Features

Campus Bay Regulatory Handover Moves Ahead

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 12, 2004

The transfer of toxic cleanup supervision at the Campus Bay site project in Richmond has been underway since Monday, a spokesperson for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in Berkeley said Thursday. 

The toxics agency assumed control of the massive mountain of buried waste on the 40-acre site where a Marin County developer hopes to build a 1,330-unit condo and apartment complex on the South Richmond shoreline. 

Angela Blanchette, spokesperson for the DTSC, said investigators from her agency were evaluating the site this week to ensure operations there were in compliance with department standards. 

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board ceded control over the upland portion of the site Monday, following a hearing held Saturday by state Assemblymembers Loni Hancock (D-East Bay) and Cindy Montanez (D-San Fernando Valley). 

Montanez also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Environmental Justice and the powerful Rules Committee. 

The Water Board retains cleanup control of the adjoining marsh and wetlands. The DTSC will now control the polluted muck excavated from the shoreline, which is being stored on the upland site. 

Excavations were halted Tuesday, pending the DTSC assessment and completion of the handover. DTSC will also play an ongoing role in the wetlands cleanup, Blanchette said.