[CPEO-MEF] "Hot property"

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Hot property

The city of Alameda wants to build homes, offices, and stores on the site of a
former U.S. Navy base. There's just one problem: it's a toxic disaster area. 
By A.C. Thompson

IN 1997 THE United States Navy pulled out of the island town of Alameda,
shuttering its base after 48 years in operation. As it did in dozens of other
locations – San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, for example – the
Navy left behind boatloads of toxic garbage. But unlike the shipyard, which has
been scrutinized by the media for years, the mess in Alameda has received
little attention. 

City officials have grand designs for the ex-base, including plans for more
than 2,000 homes, 900 boat slips, 4.1 million square feet of offices and retail
shops, and, at the tip of the island, a wildlife refuge for seabirds. The town
of 75,000 has already signed a deal with megabuilder Catellus to put up homes
on one slice of the property. In a few years families with kids and cats and
dogs and backyard gardens with tomato plants will begin living on what was once
the Alameda Naval Air Station. 

But before any of that can happen, the Navy will have to decontaminate 25 toxic
hot spots scattered across the 2,600-acre former outpost. Tainted with
radiation and an interminable list of toxins, the ex-base has been placed on
the federal Superfund list, which ranks it as one of the most polluted places
in America. 

continued...

http://www.sfbg.com/News/35/40/40tox.html

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