After more than 20 years of studies, discussion, negotiation and foot-dragging, it is time to hold accountable those responsible for the blanket of toxic sediments that covers the bottom of San Diego Bay near the NASSCO and BAE/Southwest Marine sites.

On Nov. 9, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board will begin final hearings to determine the cleanup levels of some of the most toxic sediments in San Diego Bay.

Please join Environmental Health Coalition at the hearing. The regional board needs to hear from you that human health, ecological sustainability and environmental justice must be put ahead of greed and exploitation of our precious natural resources.

San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board

9174 Sky Park Court, Suite 100
San Diego, CA
5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health first documented human health risks from eating fish caught in San Diego Bay in a study published in 1990. In 2005, Environmental Health Coalition conducted a survey of fishers on piers near areas of contaminated sediments. Of the 109 fishers interviewed, 96 percent were people of color. Almost two-thirds of the fishers eat their catch and 41 percent said they regularly feed the fish to their children. Recent visits to the fishing piers confirm that little has changed. Families are still using the bay as a source for food.

For more information, please read the recent San Diego Union Tribune commentary written by M. Dan McKirnan, PhD, and Ruth Heifetz, MD, MPH, EHC Board Members and founding members of EHC's Clean Bay Campaign.