Board certifies India Basin EIR despite community air-quality objections; development agreement advances on first reading

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Oct. 16 certified the final environmental impact report (EIR) for the India Basin mixed‑use project and then advanced the implementing ordinances and a development agreement on first reading after a lengthy, contested public hearing.

The vote to certify the EIR was 10–1 (Supervisor London Breed Cohen voted no), after repeated public testimony from Bayview Hunters Point residents, community groups and small‑business owners who raised sharply critical concerns about localized air pollution during construction, historic contamination at nearby shipyard parcels, and potential radioactive or coal‑tar hazards. Appellants and neighborhood advocates urged the board to delay certification so planning staff could return with more robust mitigations.

Opponents said the EIR acknowledged potentially significant and unavoidable air quality impacts for people living in the Bayview and that Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and public‑health experts had identified the neighborhood as overburdened. Bradley Angel of Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice and several residents said that proposed mitigations remain insufficient to prevent breathing hazards for children, seniors and people with respiratory disease. Archimedes Bania, a nearby business owner, said he worried that construction dust and truck emissions would make his customers and employees sick.

Planning staff, the air district and the project sponsor offered a different view. Lisa Gibson of the Planning Department…