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 […]

Soil cleanup planned at runway workshops area

Future recreational open space The 4.18-acre cleanup Site 34 in the old runway area next to the Oakland estuary looks barren from a distance.  But up close there are concrete slabs and pavement, reminders of its bygone days as a bustling workshop area. This area was once part of the division known as the Naval […]

Scenic Alameda Point wildlife refuge section to be off limits with security fence

Even after all the cleanup work is completed, the Navy proposes to put a permanent chainlink fence topped with barbared wire around a scenic shoreline section of the wildlife refuge at Alameda Point. “Good grief!  If a fence is needed, will Site 2 be clean enough for our community?” Leora Feeney, co-chair of the Audubon Society’s Friends of the […]

Seaplane Lagoon cleanup dredging completed [video and slideshow]

Environmental cleanup of the Seaplane Lagoon has centered on two areas where storm sewers drain into the lagoon.  It was commonplace to discharge all sorts of chemicals down storm sewer lines prior to the passage of the federal Clean Water Act in the early 1970s.  Contaminants such as PCBs, cadmium, lead, pesticides, and radium have […]

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                     […]

Restoration Advisory Board Responds to Navy’s Meeting Cutbacks

At the October 2011 Alameda Point Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting, the Navy announced that Alameda Point’s monthly RAB meetings would be reduced to quarterly meetings due to budget cutbacks.  The Navy said it would welcome a written response from the RAB on how the Navy might continue to carry out its responsibilities for community dialogue during […]

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 […]

Precision Dredging at the Pier Area – with video

Designing the workplan for dredging toxic sediment next to Pier 1 at Alameda Point required precision so as not to undermine the stability of the concrete posts supporting the roadway that passes along the pier area.  The ground under the water slopes down nearly 40 feet from the cement parking slab adjacent to Wharf Road.  […]

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, […]

Radium Scanning Process at Seaplane Lagoon

Every scoop of dirt that was dredged from the Seaplane Lagoon earlier this year is first sorted into premeasured compartments.  The piles are then tested for heavy metals, PCBs, and pesticides.  But the piles cannot be tested for radium 226. In order to test for radium, every pile has to be scooped back into a […]

Case Study – Soil Cleanup Process at Island High/Woodstock Child Development Center

A Case Study in How the Cleanup Process Works In November of 2008, after years of testing, evaluation, and one emergency soil removal action, the Navy issued the final report on what to do in the area where Island High School and Woodstock Child Development Center are located.  The area is designated Installation Restoration (IR) […]