UC Berkeley Press Release
California Department of Toxic Substances Control to take lead in overseeing remediation work at UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station
BERKELEY – The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA) announced last week that the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will take the role as lead regulatory oversight agency for remediation and wetlands restoration work at the University of California, Berkeley's Richmond Field Station.
Prior to the announcement, which was made Thursday, May 12, the lead oversight agency for the Richmond Field Station (RFS) site had been the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. The agencies are now in the process of transferring oversight in accordance with the Cal EPA decision.
The cleanup and restoration at RFS has been managed by the campus's offices of Capital Projects and Environment, Health & Safety. There are no changes to the UC project team anticipated with the new oversight agency.
"We're proud of the work we've accomplished to date in safely but aggressively cleaning up the materials left behind by historic industrial activities in the area," said Mark Freiberg, director of Environment, Health & Safety at UC Berkeley. "We continue to have good working relationships with each of the many regulatory agencies involved and look forward to timely completion of this environmental enhancement under DTSC guidance."
UC Berkeley began remediation work at the RFS in September 2002 to clean up pollution from industrial activities that occurred prior to UC ownership of the land, located in Richmond, Calif. In addition to the careful removal of contaminated materials, UC Berkeley has been restoring the shoreline and habitat known as Western Stege marsh.
The marsh restoration is continuing as planned, and cleanup work is currently scheduled to restart in late summer. Regular project updates will continue to be sent by email to RFS staff, placed on flyers throughout the field station, and posted online.
The Cal EPA also placed DTSC in control of the entire remediation work at the Zeneca/former Stauffer Chemical site, which neighbors the RFS property.