Many residents of San Francisco’s posh Marina district are packing their bags and taking a temporary hiatus from their homes at the urging and expense of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The utility is providing the housing so that it can clean up the remains of toxic chemicals from the 19th and 20th centuries.
In February 2010, PG&E voluntarily began investigating and testing the soil in the Marina district as well as the tourist-heavy Fisherman’s Wharf. The company was looking for any toxic residue that might have been left by PG&E’s former coal gas facilities, the last of which were destroyed by the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Although the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which was consulted during the investigation, found residents were unlikely to come into contact with any contamination, PG&E said it wanted to responsibly clean up its old mess to ensure the community and the environment’s protection.
“While results to date indicate there is not a current health concern … under existing conditions, results in some locations may warrant cleanup activities,” said spokeswoman Nicole Liebelt.
Though PG&E has been actively seeking input from residents, not everybody is looking to learn about what is happening. Kat Anderson, vice president of the Marina Community Association, said, “There was trickiness to it, because property owners that were affected by it didn’t want to know too much, because then they would have to disclose the information and it might lower their property value. Another concern was that we all knew the stuff was in the Bay, and when we asked what they were doing about that, they were a little vague.”
Liebelt said PG&E is working with the S.F. Recreation and Park Department to determine what, if any, action needs to be taken to protect the Bay.
Main image credit: Asmodehn