History of the Zeneca Site
Originally inhabited by Indigenous Ohlone people, Richmond was first colonized by Spanish settlers in the late 1770s. What was used by the Spanish as grazing and farmland eventually became the home to manufacturing facilities, railways, and processing plants that took over the land, and Richmond quickly became the industrial center the Bay Area. In 1901, Richmond was home to around 200 people, but by 1923 the population had exploded to 23,000. One manufacturer was Stauffer Chemicals, which was established in the late 1800s and operated right next to what is now the Bay Trail.Stauffer produced a variety of chemicals, ranging from sulfuric acid and other inorganic toxic compounds to pesticides and radioactive materials. Most of its waste, including the radioactive materials, was either dumped or buried on site or nearby. At that time there was hardly any regulation of toxic waste disposal, but with time and advancing scientific knowledge, the toxicity of these waste products became increasingly evident. It also became apparent that buried materials from the site were entering the groundwater and San Francisco Bay. Nevertheless, Stauffer generally allowed them to remain and continued to add more.Zeneca, Inc., now part of the multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca, acquired the site in the 1980s and continued to manufacture agricultural chemicals there until 1997. In 1998 the California Water Board named Stege Marsh, the protected area next to the site, a high priority on its list of the state’s most polluted hotspots. Zeneca was ordered to clean up the site in 2002, but it was later found that there were major data gaps about what kinds of toxins were still in the ground, and where. In 2007 the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, served Zeneca and its neighbor, the University of California, with a list of cleanup-related violations, mostly connected to how workers transported around 3,000 truckloads of mercury-contaminated soil from the adjacent UC Richmond Field Station onto the Zeneca property and buried it there.
Development Plan
Despite the dangers present at the site and the lack of a plan to secure a complete cleanup, in 2020 a lame-duck former Richmond City Council pushed through approval for a massive development project on the Zeneca site. The proposed project includes up to 4,000 residential units in 8-story multi-family buildings and would also include a park, retail space, and a grocery store. The remainder of the site nearest the Bay and the Bay Trail would be retained as open space. The development plan is supported by the DTSC, whose cleanup remedy includes excavation of less than two percent of the 550,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil; groundwater treatment; and a soil vapor extraction system. The DTSC asserts that contaminated soil will be safely disposed of and replaced with clean soil. The remaining contaminated soil will be covered with a concrete cap.The plan to handle the contamination on the Zeneca site relies on an expired geotechnical report and outdated sea-level rise and health risk assessment information. The remaining toxic waste deep in the soil will undergo an onsite treatment in an attempt to detoxify or immobilize it. There is no substantial evidence showing that the proposed onsite treatments will be effective, especially over the long term. As for the proposed impermeable concrete cap, the site is in a liquefaction zone, 1.5 miles from the Hayward Fault and within yards of a recently discovered subfault just offshore. Earthquakes are likely to crack or otherwise disturb the cap, potentially allowing harmful soil gas to enter the buildings. Despite decades of recorded health issues from residents living close to the site, the plan to create housing for thousands of people is still going forward.
Chemicals in the Soil
For over a century, chemical manufacturing on the site left a wide range of contaminants, of varying degrees of toxicity and carcinogenicity, in the soil and groundwater. These included, but are not limited to: carbon disulfide, sulfuric acid, metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, DDT, PCBs, and a variety of pesticides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including benzene and trichloroethylene (TCE), as well as radioactive materials.The waste from making sulfuric acid is a highly acidic, ash-like substance called cinders. These cinders are mostly composed of pyrite and include toxic metals like arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, and selenium—all of which are known to cause cancer, birth defects, and reproductive harm. For years, Stauffer filled in the Bay with these cinders, dumping them next to Stege Marsh and on what is now the University of California’s Richmond Field Station.After the 2002 cleanup, the DTSC required Zeneca to hire a team of geologists to test the soil and groundwater across the entire site. The results were released in 2006 and showed that the northernmost section of the site, labeled Lot 1, contained unusually high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and three VOCs, which have high vapor pressure and low water solubility. These human-made chemicals were likely produced by pesticide manufacturing and cause adverse health effects. Radioactive waste, dumped in an adjacent area known as the Blair Landfill, is the enduring legacy of Stauffer’s relationship with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission during the Cold War nuclear arms race.
