EPA Working on the Yosemite Slough Cleanup Plan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached two settlements with several parties to begin cleanup of Yosemite Slough, an inter-tidal water channel in the Bayview District of San Francisco.

The site contains high levels of contaminants, especially PCBs and lead, which are hazardous for the plants and animals that live in the slough.

The Yosemite Slough site is approximately 1,600 feet long and 200 feet wide and located between Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to the north and Candlestick Point State Recreational Area to the south.

Depending on the tide, the site is exposed as a mudflat or covered with 3 to 6 feet of bay water. Sources of the contaminated sediment at the site include past industrial and commercial activities, fill material placed along the slough, and urban stormwater runoff.

EPA is using the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund, to guide the cleanup of the Yosemite Slough site. During 2012 and early 2013, EPA developed a cleanup plan, which was released for a formal public comment period in August 2013 and finalized in an Action Memorandum in March 2014.

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