposures to radiation from nuclear reactors damaged by the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, have raised significant public distrust. Such distrust centers on the relationship that governmental regulators have with regulated industries. In the wake of the BP oil drilling disaster, President Obama blasted the "scandalously close relationship" he said has persisted between Big Oil and government regulators, and promised to end the "cozy relationship" between the oil industry and federal regulators. The email correspondence reveals that the cozy relationship also exists between 3 governmental regulators and developers. EPA Region 9 and San Francisco Public Health Department officials have developed a closely aligned relationship with the Lennar Corporation that is to the detriment of the Bayview Hunters Point community. The Bayview Hunters Point community is located in southeastern San Francisco. Residents of the.community and surrounding neighborhoods are predominantly people of color, who are disproportionately burdened with environmental hazards from the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund Site, industrial facilities, diesel rail and truck corridors, and substandard housing. These environmental hazards increased in 2000 when a brush fire at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard smoldered underground for several weeks, exposing nearby residents to toxic smoke and chemicals. Massive excavation and grading activities at the shipyard were conducted in 2006 and 2007 without proper air monitoring stations and pollution control measures, resulting in the release of asbestos laden dust. However, EPA and San Francisco Public Health Department officials have suppressed information about the full impact of these and other environmental hazards. Their unconscionable decision to manipulate data and present false reports constitute a blatant disregard for the human rights of people who live, work, and attend school in the Bayview Hunters Point community. Demand for Justice Based on the obtained email correspondence, a coalition of residents, environmental justice, and worker rights organizations are calling on FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Stephanie Douglas; and the California State Attorney General Kamala Harris to: • Launch a full investigation into public corruption involved in the Lennar Corporation redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The coalition calls on the US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to: • Remove Mark Ripperda, EPA Region 9 Remedial Project Manager of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and any other EPA employee found to be involved in the cover-up, from their roles in the Hunters Point Navy Shipyard project. • Place a moratorium on all activities that fall under the authority of the EPA Project Manager at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, and conduct a comprehensive investigation of past and present environmental hazards and public health threats associated with both remediation and redevelopment activities. The coalition calls on San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, the San Francisco Supervisors, and San Francisco Public Health Director Barbara Garcia: • Remove Amy Brownell, Environmental Engineer in the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and any other city employee involved in the cover-up, from their involvement in the Hunters Point Shipyard Project. • Launch a full investigation into public corruption involved in the Lennar Corporation redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The email correspondence obtained through a public records request is available at: www.cleanupnotcoverup.com. 4 2 3 4 5 CALIFORNIA SUPERJOR COURT 6 CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 7 9 In The Matter of the 2010-11 ) Civil Grand Jury of the City · ) And County of San Francisco ) . Finding Re: Final Grand Jury Report 10 The 2010-2011 Civil Grand Jury of the City-and County of San Francisco having 11 12 submitted its Final Report entitled, "Hunters Point Shipyard: A Shifting Landscape" a 13 copy of which is attached and marked as "Exhibit One" 14 15 The Court finds that this Final Report is in compliance with the Part IT, Title 4, of . the Penal Code, commencing with section 888. The Final Report reflects the investigative 16 work, findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Civil Grand Jury. It does not 17 18 19 reflect the investigative work, findings, conclusions or recommendations of the Superior Court or.any of its members. 20· 21 22 GOOD CAUSE APPEARING THEREFOR, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that a copy of the report is to be placed on file with the derk of the court and is to remain on file with the office of clerk of the court as provided in Penal Code section 93 3(b ). 23 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the attayhed report is to be kept confidential 24 25 26 - until said report is released to the public by the Civil Grand Jury of the Gity and County ·Of sa.Il Francisco. 27 June 28 j-?, 2011 _ KATHERINE FEINSTEIN ·PRESIDING JUD.GE HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD: A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE I. CIVIL GRAND JURY CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO .2010-2011 THE CIVIL GRAND JURY The Civil Grand Jury is a government oversight panel of volunteers who serve for one year. It makes findings and recommendations resulting from its investigations. Reports of the Civil Grand Jury do not identify individuals by name. Disclosure of Information about individuals interviewed by the jury is prohibited. California Penal Code, section 929 STATE LAW REQUIREMENT California Penal Code, section 933.05 Each published report includes a list of those public entities that are required to respond to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court within 60 to 90 days as specified. A copy must be sent to_ the Board of Supervisors. All responses are made available to the public .. For each finding the response must: 1) agree with the finding, or 2) disagree with it; wholly or partially, and explain why. As to each recommendation the responding party must report that: 1) the recommendation has been implemented, with a summary explanation; or 2) the recommendation has not been implemented but will be within a set timeframe as provided: or 3) the recommendation requires further analysis. The officer or agency head must define what additional study is needed. The Grand Jury expects a progress report within six months; or 4) the recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or reasonable, with an explanation. HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD: A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary 2 Background 3 The Hunters Point Promise 3 The Plan's Hazards 4 To Cap or Not to Cap 6 The Mantra of Jobs, Jobs; Jobs 8 Redevelopment Funding 10 Conclusion 10 Findings 11 Recommendations 12 Method of Investigation 13 Glossary 13 Endnotes 14 Appendix A 15 Response Matrix 16 1 HUNTERS' POINT HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD: A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE "The development of the Hunter's Point Shipyard .. : is one of the most important development projects in the city's history ... to transform the blighted shipyard and bring new housing, parks and thousands of jobs to the southeast community." 1 Mayor Gavin Newsom January 2011 SUMMARY The 2010-2011 San Francisco County's Civil Grand Jury (Jury) reviewed the Hunters Point Shipyard Redevelopment Project in an attempt to better understand how the City1s role has changed since the last Grand Jury's investigation in 2001-2002. The resul~s of this inquiry lead the Jury to conclude that the Hunter's Point Shipyard redevelopment project will require more communication, more transparency, and more commitment· from the City in order to achieve its goals of providing housing, jobs and economic development, tax revenue and open spaces to San Francisco, and its residents, particularly · those residing in the surrounding neighborhoods. Dry Dock, circa 1947 Naval Shipyard, circa 1951 2 HUNTERS' POINT BACKGROUND A short history of the Hunter's Point Shipyard (HPS) helps highlight areas researched by the Jury, the origin of its hazardous conditions, the history and future promise of employment, and the optimistic plans for the City's new neighborhood. The 500-acre HPS is located in the Southeast section of San Francisco on a peninsula that extends east into the Bay. From 1867to December 1939, the facility was operated as a commercial dry dock facility. On December 16, 1941 just nine days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy purchased the property as part of the war effort. From 1945 until 1974, the Navy predominantly used the shipyard to construct, maintain, and repair ships. The base was also home TO the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. The laboratory's activities included radiological decontamination of ships exposed to atomic weapons testing. The laboratory also conducted research and experiments on radiological decontamination, the effects of radiation on living organisms, and materials. ' . At the height of its active operations, HPS employed over 17,000 people, many of whom were . ' ' from the Bay View Hunters Point (BVHP) area. In 1974, the Navy ceased shipyard operations at HPS, designating the site as industrial reserve. From May 1976 to June 1986, Triple A Machine Shop, Inc. leased most of HPS from the. Navy and used it as a commercial ship repair facility. Over the years, parts of the site have b~en