For over a century, the Stauffer Chemical Company manufactured herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and sulfuric acid at the 86-acre site, dumping hazardous waste onsite and filling in the Bay. Many Richmond residents living nearby don’t know its history, nor are they aware that it was never fully cleaned up.
The site on Richmond’s southeast shoreline has been leaking highly contaminated water and vapors for decades, from the 550,000 cubic yards of hazardous material left behind after more than 100 years of chemical, fertilizer, and pesticide manufacturing.
Boasting million dollar views and located only yards from the Bay Trail, the site is slated for a development project of up to 4,000 residential units. In 2018, the Richmond city council endorsed a cleanup to the highest residential standard. However, after a developer promised millions of dollars to local groups, the council retracted that recommendation and approved an agreement to clean up the site to a lower standard for mixed-use development. Deed restrictions for the development include residential housing only above the first floor and no onsite K-12 schools, pre-schools, or senior facilities—and no contact with the soil.
The Richmond Shoreline Alliance maintains that the cleanup plan approved by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in 2019 is inadequate in light of recent State of California guidance on sea level rise. They also claim that DTSC ignored a recent CalEPA protocol on the risks of volatile organic compounds. The state’s cleanup plan calls for removal of less than two percent of the 550,000 yards of contaminated soil, in-situ chemical remediation, and installation of a concrete cap. Because the site lies 1.5 miles from the Hayward Fault, on Bay fill subject to liquefaction, earthquakes will likely crack or otherwise disturb a cap.
“The site is open on the sides and bottom,” says nearby resident Faris Jessa, “so a concrete cap won’t prevent the toxics from moving inland with sea level rise. We don’t want a carcinogenic toxic soup coming up under our homes.”
Janet Johnson, Richmond Shoreline Alliance co-chair, adds that “the threat of sea level and groundwater rise keeps us up at night. When VOCs enter sewer lines connected to schools, workplaces and homes, people will be exposed to chemicals that have lethal health effects. This is a 21st-century Love Canal unfolding before our eyes, and the time to stop it is now, before nearby residents are exposed and before homes are built and occupied.”
The online self-guided tour of the contaminated Zeneca property will be available soon on the STQRY story-telling app. See the demo here. The tour is sponsored by the Richmond Shoreline Alliance (RSA). More information about the Zeneca site can be found on the RSA website.