Effects of Chemicals
Contamination at the Zeneca site has been a health hazard for decades. We now know that exposure to volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) has been directly linked to lung cancer, but for years nearby residents suspected that they were being poisoned. Ethel Dotson, an environmental and racial activist, was outspoken in her protest over how the toxic site affected her and her family. In the 1950s and ‘60s, when the site belonged to Stauffer, Dotson and her family lived in the Seaport Village military apartments, a segregated housing complex directly across South 49th Street from the site. Although Seaport Village was torn down and replaced by a commercial structure in the 1960s, Dotson believed that many of her family members were exposed to toxic chemicals. Both her mother and sister later died from lung cancer, and in 2007 Dotson herself died of cancer at age 65.Ethel’s activism spearheaded a petition launching the Richmond Southeast Shoreline Area Community Advisory Group (CAG) in 2005. The CAG continues its dedicated work today, calling for a comprehensive cleanup of the Zeneca site. Tragically, Ethel's life and the lives of her family members were cut short.Ethel Dotson is not the only person linked to the site who experienced health problems. Sherry Padgett, a founding member of the Community Advisory Group and owner of a business in the commercial structure on South 49th St., learned in late 2002 that she had developed rare cancerous cartilage growths on her ribs and chest. She suspects that she was exposed to carcinogenic chemicals released into the air during the mismanaged cleanup in the early 2000s. While it’s impossible to link her cancer to a specific chemical from the Zeneca site, there appears to be a decades-long pattern of close proximity to the site and cancer diagnoses.We do not believe that the approved cleanup plan—soil vapor extraction and groundwater treatment, followed by installing a concrete cap over the site—will prevent exposure and potentially harmful consequences. We can only guess what long-term exposure to the toxic contamination on the Zeneca site will have on future residents. Even with treatment, there’s a strong likelihood that allowing toxic chemicals to remain onsite will create potentially lethal health impacts. In the interest of public health, it’s best to err on the side of caution.
Groundwater and its effects
Groundwater is water that exists underground in saturated zones beneath the land surface. Contrary to popular belief, groundwater does not form underground rivers. Instead, it fills the pores and fractures in underground materials such as sand, gravel, and other rock, similar to how water fills a sponge. Studies show that sea level rise will cause groundwater to also rise in many coastal urban environments such as the Zeneca site. We might not see the negative effects immediately, as a recent study based on today's groundwater levels and global climate projections showed that rising groundwater will occur many years before it ever reaches the surface.Regardless of how slowly it moves, groundwater travels downward from higher ground to the Bay. At the Zeneca site, groundwater flows consistently from the northern uplands to the south/southwest toward the Bay. The cleanup has been complicated by the intrusion of salt water from the Bay into the groundwater below the site and by toxic materials seeping into the groundwater.An expert on subterranean and groundwater toxic materials who examined the effectiveness of the current cleanup plan concluded that rising groundwater levels from sea level rise could mobilize the toxic gases in the soil and push them toward the surface. Rising groundwater could also potentially crack the planned concrete cap and release toxic materials onto the project site’s surface, as well as spread them to adjoining properties, all of which would constitute significant new impacts. The dangers this outcome would present to residents of the 4,000 proposed housing units, as well as to nearby residents and businesses, have not been adequately addressed by the California DTSC or the developer.
