Synopsis prepared by Jim Breitlow, CHMM, Secretary NCC-ACHMM

Environmental Remediation at the Presidio of San Francisco

Speaker: Jennifer Coates, Environmental Manager, Presidio Trust

Jennifer Coates, Environmental Manager at the Presidio Trust, presented an overview of historical and current aspects of performing environmental remediation at the Presidio of San Francisco, at the NCC-ACHMM December dinner meeting in Berkeley.

By way of background, the Presidio Trust was created by federal law in 1996 with the mission to preserve and enhance the Presidio as a national park. The Presidio is part of the most visited national park in the country, and is part of the largest urban park in the world. With a unique obligation within the park system, the Presidio is to attain financial self-sufficiency by 2013. The Trust is responsible for approximately 1,500 acres.

Responsibility for environmental remediation of the Presidio was formally transferred from the Army to the Trust in 1999. Remediation is guided by a three-party agreement among the Trust, the Army and the National Park Service. Funded by $100,000,000 conveyed by the Army, the Trust is emphasizing accelerated cleanup, to by completed within five to seven years.

Three programmatic remediation approaches are being pursued currently. ·

• The Superfund approach, under close coordination of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), is addressing such issues as landfills and other disturbed areas that present environmental issues involving primarily metals and polynuclear aromatics. ·
• The petroleum approach, under close coordination with the Regional Water Quality Control Board, is focusing on underground storage tank sites and distribution systems. ·
• The third approach addresses miscellaneous environmental issues such as groundwater monitoring, lead paint in soil, and presently unknown areas of potential contamination.

• First, the Trust emphasizes substantial ongoing interaction with the Army, U.S. Department of the Interior, DTSC, and the Presidio's Remediation Advisory Board (RAB).
• Second, the Trust is following the National Park Service's General Management Plan for the Presidio as much as possible.
• Third, the Trust is seeking to minimize as much as possible the time and money spent on investigating environmental contamination in favor of maximizing the actual cleanup of contaminated sites.
• Fourth, the Trust is focusing on maintaining its very aggressive remediation schedule.
• Finally, they are striving to maintain open lines of communications with all stakeholders.

So far, the Trust points to several successes, including the negotiation of a $100,000,000 cleanup settlement with the Army. The Trust's remediation schedule is accelerated from the Army's 30-year goal to less than 10 years. In addition, the Trust feels that its improved remedial action approaches are more protective of habitats and other natural resource features, and are being implemented at less cost that otherwise would have occurred. Finally, the Trust has established collaborative working relationships with the regulatory agencies, the National Park Service, and the RAB.

Challenges ahead for the Trust include implementing some aspects of the National Park Service's General Management Plan, such as some buildings needing to meet current seismic codes. The lack of involvement by the City also poses some challenges. Still, the Trust is still a very new organization that has grown very rapidly, causing the kind of organizational challenges that come from this experience. Finally, some of the stakeholders in the Presidio have more of a "look-back" vision, while the Trust is chartered to balance preservation with the need to move forward and attain financial self sufficiency for the park.

Ms. Coates concluded her presentation with an overview of individual improvement plans for the several sites of concern at the Presidio.