After nearly 30 years, is clean-up of the Hunters Point Shipyard almost, finally ending?

"The Navy purchases the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and turns it into a hub for shipbuilding and repair. By the end of World War II, the site has grown to nearly one thousand acres - almost five miles of berths, seventeen miles of railroad track, 200 buildings and six dry docks."

"WWII is over, and the Cold War has begun. Boat-building and maintenance work in the shipyard dwindles. The top-secret U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL) is established on the site to study methods for protecting people and equipment after exposure to radiation. Neighborhood children like Arieann Harrison remember playing with friends in the vacant base after it closed, entirely unaware of the toxic hazards that lay buried beneath the surface."

"As public pressure to do something about hazardous waste dumped by companies and government agencies across the country, Congress passes the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) which gives the EPA the authority to clean up hazardous waste sites - or to investigate the source of the pollution and pressure whoever is responsible to clean it up. Nearly everyone calls the program "Superfund.""

The Navy purchased the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and turned it into a major shipbuilding and repair hub. By the end of World War II the site expanded to nearly one thousand acres with nearly five miles of berths, seventeen miles of railroad track, 200 buildings and six dry docks. Nearly one-third of the shipyard workforce were Black, many drawn by the Great Migration, and Bayview remained 23 percent Black in 2025. After WWII boat-building declined and the top-secret U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL) studied radiation protection on-site. Children later played unaware of buried toxic hazards. Congress passed CERCLA to give the EPA authority to clean up hazardous waste, the shipyard entered BRAC, and the EPA listed Hunters Point as a Superfund site with the Navy responsible for cleanup.

Read at Mission Local