The consulting firm Tetra Tech EC Inc. agreed to pay $97 million as part of a settlement to settle civil lawsuits brought by federal authorities that accused the company of wrongdoing in its environmental cleanup work for the former US Navy Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. .
The Pasadena, Calif.-based unit of Tetra Tech Inc. provided radiation remediation services from 2003 to 2014 at the site, which from 1948 to 1969 housed the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory that was used to decontaminate ships exposed to atomic weapons testing and research. the effects of radiation, according to the Navy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies Hunters Point as a Superfund site, and Navy-led cleanup continues on parts of the closed 443-acre site. A portion was transferred to the City of San Francisco for redevelopment in 2004, with efforts to build residential units in the works since about 2011.
Whistleblowers and federal authorities later accused the company of dumping contaminated soil in trenches at the site and misrepresenting the source of soil samples it submitted for testing during its work. Two former Tetra Tech EC executives were sentenced to prison terms for falsifying records, and the company blamed “criminal” employees at the time.
The settlement agreement and consent decree between the company and the US Department of Justice resolve federal claims under the False Claims Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, known as the Superfund Act .
Tetra Tech did not comment on the case to ENR, but said in a Jan. 17 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it made the settlement “to avoid the delay, uncertainty and expense of protracted litigation” and noted that he did not admit any liability.
The firm also noted that the settlement does not resolve other claims filed by private plaintiffs related to the cleanup. Also, in December a federal judge ruled against Tetra Tech in a lawsuit it filed against CH2M Hill Inc., which is now part of Jacobs. Tetra Tech had accused the company and other consultants of producing “junk science” reports related to their work at Hunters Point.
Continuous cleaning
In their latest report on the cleanup released last summer, Navy officials wrote that they were still conducting tests to verify that radiological remedies had been properly implemented. They were also in the process of remediating mercury found in groundwater at part of the site, investigating additional chemicals of concern detected in some areas and evaluating the discovery of radiological objects excavated from part of the site that officials had not previously considered affected radiologically .
Last September, EPA and Navy officials shared plans to remove and remediate the remaining contaminated soil on one of the site’s parcels.
“Under the plan, the Navy will address the sediments surrounding the old shipyard using proven techniques to reduce pollution and help the health of San Francisco Bay,” said Danielle Janda, the Navy’s closure manager. Hunters Point base, in a statement at the time.
