A West Oakland project aims to test a remediation method that uses plants and fungi to remove or break down contaminants in soil. The experiment would remediate a former auto-wrecking yard and its techniques might be cheaper and safer than the typical method of digging up polluted soil and moving it to a specialized landfill.
Category: Environment
Posted inCommunity, Environment, Health
New Air Quality Monitoring App Aims to Protect Students in Polluted Bay Area Communities
A new app aims to provide school administrators and teachers in these communities with real-time data that can help them protect students from harmful air pollution. When air quality is especially poor, teachers might keep kids inside during recess or a coach might cancel or move a sports team practice, said Kristina Hill, an associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Hill developed the tool in collaboration with Charisma Acey, also an associate professor at UC Berkeley, and a focus group of advocates from five Bay Area communities with high levels of air pollution.
The app offers an interactive map where Bay Area residents can see hourly readings of the air quality in their area. It draws on the existing PurpleAir monitor network but adds key improvements like correcting for errors caused by fog and combining data from multiple monitors to paint a clearer picture of air quality in a neighborhood.
Posted inCommunity, Environment, Health
‘Forever Chemicals’ Threaten Community of Bay Fishers
It’s long been risky to eat fish from San Francisco Bay because pollutants like mercury build up in their bodies, and new research shows they are also contaminated with harmful “forever chemicals,” including one never before detected in marine fish. High levels of these chemicals are found in 10 species of fish frequently caught in San Francisco Bay, according to a study that the San Francisco Estuary Institute published in May. The newly detected contamination threatens anglers’ health and what many of them consider a way of life.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are colloquially called “forever chemicals” because they are notoriously difficult to eliminate or break down. PFAS can cause cancers, thyroid and hormone disruption, and developmental delays, and can weaken the immune system, said study author Rebecca Sutton.
Posted inEnvironment, Social Justice
Racial Disparities in Toxic Cleanup Times Especially Pronounced in SF, Data Shows
Toxic site cleanups take longer in parts of San Francisco where fewer residents are white, a new data analysis from the San Francisco Public Press shows. The analysis also shows that a higher proportion of residents who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color in an area correlates directly with longer cleanup durations.
Across all sites in San Francisco, cleanups took more than four years longer in areas with high proportions of BIPOC residents than in majority white areas. The size, complexity and nature of toxic sites varies and could account for some differences but further analysis shows that these disparities hold when comparing sites of similar complexity and size.
Posted inClimate Change, Environment, Government & Politics
Scientist Who Helped Prove Humans Changed the Climate Watches Evidence Being Erased
The data sources that trace humanity’s effect on the climate are under threat.
Under the Trump administration, publication of scientific reports is being frozen and some records risk being removed from public access. The National Centers for Environmental Information, which houses critical archives, has significantly reduced its staff. The White House has also moved to terminate a key contract with the firm responsible for producing the National Climate Assessment, casting doubt on the completion of the next scheduled report. Computer models and observational records climate scientist Ben Santer helped build are in the crosshairs.
Posted inEnvironment, From the Newsroom, Health, Media
Public Press Wins 2025 Izzy Award for Series Investigating Human Radiation Experimentation
The San Francisco Public Press is proud to announce that our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” has been honored with a 2025 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.
The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College presents this prominent national award annually to spotlight exceptional work in journalism. Named for trailblazing investigative journalist I.F. Stone, who in 1953 launched a fiercely independent newsletter that exposed government deception, racism and McCarthyism, the Izzy Award honors muckraking produced outside traditional corporate media structures.
Posted inBay Area, Environment, Social Justice
New Environmental Justice Coalition Protests EPA Cuts
About 150 Bay Area residents and advocates for environmental justice gathered on the steps of an Environmental Protection Agency office in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday to protest the Trump administration’s rollbacks of environmental protections.
The coalition enables member organizations to share ideas and learn from one another, said Sarah Ranney, director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Sierra Club.
“Historically, things have been done through movements just like this,” said Arieann Harrison, the founder and executive director of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, an organization advocating for full remediation of the toxic Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.
Posted inEnvironment, Health, Social Justice
Toxic Waste Cleanups Take Longer in Marginalized Communities
Toxic site cleanups take longer in marginalized communities, according to a new Public Press analysis of more than 20,000 sites of varying size across the nine-county Bay Area.
In areas that scored high on a national index of socioeconomic vulnerability, the median cleanup took more than 450 days longer than in the least vulnerable areas.
Many factors, including the type of toxin, the nature of the site and the complexity of the cleanup, could affect how long a remediation takes and explain some of the differences. But in a subset of more than 12,000 cleanups of comparable complexity, the disparities were even more pronounced.
Experts warn that prolonged exposure to contamination as a result of slow cleanups can increase the risk of illness for nearby residents.
Posted inBay Area, Climate Change, Environment, Government & Politics
How Trump’s Attack on Environmental Programs Is Already Affecting Local Conservation Work
Since President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, one thing is clear: The raft of memos, executive orders and other Trump administration actions have left environmental work in the Bay Area and beyond in “confusion and chaos,” says Redgie Collins, the legal and policy director for California Trout.
Posted inEnvironment, Exposed, Government & Politics, Health, History, Neighborhoods
Shuttered Radiation Lab Poses Ongoing Health Risks for Growing Neighborhood
Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point,” details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exercises and medical experiments early in the Cold War.
In part 6, we detail how cavalier attitudes toward radiation exposure and an indifference to how pollution left by the Navy might affect San Franciscans have been constants officials warned of plutonium blowing in the air three-quarters of a century ago.