Senior Official at Bay Area Air District Steps Down Following Alleged Racist, Sexist Incident

Update, 10:30 a.m. Monday (Jan. 30, 2023): Damian Breen, a senior official at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, retired from his position effective Jan. 13, according to an agency representative. The announcement comes after Breen, who worked for the district for 24 years, was accused of uttering a racist, sexist slur during a confrontation with a security guard at the agency's headquarters.

Veronica Eady, the district's senior deputy executive officer of policy and equity, is now overseeing operations and enforcement duties, the agency said.

Original story, Dec. 6, 2022: One of the top officials at the agency that regulates Bay Area pollution is on paid leave after he allegedly used a racist, sexist slur in a confrontation with a security official at the district’s headquarters in early October.

Damian Breen, senior deputy executive officer of operations at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, told the official during a brief exchange Oct. 5, “I don’t have time for this, you Black b----," according to documents obtained by KQED through a California Public Records Act request.

Days after the alleged incident involving Breen, who is white, and the security employee, who is Black, an air district representative confirmed he was on leave. The agency has declined to provide more information, citing policy not to comment on personnel matters except to confirm employment status. In response, KQED filed the records request, and has since learned details of the incident.

The episode involving Breen, whom the district lists among its half-dozen top executives, comes after a series of changes in the agency's senior leadership.

In recent months, the air district fired Jeff McKay, its chief financial officer. Along with Breen, the agency’s chief administrative officer, Rex Sanders, is currently on leave. Jack Broadbent, the district’s long-time executive officer, retired in June. Last year Brian Bunger, the agency's top lawyer for more than 20 years, also retired, leaving the agency in January.

Breen played a leading role in two of the agency’s higher-profile pollution enforcement actions this year.

In January the air district disclosed that Valero’s Benicia refinery released excessive levels of hazardous chemicals for more than 15 years before the agency discovered the emissions. Breen was the agency’s main voice when it disclosed the releases to the public. He also apologized to Benicia city officials, who were upset it took the agency three years to tell them about the emissions.

In April, the district moved to shut down a set of giant diesel generators that had been used for more than a year and a half to power a major cannabis growing facility in East Oakland, known as Green Sage. Breen was quoted multiple times in news stories and the agency’s press release about its enforcement actions against the company.

The alleged October incident involving Breen was recounted in several documents released in response to KQED's records request. The Oct. 5 encounter, which lasted about 20 seconds, was captured on a building security camera. The video, also obtained through a records request, does not include audio.

The documents include brief incident reports from the security firm serving the Bay Area Metro Center, a Beale Street building that houses the air district and several other regional agencies, and emails from Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate company that manages the center.

Those accounts say Breen and an unidentified woman were walking through a security checkpoint at around 3 p.m. on Oct. 5 when a security guard asked the woman for her badge. Breen showed the guard his badge and told the officer, “She’s with me.” The two then continued down a hallway.

The security director noticed the interaction and told the unidentified woman she had to check in with security on the first floor.

“And who the hell are you to tell me anything?” Breen asked, according to the director’s email.

“I stated to him that I am the security director, and your visitor must check in with security if you would like to show her around the building,” the unidentified director wrote, adding that the woman with Breen said she would leave and started walking away.

“I asked the employee his name and he stated ‘I don’t have time for this you black bitch’ as he was walking to badge his badge on the Harrison garage door leading out near FasTrak hallway,” the email states.

“Damien [sic] was exceptionally rude,” one incident report said.

Hours later, a Cushman & Wakefield employee emailed facilities staff about the incident.

“We had an incident a little while ago with an BAAQMD employee Damien [sic] Breen,” the email said. The incident was also referred to the air district’s head of human resources.

Environmental justice advocates have long pressured the air district to do more to fight environmental racism and support Bay Area communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by pollution. The district has adopted a resolution supporting racial justice and established an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that says the air district is committed to “zero tolerance of all forms of discrimination and harassment.”

Breen could not be reached for comment.

In an email, an air district representative declined to answer several questions about the incident involving him and the causes for changes in agency leadership.

“All personnel matters are confidential,” said spokesperson Kristine Roselius, adding that the district would not make any staff members, including Breen, available for an interview.

“The air district’s commitment to public health, air quality, the global climate and the vigorous enforcement of all air quality regulations continues unabated,” Roselius said.

The agency is getting close to the end of its recruitment process for a new executive officer. The district’s board is expected to interview the final candidates for the position in closed session on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the company that employs the unidentified security official who was the focus of Breen’s alleged actions, Allied Universal, praised her in a statement emailed by Kari Garcia, the firm’s director of public affairs.

“Allied Universal commends our employee’s actions. Our security professionals go through extensive training in dealing with a wide range of situations including de-escalation training,” the statement read.

Correction: This story has been revised to correct attribution to the reports that recount the Oct. 5, 2022, incident at the Bay Area Metro Center building in San Francisco. In addition, the name of a property management employee who played only an incidental role in the episode has been removed.