UC Regents approve environmental report for new UC Berkeley space center on polluted Silicon Valley site | Research And Ideas

The UC Board of Regents unanimously approved an environmental report submitted by UC Berkeley to build the Berkeley Air & Space Center, a 2.3 million-square-foot research and development hub at Moffett Field, near NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley on Wednesday.

The site would include research facilities, a conference center and 300 units of housing and short-term lodging for students and faculty. The proposal will now go to NASA for approval.

The 1,559-page environmental impact report that the regents signed off on found that the project would have “significant and unavoidable impacts” on air quality, water resources and tribal resources in the area. According to the agenda item for the report, campus met with the local Tamien Nation in August about the site.

The report also notes that the Berkeley Air & Space Center could add pressure to the housing market, force workers to endure longer commutes and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Moffett Field was previously the site of a naval air station base before it was transferred to the NASA Ames Research Center. The field has been designated a Superfund site, placing it under an Environmental Protection Agency program that manages severely polluted sites. The field has seen several cleanup efforts from the U.S. Navy and NASA.

“In our most recent graduating class, one-third of the aerospace engineering majors completed an internship at NASA Ames,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons in front of the UC Board of Regents Wednesday. “The Berkeley Air & Space Center represents a unique opportunity to expand UC Berkeley’s leadership and reach in research, in innovation and in workforce development through a long-term collaboration with one of the nation’s premier federal research institutions.”

Like many Superfund sites, the university would be protected from liability for pollution caused during the field’s prior use by the U.S. Navy, said Sarah Quiter, UC Office of the President principal counsel for environment, health and safety, during Wednesday’s meeting. The university, however, would remain legally responsible for any pollution that may be caused by the construction and operation of the Berkeley Air & Space Center.

The land at the Berkeley site would be leased from NASA, and the project would be financed by about $2 billion, consisting primarily of private funding and $1.5 million in university funding. The center will be built in phases, with the first phases expected to be completed in the 2030-31 academic year.

In addition to hosting research, the center will host instructional activities for degree- and certificate-seeking students, according to Berkeley Air & Space Center spokesperson Dione Rossiter. Research and internship opportunities will be made available through NASA and other industry leaders.

“Moffett Field offers proximity to NASA Ames’ talent and unique research infrastructure, including the world’s largest wind tunnel, the Arc Jet Complex, Vertical Motion Simulator and advanced supercomputing facilities, resources that would be difficult to replicate on campus,” Rossiter said in an email.

UC Berkeley will also share Moffett Field with Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures, which leased another portion of the field for its own research facilities in 2014.