Hunter’s Point could face ‘toxic soup’ of contaminants due to climate change
Plans to redevelop the Hunters Point Shipyard, a 638-acre Superfund site on San Francisco’s southeastern shore, have been in the works for decades but have stalled numerous times due to scandal, the continual discovery of toxic materials and years of neglect. Now, one of the largest redevelopment proposals in San Francisco’s history faces a new threat: climate change. Rising sea levels are poised to seep into groundwater in low-lying areas, including Hunter’s Point, a former Naval shipyard and radiological research laboratory, and turn once-buried chemicals into what environmental activists call “a toxic soup” of mobilized contaminants.