Cleanup at future Town Center – Alameda Point East Gate area

The city has announced that over 500 acres of land will be transferred from the Navy to the city on June 4, 2013.  It will be the first – and largest – of a four-phase schedule of land transfers to the city.  One of the areas that won’t be transferred this year is located at […]

Navy could shut down groundwater treatment at housing site

The Navy often hears calls to increase its environmental cleanup effort.  Now, the community and regulators are hearing a call from the Navy to eliminate one cleanup effort altogether. Since 2009, several acres of the area north of Bayport that includes the Shinsei Gardens affordable housing development, former Coast Guard and military housing, the closed […]

Ending threat of solvents in groundwater leaching into San Francisco Bay

Site 1 at the northwestern tip of Alameda Point was used as the principal disposal area for all waste generated at Naval Air Station-Alameda from 1943 to 1956.  This disposal area, which was once part of the Bay, was created by sinking pontoons and barges in the Bay and backfilling with dredge soil. Disposal of […]

Groundwater cleanup back on track at heat treatment site

The groundwater remediation project between two buildings near the East Gate entrance, in the area known as Operating Unit 2B, finally got underway after a long delay in startup since last spring.   During set up, one of the 30-foot-long steel electrodes driven into the ground to generate heat struck a plastic sewer line.  The sewer line […]

March cleanup meeting announced

Restoration Advisory Board Naval Air Station, Alameda (Alameda Point) March 8, 2012       6:30 PM Location: Alameda Point – 950 West Mall Square (Alameda City Hall West) Room 140 – Community Conference Room Enter from West Midway Avenue at rear of building.   Agenda                     […]

Todd Shipyards copper cleanup

Right next to the Main Street Ferry Terminal, between the Oakland Estuary and the Dog Park, is the Navy’s cleanup Site 28, also known as the Todd Shipyards site.  The contamination at this site — copper and arsenic, and to a lesser extent lead and hydrocarbons — was not the result of Navy activities, even […]

Where Alameda Point’s cleanup is at year’s end

  The past year had some high points and low points in the cleanup process at Alameda Point.  Added delays, including a pile-driving surprise, were balanced out by steady progress. The year saw, among other things, completion of a second Point-wide radiological survey of buildings and structures that identified two building interiors needing radium remediation, […]

Berkeley Lab Site Environmental Plan Released

The Site Management Plan (SMP) for the proposed site of the Berkeley Lab Second Campus at Alameda Point was finalized on November 18.  Prepared by the city’s longtime environmental consultant, and signed off on by the Navy and regulatory agencies, the document was prepared in order to mitigate potential risks associated with development of the […]

Video: Alameda Point 2011 Cleanup Update

Dr. Peter Russell, the city’s environmental consultant, made a presentation to the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority on November 2, 2011, updating them on the status of cleanup at Alameda Point. This video is an edited version with added images. (Note:  The phrase “closed site” used in the presentation does not mean off limits.  It […]

Cleaning Up Jet Fuel at Building 5

Background The Navy has three cleanup programs at Alameda Point:  Superfund, Petroleum, and Radiological.  The Petroleum Program takes care of underground concentrations of petroleum, mostly jet fuel, and is organized by corrective action areas.  One such area outside Building 5 made it onto the calendar this year. Dumping jet fuel – Building 5, the largest […]

Cleaning up a toxic groundwater plume using heat

There are various methods to clean up groundwater contaminated with solvents and petroleum products. Beneficial chemicals can be injected to neutralize the toxic chemicals.  Sometimes bacteria, either those naturally present or some that have been added, can do the job.  In some cases at Alameda Point the Navy inserts steel beams called electrodes into the […]

Navy Announces Cleanup Plans – Public Meeting August 31, 2011

After years of investigation, the Navy, along with the federal and state regulators, has come up with a remediation plan for 39 acres, encompassing five sites, called Operating Unit 2A. On Wednesday, August 31, the Navy will spell out its plan for remediation and solicit comments.  The meeting will be at City Hall West at […]