- Dozens of residents that live or have lived on San Francisco's Treasure Island have filed a class-action lawsuit saying that officials lied to them for years regarding the full scope of the contamination on the island and their subsequent exposure to it.
- The island was once used by the US Navy as a waste dump for contaminants and for nuclear training exercises that resulted in radioactive exposure to the island.
- The lawsuit stipulates that $2 billion be paid in damages from several defendants and that a $6 billion redevelopment currently planned for the island be paused until all toxic substances are confirmed to have been removed.
- The US Navy has attempted to clear the site of contamination multiple times, but new signs of radiation are frequently found. Toxic waste and its effects still linger on the island, $4.
- $4
Forty-seven residents of San Francisco's Treasure Island neighborhood, both current and former, filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against several defendants saying that officials lied to them for years regarding the full scope of the contamination on the island, as reported by the $4
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court, government agencies and private firms misled the island's occupants in declaring the island to be a safe place to live, ultimately exposing them to potential radioactivity and pollution.
The defendants include the Treasure Island Development Authority, representatives of the US Navy, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the San Francisco Health Department, One Treasure Island (formerly known as the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative), housing developers Lennar and FivePoint Holdings LLC, and Tetra Tech EC, an engineering firm $4 at Hunters Point Shipyard, another military-base-turned-housing-development site.
Residents are seeking $2 billion in damages, citing emotional distress induced by "a fear that they will develop cancer," according to the Chronicle. The lawsuit also demands that a long-awaited $6 billion master-plan redevelopment to transform the island - complete with a 8,000 new homes, a hotel, a new ferry terminal, and upscale retailers - be ground to a halt until independent reports confirm a "complete and total remediation of all toxic substances, including all radioactive materials," according to the Chronicle.