Developing East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood Business District means confronting a legacy of contamination
The Almanac
March 13, 2025

"Naomi Goodman, a retired environmental professional with over 40 years of experience characterizing chemical contamination, said that plumes of volatile organic compounds such as trichloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride extend up to 80 feet deep in the groundwater and soil at the Romic site. Investigations conducted between 1985 and 2020, also revealed the presence of metals, polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), dioxins and furans.

“(The site) accepted drums of God knows what kind of solvents,” said Goodman, who has been working with the Sierra Club to advocate for cleanup efforts in East Palo Alto. “They treated them, and, in some cases, stored them in unlined impoundments. (The site is) still highly contaminated.”

Goodman said prolonged exposure to these chemicals could pose serious health effects. 

“VOCs, some of them are cancer-causing, like benzene, others have non cancer health effects, such as damage to the kidney or liver, reproductive health impacts like low birth weight, neurotoxicity, it really depends what chemical you’re talking about,” she said, adding that certain VOCs can cause respiratory problems, as well as nausea and headaches."