The United States Department of Energy currently leases land from Stanford University to operate the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). SLAC is located on land both within the City of Menlo Park and unincorporated San Mateo County. The portion of Stanford land in San Mateo County is zoned R-E/S-11 (Residential Estates).
The Regional Water Quality Control Board will be issuing a clean-up order for contaminated soils at SLAC. The Department of Energy would prefer to clean up the land to a level considered acceptable for industrial use. Stanford University would like to see the land cleaned to a higher level, one that would be acceptable for residential use. Stanford has requested that the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors request that the Regional Board require a standard for clean-up that would allow for unrestricted use.
It would seem to be in the best interest of the environment to clean the land at SLAC to a higher standard. The Director of Environmental Health has reviewed this matter and concurs.
Cleaning the land to the higher standard does not dictate any future land use at the site, but it also does not preclude choices to be made by Stanford University and future Boards of Supervisors.
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