Green Jobs for Justice: Real solutions for Southeast SF’s future

The long history of environmental injustice in our city’s southeast neighborhoods is no secret.

From Butchertown and tanneries in the late 19^th century to the shipyards, industrial sites and power plants of the post-war era, corporations came to Potrero, Bayview and Hunters Point to power the city’s industries and left their toxic legacies to poison the mostly working-class Black and Brown residents.

Calls for cleanup went unanswered for too long, and racist policy decisions over the last century forced these communities to bear the brunt of pollution through illness, disability and premature death. Even today, in 2024, we have yet to fully address this legacy of environmental racism and injustice – and the imminent effects of climate change will further expose the hazards that were poorly covered up.

We’ve had some successes – one of the proudest moments of my career was working with former Supervisor Sophie Maxwell to finally close the toxic Potrero and Hunters Point Power Plants that were poisoning Black and Brown residents. And soon we’ll be celebrating more than 100 new units of affordable housing on the rehabilitated former Potrero Power Plant site.

But the Hunters Point Shipyard remains, to this day, one of the most hazardous Superfund sites in America. Recent work, including a 2021 Civil Grand Jury report, has called into question the efficacy of the Navy’s remediation efforts and raised new questions as to whether climate change and rising seas could further expose residents to buried toxins. This, in addition to the dozens of other contaminated sites along the waterfront, pollution from freeways and the Southeast Sewage Treatment Plant, all lead to significantly worse health outcomes for longtime Bayview residents.

I’ve spent my entire career as an environmental advocate and I am ready to bring the full weight of that experience to bear in finally addressing our city’s legacy of environmental injustice. While other city leaders are actively taking us backwards on these issues – exemplified by Mayor Breed and City Attorney Chui’s deeply misguided and dangerous lawsuit against the EPA – I have plans in place to move the city forward in cleaning up and protecting neighborhoods that have been left behind.

I’ll direct a full, independent audit of the Shipyard cleanup and lead a citywide effort to test for and fully mitigate the hazardous waste that continues to plague our southeast neighborhoods so that residents aren’t afraid to let their children play outside and in their own backyards.

And, as we prepare our city for climate change, I will make sure we don’t neglect the southeast side of the city. The current multi-billion-dollar draft plan for bolstering our seawall and protecting our city from rising seas does not include protections for Bayview Hunters Point. We cannot once again sacrifice the survival of these vital neighborhoods, and I will work tirelessly with the Port, as well as regional, state and federal agencies to make sure our climate planning protects low-income communities of color, and not just Chase Center and downtown.

In addition, communities impacted by historical environmental racism should be the first to benefit from our push to a green economy. My “Green Jobs for Justice” initiative will train and connect residents of all ages, in communities like Bayview Hunters Point, to good-paying jobs in clean energy and climate-related industries so that we can both make San Francisco a global leader in these fields and ensure that Black and Brown residents benefit from the billion-dollar industries of the future. Those jobs will ensure that local residents will learn the skills and have the opportunity to take charge of climate proofing our city’s homes, streets and infrastructure – as well as building our clean energy grid – so that the Potrero and Bayview Hunters Point neighborhoods reclaim their place as vibrant, healthy communities well into the next century.

Aaron Peskin is a longtime environmentalist, President of the Board of Supervisors and a candidate for mayor. He currently represents District 3 on the Board of Supervisors. Learn more and get involved at AARON2024.com.

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