Developer Sued for Releasing Asbestos
The San Francisco Chronicle Reports that a development firm building 1,600 new homes at the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been accused by two company executives of allowing clouds of toxic construction dust to escape from the site, exposing neighbors and schoolchildren to potentially harmful, airborne asbestos.
Gary McIntyre and Clementine Clarke say they were retaliated against by Lennar Corporation after they raised questions about toxic dust. McIntyre says he was demoted after talking to the company about their inability to control dust at the site and Clarke claims she was given a poor job performance rating after she complained.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for Lennar, said the allegations in the lawsuit were untrue and maintained that the company has gone to “great lengths” to protect public health. The city health department added that construction dust at Hunters Point does not pose a risk to nearby residents because Lennar has put proper safeguards in place.
The former Hunter Naval Shipyard is a Superfund site due to the presence of massive amounts of toxic contamination. Asbestos is also naturally present in the bedrock found at the site.
In their lawsuit, the executives alleged that after heavy grading of the site began in the spring of 2006, Lennar refused to shut down work, even when monitoring devices showed the asbestos content of construction dust was more than triple the state allowance. At other times, the lawsuit states, monitoring equipment wasn’t functioning properly, and the company had no idea whether it was in compliance or not.
The article noted that the dust often coated nearby homes as well as a small private school near the former base.
Lawyer for the executives, Angela Alioto, accused Lennar of “environmental racism,” saying the firm thought it would escape responsibility for pollution problems because the neighbors included poor people and members of racial minorities, the article quoted.
