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November 5, 2007
Barry G. Young Dear Barry G. Young, This letter is to respectfully demand the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD and/or District) take immediate enforcement action against the City and County of San Francisco's redevelopment project on Parcel A at Bay View Hunters Point comprises 75 acres located in the northern portion of the Hunters Point Shipyard. Lennar Bay View Hunters Point, LLC (Lennar BVHP) plans to construct approximately 1600 attached single family homes. In behalf of CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) I demand that the BAAQMD order the City and County of San Francisco to immediately order Lennar cease and desist further construction activities at the Parcel A site until the BAAQMD completes its CEQA analysis on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan. Lennar BVHP submitted its Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan (ADMP) to the Air District in May 2005. On June 13, 2005 CARE filed a "complaint against disturbance of naturally-occurring asbestos from construction activities that emit dust that contain asbestos by the City and County of San Francisco, and the Developer Lennar/BVHP". Mr. Lynne Brown, who is the Vice-President of CARE resides at 24 Harbor Road in Bay View Hunters Point San Francisco, along with his family. CARE has a lease for office space with the Grace Tabernacle Church at 1125 Oakdale Avenue also located in Bay View Hunters Point San Francisco and Mr. Brown has his office there. Mr. Brown spoke to you at the October 29, 2007 stationary source committee meeting of the District stating: I am Lynne Brown, and I have complained to you and the US EPA about the asbestos dust problem before and you ignored me. In November 2004 I filed a complaint against the City and County of San Francisco and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in behalf of myself and CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) which I am the Vice-president of CARE's board. The complaint number 12R-04-R9 was filed under Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the US EPA for violation of my civil rights in the approval of the redevelopment plan for Parcel A of the former US Naval shipyard at Hunters Point. Also in June 2005 I filed a "complaint against disturbance of naturally-occurring asbestos from construction activities that emit dust that contain asbestos by the City and County of San Francisco, and the Developer Lennar/BVHP" at Parcel A in which I requested "that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District prepare a CEQA analysis on the proposed Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan and provide the public an opportunity to provide oral and written comments on the proposed plan as is required by CEQA in a public hearing process where the District's staff can also provide the public information on the District's dust abatement plans and appraise the community of the risks associated with naturally-occurring asbestos." No CEQA analysis on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan was ever provided by the District, or the City for that matter, and the public was never provided an opportunity to provide oral and written comments on the proposed plan as is required by CEQA. The District's and City's failure to provide us an opportunity to meaningful and informed participation on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan and to protect us or warn us of potential harm from asbestos dust violates our first amendment rights our right to petition the government for grievances and our right to due process of law to which I object. I therefore respectfully demand that the BAAQMD order the City and County of San Francisco to immediately order Lennar cease and desist further construction activities at the Parcel A site until the BAAQMD completes its CEQA analysis on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan and so that the public will be afforded its lawfully required opportunity to provide oral and written comments on the plan. Finally, I ask that any person participating at today's hearing be provide notice of an opportunity to comment on the resulting CEQA analysis. Contrary to the APCO's claim in his October 22, 2007 report to the committee that the District "concluded that the levels of asbestos present in the air did not constitute a significant public health risk" it is a well established fact that asbestos dust is very dangerous. On pages 173-174 of Work is Dangerous to Your Health (Paperback) 1973, by Jeanne M. Stellman and Susan M. Daum, the authors state: Asbestos dust has another, even more serious effect: it causes body cells to turn cancerous. Scientists do not know exactly why this happens. The reason may be the long residence of the dust in the lungs, or the ability of asbestos to adsorb other harmful chemicals onto its surface. The surface of asbestos fibers may hold carcinogenic (cancer-producing) chemicals in contact with the body's cells, which become malignant many years later. Workers develop cancers after at least 20 to 30 years have elapsed. Asbestos can cause cancer in several parts of the body. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the membrane lining of the chest or abdomen. Normally this membrane is microscopically thin and acts to lubricate the walls of the chest and abdomen so that the lungs and intestines can move without rubbing or friction. In mesothelioma the lining becomes thickened and the chest or abdomen fills with fluid. Eventually the cancer overgrows the body, the way a weed overgrows a garden, and kills the victim. There is no known cure, and 'the cancer usually cannot be removed surgically. Mesothelioma is believed to occur only after exposure to asbestos. Prior to the introduction of asbestos into our society at the turn of the century, mesothelioma was so rare that it was unheard of by most doctors. Then the only cases appeared to result from exposure to natural deposits of asbestos, or to asbestos-rich soil in farming country. Mesothelioma can result from small doses of asbestos, well below the current threshold limit. There are reports of mesotheliomas resulting from only one day of work in a shipyard, or developing in asbestos workers' wives who were exposed when washing their husbands' work clothes. Insulation workers get mesothelioma whether they smoke or not. One in 10 asbestos-insulation workers dies of mesothelioma. [Emphasis added] Mr. Brown informed me that the stationary source committee discussed taking enforcement action against Lennar BVHP for their violations by fining them $25,000 per day for over a year of time elapsed when they where in violation, but nothing about any stop work order to Lennar's continuing development activities or further mitigation measures for wind born asbestos containing dust once construction at the site has stopped. My review of the APCO's Report of the Stationary Source Committee Meeting of October 29, 2007 attached on the District board's November 7, 2007 agenda fails to recommend any enforcement action against the City and County of San Francisco's redevelopment project on Parcel A by Lennar Bay View Hunters Point, LLC. I am concerned that no enforcement action is forthcoming, and that the failure to conduct a proper environmental review on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan and to provide appropriate mitigation measures to control the spread of asbestos containing dust from the large volume of soil recently disturbed by Lennar BVHP's construction activities to date after the grading ceases at the project site. No watering and other dust control activities are being provided for areas during periods of wind gusts over the un-watered asbestos containing soil which are then being blown in to the adjacent Bay View Hunters Point community. Mr. Brown was told by you at the October 29, 2007 stationary source committee meeting that you would be contacting us (CARE) regarding our outstanding complaint with the District, and provide us a response to our "demand that the BAAQMD order the City and County of San Francisco to immediately order Lennar cease and desist further construction activities at the Parcel A site until the BAAQMD completes its CEQA analysis on the Asbestos Dust Mitigation Plan and so that the public will be afforded its lawfully required opportunity to provide oral and written comments on the plan" I look forward to discussing this matter with you at your earliest convenience. I request you respond to this request within seven calendar days or I will be forced to seek legal action against the District. Respectfully submitted,
Michael E. Boyd President (CARE) |
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