This episode comes to us from the podcast at SF Public Press.
“Exposed” opens a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned naval base, in San Francisco’s southeast waterfront Bayview neighborhood, is currently the site of the city’s largest real estate development project. The base played a key role in the Cold War nuclear era, when it housed a research institution known as the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which studied the human health effects of radiation.
In part one, we trace the radioactive contamination found in the shipyard soil today back to its origins, with nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands. We also hear from environmental justice advocates, including one who led a health biomonitoring survey revealing that nearby residents have toxic elements stored in body tissues that match the hazardous chemicals of concern identified at the shipyard.
GUESTS:
- Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, community advocate and medical doctor
- Michelle Pierce, Executive director of Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
- Leaotis Martin, resident of Bayview
- Raymond Tompkins, community advocate, chemist, and former member of the Hunters Point Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board
- Daniel Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap
- Derek Robinson, Navy representative