Swiss pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of California illegally disposed of contaminated waste in Richmond's Zeneca site from 1998 to 2004, creating a significant environmental hazard. Last July, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) finally issued both parties a summary of violations, which included the unauthorized shipment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. The DTSC also ordered an emergency cleanup of the waste. Although some protested that AstraZeneca and UC Berkeley have not been penalized for their blatant violations, the DTSC may still bring forth civil and criminal lawsuits.
Located north of the popular Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, the Zeneca site has a long history of industrial activity that earned it a reputation as one of the most toxic locations in California. Stauffer Chemical Company and AstraZeneca had conducted chemical and manufacturing operations there for a century until 1997, when the latter company decided to close the 85-acre facility. From 1998 to 2001, the Zeneca site was razed with little government oversight. But instead of appropriately disposing of the hazardous waste, AstraZeneca systematically diluted and buried it on site in an effort to save $80 million in cleanup costs.
Adjacent to the Zeneca site is UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station, an area also tarnished by years of munitions manufacturing. In 2001, the Regional Water Quality Control Board issued the Meade Street Operable Unit that cited unacceptable environmental conditions at the Richmond Field Station, due especially to longstanding pyrite cinders. Though the University of California did not create the waste, it had accepted legal responsibility for all environmental problems when it acquired the land in the 1950s. Acting upon this cleanup order, UC Berkeley illegally transferred at least 3,000 truckloads of contaminated soil to a lot in the Zeneca site from 2002 to 2004.
Both misguided cleanups were environmental catastrophes. During that period, many community members suffered severe health problems, including rare forms of cancer. Only after State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock organized a November 2004 hearing, in which the victims spoke out, did the full extent of AstraZeneca's wrongdoing transpire. The University of California's reckoning came much later. Local environmentalists, like Sherry Padgett of Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development, have tried to tell the Zeneca story to the public for what it is - a case of environmental injustice. However, many people who pass by the Zeneca site today remain unaware of the site's horribly toxic past, possibly misled by the lack of proper signage in the area.
The Zeneca site currently maintains Superfund status under EPA regulation, putting it in the ranks of such notorious sites as New York's Love Canal. Most of the hazardous waste is concentrated in a 30-acre lot and temporarily capped with a thin layer of cement, which, though it poses no immediate health risks, is not a viable long-term solution. There are many additional "hotspots" in the vicinity that still contain PCBs and volatile organic compounds, much of it showing in the physical deterioration of the landscape. Current conditions reports on both the Zeneca site and Richmond Field Station have been dismal, and some suspect radioactivity. Indeed, questions continue to be raised about the full extent of contamination of the site, owing to AstraZeneca's obstinate refusal to disclose information regarding the site's polluted history.
Despite environmental complications, the Zeneca site forms an integral part of the South Richmond Shoreline, affording excellent views of the San Francisco Bay and hosting a segment of the Bay Trail. Current ownership of the waterside property belongs to Cherokee-Simeon Ventures, which had plans to develop a vast housing complex on a lot known as Campus Bay. CESP is committed to preserving the waterfront as open space due to its high habitat value, while preventing any further development at least until environmental conditions improve. CESP is also exploring the possibility of incorporating the Zeneca site as a natural extension of the Eastshore State Park, since much of the remaining South Richmond Shoreline has already been preserved. CESP's work on Zeneca and similar cases in Richmond - Breuner Marsh and Point Molate - underscores its commitment to protecting the community from environmental injustice.