Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
Clean Air Health Alliance
For immediate release: September 16, 2016
Contact:
Bradley Angel, Greenaction – cell 415-722-5270 office 415-447-3904 x 102
Ray Tompkins, Clean Air Health Alliance – 415-722-7780
Marie Harrison, Greenaction – 415-602-0633
Government Finally Responds to Community Outcry Over Radioactive Waste Scandal
U.S. EPA, DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL & NAVY PUT HOLD ON
TRANSFERS OF NAVY PROPERTY AT HUNTERS POINT SHIPYARD
DUE TO TETRA TECH’S FALSIFICATION OF RADIOACTIVE SOIL SAMPLES
AND QUESTIONS ABOUT POTENTIAL PUBLIC EXPOSURE TO RADIOACTIVE
MATERIAL AT AND NEAR THE SHIPYARD
Community & Environmental Justice Groups Demand Tetra Tech be Fired, Call for a Cessation
of Work and Comprehensive Independent New Testing at the Shipyard and Adjacent Areas
Where Radioactive and Toxic Waste May Have Been Illegally Dumped, and Full Cleanup
San Francisco, CA – In response to the escalating community outcry over the falsification of
radioactive soil samples, and concerns about reports of possible illegal dumping of radioactive soils by
the US Navy’s contractor Tetra Tech at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Superfund Site in Bayview
Hunters Point, San Francisco, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, State of California
Department of Toxic Substances Control and the US Navy have agreed to put on hold any further
transfers of Navy property at the Shipyard.
The September 13th letter from US EPA and DTSC to the US Navy states that these agencies met on
July 14th with the Navy to discuss the Tetra Tech issue, and says in relevant part the following:
“…integrity of the data from the Navy’s contractor Tetra Tech ECI, Incorporated, (“Tetra
Tech”) is of the utmost importance in ensuring the cleanup decisions are made in a manner that
protects public health and the environment and complies with requirements of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). We
understand that several agencies are currently engaged in ongoing investigations regarding the
nature and extent of Tetra Tech’s misrepresentation of data delivered to the Navy. I am
confirming that we agreed …that the Navy will not propose any further transfers of Navy
property at HPNS without results of these investigations and/or any other Navy action
necessary to clarify the actual potential public exposure to radioactive material at and near the
HPNS.”
The scandal first came to light several years ago when whistleblowers alleged that from 2008 to 2012
Tetra Tech falsified radioactive soil samples from the shipyard. After the Navy investigated the
complaints, they identified 386 soil samples as “anomalous.”

 A US Nuclear Regulatory Commission letter to Tetra Tech EC, Inc. on February 11, 2016 stated:
“Specifically, between November 18, 2011, and June 4, 2012, when tasked with obtaining soil
samples to ascertain the amount of residual radioactivity in specific locations within Parcel C,
Tetra Tech employees instead obtained soil samples from other areas that were suspected to be
less contaminated. The Tetra Tech employees then represented (on related chain-of-custody
records) that the samples had been obtained from the specified locations. As a result, it could
have appeared that residual radioactivity within the specified locations in Parcel C was lower
than it actually was.”
While residents and community and environmental justice organizations applaud the government
agencies new action to put a hold on new transfers of Shipyard land from the Navy, they are furious
that the Navy and government regulatory agencies have allowed Tetra Tech to continue working at the
site. Tetra Tech has worked on cleanup of contamination at the Shipyard since the 1990’s, likely
having been responsible for many thousands of soil samples over decades which residents and
advocates no longer trust.
“It’s about time our government agencies started protecting the residents instead of protecting a giant
corporation that apparently falsified soil samples, putting the health of thousands of people and our
environment at risk,” said Bradley Angel, Executive Director of Greenaction for Health and
Environmental Justice.
“We demand that Tetra Tech be fired and that they pay for a trustworthy and independent entity to
conduct comprehensive retesting of the entire Shipyard site and adjacent areas. We demand a full and
proper cleanup of radioactive and toxic waste at the Shipyard site,” said Marie Harrison of
Greenaction, a long time Bayview Hunters Point community leader. “With climate change causing the
sea levels to rise, leaving so much radioactive and toxic waste along the waterfront is a disaster ready
to happen.”
“The stopping the transferring property from the Navy to the city is a good first step. A Cease-andDesist order of all work at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard should be executed immediately,” said
Ray Tompkins of the Clean Air Health Alliance. “We demand a proper investigation by federal and
state agencies with independent universities and meaningful citizen participation for locating and
cleaning up the illegally dumped radioactive soil at and near the Shipyard site, with testing including
both surface scanning and core sampling.”
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