Sea level rise
What do we mean when we talk about sea level rise? Sea level rise is an increase in the ocean’s surface height. The expansion of warm ocean water and melting polar ice are the primary causes of today’s rising sea levels. Both factors result from increasing human greenhouse gas emissions that produce global warming. In short, the water in the Bay will continue to rise over time, and today’s shoreline will one day be underwater.The DTSC approved a cleanup plan in 2019 using information on sea level rise dating from 2011, which estimated up to 14 inches of sea level rise by the year 2050 and up to 55 inches by the year 2100. However, shortly thereafter the State of California released updated guidelines which greatly increased the expected rate of sea level rise. Under these new guidelines, sea level is expected to rise by up to one foot by the year 2030, up to 3.5 feet by 2050, and up to 7.6 feet by the year 2100. Despite this new information, the development and cleanup plans were not altered.High tides are already raising water levels to the height of the site, taking the contamination present at the site with them when they flow out into the Bay. A 2005 study that sampled the Stege Marsh identified the marsh as a PCB hotspot. PCBs are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products and banned in the US since 1976. The study found 50% of the fish had both male and female reproductive organs. Stege Marsh is located between the Zeneca site and the Bay Trail and is entirely under water during King tides. Contamination of the marsh will only become more severe with sea level rise.
Community impacts: People
Richmond community members have long spoken out about the hazards and human rights violations stemming from pollution generated by big chemical companies and oil refineries. The long-term health effects of air pollution are well documented, showing up as asthma, heart disease, and other ailments, and it is now known to have negative health effects across generations. While air pollution often gets more attention because we can clearly see it billowing out of the refinery, contamination that is just as deadly lies dormant in layers of soil and is much easier for companies like Zeneca to hide from the public. Putting a concrete cap on it, and declaring it treated, is much easier when people cannot see the immediate effect. However, the voices of community members have catalyzed conversations and protests around the failure to properly clean up the Zeneca site.In a recent documentary about the site, 'Voices Unmuted,’ community members talk about the site, their concerns, and the effects it already had on their health. Claudia Jimenez, a Richmond city councilmember, said, “If we allow people to live in contaminated sites, we increase the risks that they will develop serious health problems.” Eric Blum, who owns a building across South 49th St. from the site, described the VOC plume from the Zeneca site as running under his property.Chevron has been targeted with multiple lawsuits over the years for air pollution, unsafe working conditions, and for exposing workers to dangerous contaminants that have permanently affected their health. Many Chevron workers have been entitled to financial compensation for the negative impacts from working at Chevron. This is a very likely future for the Zeneca site if the current development plan moves forward. And who will pay the bill? Richmond is already facing budget issues and infrastructure challenges. In the long run, medical payouts would cost the city more than a full cleanup.
Ecological community impacts
The Zeneca site is just off the Bay Trail, and Stege Marsh lies between the site and the trail. The marsh is home to a vibrant and biodiverse wildlife community. Birders can find an array of splendid sightings, ranging from the majestic, prehistoric-looking Great Blue Heron to the small and elusive Sora Rail. Each summer more than 1,000 American Brown Pelicans can be seen diving for anchovies in the Bay waters by the shore. Endangered Ridgway's Rails nest and breed in the marsh: First called the California clapper rail, they gained protection under the Endangered Species Act more than fifty years ago. Pickleweed, growing in the marshland, holds salt water in cell pockets (vacuoles): across cultures, it’s tossed into salads and preserved as a pickle. Hundreds, if not thousands, of life forms, rely on this area for their home, food, and habitat. Yet contamination from the site has leached into both the marshland and the Bay waters, damaging the ecological stability of the region.Fishing is a popular activity in the Bay, but studies have already shown impacts on reproductive organs in the fish close to the Zeneca site. The plankton and microorganisms living in the Bay are exposed to long-lasting contaminants buried in the sediment, which work their way up the food chain. That means fishers and their families are exposed to higher mercury levels and other toxic contaminants. Subsistence fishers, representing some of the Bay Area’s most underserved communities, may be experiencing food insecurity, and they may have trouble translating or interpreting shoreline warning signs about fish consumption.The Bay Trail is a favorite destination for bikers, walkers, birders, and families; the 2-½ mile paved portion between Marina Bay and Central Ave. that passes by the Zeneca site is one of the most popular sections, with hundreds of thousands of people using it each year. The beautiful view of the Bay and the silhouette of the San Francisco skyline make it an irresistible attraction. Point Isabel, a popular regional dog park, is close to the trail, and dog owners frequent the trail next to the Zeneca site going to and from the dog park. Lower to the ground and naturally curious, dogs are more likely to ingest or pick up anything that might be on the ground or in the water. And in the interests of caution, if you walk with your kids on that inviting beach next to the Bay Trail between Shimada Park and the bridge over Meeker Slough, it would be best not to let them pick up shells or rocks..
