Environmental groups frustrated with stalled Richmond Superfund site cleanup

On the 37th day of the federal government shutdown, about two dozen Richmond residents and environmentalists met at Easter Hill United Methodist Church to discuss the cleanup of the United Heckathorn Superfund Site.

The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring and decontaminating the site, which includes the Lauritzen Channel (pictured above) in Richmond’s Inner Harbor and an adjacent section of land. The federal government shutdown has delayed the development of an agency-approved cleanup plan. However, Richmond residents at last Thursday’s meeting said a lack of urgency and transparency around the cleanup is nothing new.

The EPA first attempted to remove the carcinogenic pesticides dieldrin and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane in the 1990s by dredging sediments from the channel and laying a concrete cap over the land portion to contain toxic substances, but a 2016 study showed that toxins remained in soil, sediments, water, and tissues of marine organisms, so the agency went back to the drawing board. 

Early this year, the EPA launched a robust community consultation process and proposed a timeline for developing a second cleanup plan. It promised to lead six open community meetings and additional meetings with representatives from the environmental nonprofits Richmond Shoreline Alliance, SF Baykeeper and the Sierra Club. The EPA planned to release the plan for public feedback in early 2026.

At the first five meetings, EPA representatives shared information about the Superfund process and details about the site’s history, contaminants and resulting health risks. They told how the site was home to the United Heckathorn Chemical Co. from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. The company was one of several in the area that manufactured or shipped pesticides, including DDT, which the federal government banned in 1972, and dieldrin, which was banned the following decade. Both pose a plethora of health risks — from cancer and respiratory issues to damaged reproductive and nervous systems.

Last month, the EPA was supposed to hold the sixth and final community meeting about ridding those chemicals from the Lauritzen Channel, which feeds into the San Francisco Bay. But the meeting has been pushed back to January. 

Feeling left out

An EPA spokesperson said the delay was agreed to by community partners, given the government shutdown. Environmentalists involved in these conversations said uncertainty over if and when EPA employees involved in the project would be furloughed during the shutdown was the deciding factor.

Residents and environmental groups said that they felt frozen out of meaningful dialogue even before the shutdown. 

“The regulatory agency staff… are not telling us anything about the proposed cleanup plan, they are adamant,” said Janet Johnson, Richmond Shoreline Alliance coordinator.

This prompted RSA, the Sierra Club and SF Baykeeper to draw up a separate cleanup plan based on consultations with engineers, environmental scientists, former government workers and the community. They propose draining the Lauritzen Channel, then removing all contaminated soil, sediment, rocks and industrial debris. 

More than two months after submitting the plan to the EPA, the coalition has received no response to the proposal. The agency told Richmond Confidential that the government now plans to release its plan in the first half of next year. 

Without divulging the government’s plan, an EPA spokesperson stated in an email that “the EPA’s focus has been, and will continue to be, fulfilling the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment by cleaning up the marine sediment area of the United Heckathorn site.”

The pace of the cleanup process has been a source of frustration for residents, who note that the neighborhoods nearest the site are low income and predominantly Black and Latinx communities. 

“If it was another area, would it have been 30 years to take care of it? I don’t think so,” said Linda Whitmore, a Santa Fe neighborhood council member, at Thursday’s meeting. 

Disposal remains a problem

Residents also raised concerns about where any contaminated material would be disposed of. When the channel was first dredged in the 1990s, Richmond journalist Vernon Whitmore followed the dredged material to a landfill in the Arizona desert. He said he was shocked to see the landfill bordered a Native American reservation.

“The dumpsite is dirty and dusty. The wind is plowing. That made me think, they’re breathing in all this toxic dust,” Whitmore said. “It was really sad.” 

Toxic compounds like dieldrin and DDT never break down. Neither the earlier EPA plan nor the community’s proposed plan has a solution to the disposal problem.

Johnson, of the Shoreline Alliance, urged those in attendance at the meeting to keep pushing the cleanup process forward. 

“Especially in light of the challenges posed by climate change and sea level rise, our community must advocate strongly for the complete removal of all contaminated materials,” she said. “This is not just an environmental issue. It’s about ensuring the health and safety of our community for generations to come.”

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