The toxic chemicals in storm water end up in the sediments, which already are heavily contaminated. Contaminated sediments can poison fish and threaten human health as the chemicals travel up the food chain. The main metals found in the discharges were copper and zinc.

Neighbors of the shipyard attended February’s Regional Board meeting, prepared to tell the Board how pollution from shipbuilding activities has impacted their use of the Bay.

However, the Regional Board granted NASSCO a one-month extension to their appeal, threatening the community’s chances to share their input. Because the March meeting was scheduled to take place in Temecula, most community members could not afford to take the day off to travel to the meeting. To address this problem, EHC videotaped community testimony and presented it to the Regional Board.

NASSCO attorneys took an adversarial tone, cross-examining community members who had given testimony and arguing that the toxic discharges had no effect on the health of the Bay.

"Without any credible evidence, NASSCO’s paid scientist testified that more than 400,000 gallons of toxic storm water has zero impact on the Bay," said Capretz. "I wonder how the marine life in the Bay would respond to this outrageous assertion?"

The Regional Board was not swayed by NASSCO’s arguments and enforced the terms of the storm water discharge permit by levying this fine. NASSCO and Continental Maritime had challenged the original shipyard storm water discharge permit; however a San Diego Superior Court Judge upheld the tough pollution controls in October 1999.

San Diego Bay is one of the crown jewels of San Diego. But its beauty is tarnished by what lies beneath its surface.

A host of toxic chemicals including copper, zinc, mercury, PCBs, petroleum solvents, oil and grease, and pesticides lurk at the bottom of the Bay. Most of the contaminated sediments are offshore the commercial shipyards and 32nd Street Naval Station.

On Feb. 21, the Regional Board was slated to adopt sediment cleanup levels for San Diego’s three major commercial shipyards — NASSCO, Southwest Marine and Continental Maritime. But rather than establish levels during its February meeting, the Board ordered the shipyards to perform sediment sampling that will be reviewed by Regional Board staff. The Board will then hold a public hearing to review the findings and take testimony on the issue before establishing cleanup levels. 

The shipyards are fighting for levels that will provide minimal cleanup and will leave a substantial amount of contamination in the Bay. These levels are not protective and would allow impacts to marine life to continue after the cleanup. This was borne out by the opinion of two of the scientists evaluating the issue on the regional board’s independent three-member review panel (the third scientist was named to the panel by the shipyards). They contended that the evidence did not support leaving high levels of toxic chemicals in the Bay. 

The shipyards also argue that the expense of removing all of the contaminated sediments is prohibitive. But their recent profits and lucrative contracts tell a different story. San Diego’s shipyards are experiencing a time of unprecedented economic prosperity and stability. NASSCO recently received a contract worth $630 million. Southwest Marine was just awarded two multiyear contracts worth $155 million for repair and maintenance on Navy ships. 

"For these wealthy companies — all owned by mega-corporations outside San Diego — to advocate for minimal cleanup is shameful and demonstrates poor corporate citizenship. They have profited from operations that wash toxic chemicals into our Bay without having to pay for the damage done to our public resource," said Capretz. "They continue to abuse the community’s generosity in allowing them to utilize the Bay by degrading its health." 

Contaminated sediments poison fish and can threaten human health as the chemicals travel up the food chain. San Diego Bay has been posted for 10 years with warnings about eating Bay fish because of elevated levels of mercury, PCBs and arsenic. 

The establishing of sediment cleanup levels will set the stage for all future cleanup actions, including cleanup at the five "toxic hot spots" identified by the state in San Diego Bay. These five areas — 7th Street Channel, Evans Street Channel, Broadway Street Pier and the mouths of Chollas Creek and Switzer Creek — are so severely contaminated that the Regional Board intends to pursue cleanups at these sites next. The amount of contamination that will be removed will be determined by the levels set at the shipyards.