Two words...

...you never want to hear in relation to a new ballpark. Toxic hazard.

Toxic hazard creates bump in road to new A's ballpark

The scope of Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff's Fremont ballpark village continues to widen, as new records reveal his pursuit of a fourth piece of land beyond the initial 143 acres he intends to buy from Cisco Systems. But city officials say there's one property in particular he needs to address to remove a potential hazard.

Just across the street from the envisioned ballpark village site sits Scott Specialty Gases, a distributor of highly toxic materials used in semi-conductor manufacturing. Fremont officials advised Wolff last year that he'd need to either relocate the plant or find another way to mitigate the potential hazard posed by a toxic gas cloud floating over a ballpark filled with 32,000 people.

``It's easier to relocate than try to mitigate for an open-air stadium,'' said Jill Keimach, Fremont's community development director, who began talking to the A's about the Scott Gas issue last April in early talks about the potential ballpark development.

Wolff and representatives of Scott Gas declined comment.

Found the story at ballparkdigest.com.