What is a Complete Cleanup?
Throughout this tour, we've talked about a complete cleanup, but what does that actually mean? Richmond Shoreline Alliance calls for contaminated soil to be removed via rail so the site can be cleaned up to the highest, most health-protective standard. This means digging down to the deepest level where contaminants are and removing that soil completely, replacing it with uncontaminated soil. We call for treating the soil offsite, at a facility that is properly equipped and licensed to process and treat toxic waste to minimize possible negative impacts.How this cleanup plan is more effective has been asked by many Richmond residents. For one, it removes the threat of contamination spread through groundwater. Even if a levee were to be built between the Bay and the site, which is not part of the current development plan, groundwater has been shown to move underneath or be expelled from the side of the site due to flooding. Sea level rise, atmospheric rivers, and high tides cause the groundwater inland to be pushed upward into storm drains and, during heavy rainfall, to breach the soil surface. A concrete cap will not stop these events, and flooding will certainly spread contamination at the site and beyond. Removing the contaminated soil entirely is the only way to be sure that this will not happen.Cost is always a concern, but AstraZeneca is a multinational corporation that earned a profit of $4.7 billion in 2023, so it can easily afford the millions estimated to clean up the site completely. What’s more, a complete cleanup would avoid the maintenance and upkeep costs that a concrete cap would require. While the immediate pricetag might be higher, this would be the best long-term financial solution. The DTSC has raised the possibility of disturbing the toxic waste and exposing workers and the community to them during the removal process, which is why we call for the contaminated soil to be transported and treated offsite via rail instead of truck. Meanwhile, the community and potential workers on the site would already be exposed to these chemicals, because installing utility infrastructure and the building foundations will surely disturb the soil.
What’s Next?
Richmond is a beautiful city with a diverse population that deserves a clean and healthy future. To fight for a better present and future, we must act now. The Zeneca site is connected to the much larger, extraordinarily complex issue of toxc waste and cleanup in low-income communities. This issue includes both state and federal oversight, and we are not without power to make real change. That can start with a complete cleanup of this site. Cities like Richmond can apply for government funding to get resources to help prepare and manage environmental hazards like sea level rise. Alameda is already taking advantage of these resources by working with Coastal Hazards Adaptation Resiliency Group (CHARG), an organization of flood control managers and scientists working to reduce flood risk and build resilience to sea level rise in the Bay Area. By starting to plan now, Richmond can become a safer place for generations to come.What can you do to help? Get involved and make your voice heard! We encourage you to sign up to speak during Public Comment at Richmond City Council meetings. The council meets on the first, third and fourth Tuesday of the month; meetings begin at 6:30. Please email Gavin Newsom and demand the full cleanup of the site. Send us a copy of your message to richmond.shoreline.alliance@gmail.com, Post on social media and tag @AstraZeneca. Part of their corporate work focuses on ‘sustainability,’ and it's critical to draw attention to their practices, especially with this site, that do not follow that mission and messaging. If you want to learn more, drop us an email at richmond.shoreline.alliance@gmail.com and sign up for our next in-person tour. We also also invite you to join our monthly on-line meetings, every third Wednesday 5:30–6:30, when we share the latest updates in our campaign. Last but not least, simply spread the word! Encourage your friends and community to take this tour to share what you’ve learned today. The more people who know, the louder our voices will be.
