Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 20 november 2019
GAO: 60% of Superfund sites at higher risk in climate change

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER most pressing problems. by hazardous waste be- Superfund operators daily that our communities and
Associated Press "Most of the threats from ing dumped, left out in the prevent tons of toxic sludge our first responders" in hur-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The climate change are 50 to open or otherwise improp- from pouring into the Sac- ricanes and other disasters
worsening wildfires, floods 75 years out," Wheeler said erly managed. That num- ramento River system, "may be exposed to con-
and hurricanes of climate then, rejecting conclusions ber does not include Su- source of one-fifth of the taminants someone left
change threaten at least by scientists that damage perfund sites owned by the state's water. decades prior," Young said
60% of U.S. Superfund sites, to climate from fossil fuel Defense Department and One major wildfire last year Friday.
and efforts to strengthen emissions already is mak- other federal agencies. overran the Iron Mountain The EPA's current five-year
the hazardous waste sites ing natural disasters fiercer At least 945 of the sites are Superfund site, nearly de- strategic plan does not in-
are stalling in some vulner- and more frequent. in areas identified as at stroying its water-treatment clude goals or strategies
able regions as the Trump for handling growing risks
administration plays down under climate change,
the threat, a congressional the GAO report said. The
watchdog agency says. most recent previous five-
The Environmental Protec- year plan, under President
tion Agency responded Barack Obama, listed ad-
to Monday's report of the dressing climate change as
Government Accountabili- one of four main strategic
ty Office by rejecting many goals. Obama-era plans
of its findings. That includes specifically addressed cli-
dismissing GAO investiga- mate change's impact for
tors' recommendation that Superfund sites, the investi-
the agency and Adminis- gators said.
trator Andrew Wheeler ex- The current EPA said in a
plicitly state that the EPA's statement Monday it rec-
mission includes dealing ognizes the importance of
with climate change and making the toxic waste sites
its increased risk of disasters "resilient" against weather
breaching Superfund sites. extremes. "The Agency has
Assistant EPA administrator taken measures to include
Peter Wright largely avoid- vulnerability analyses and
ed the words "climate adaption planning into Su-
change" in his formal re- In this Nov. 30, 2017 photo, boats are shown moored in the Anclote River near the old Stauffer perfund activities," the EPA
sponse to the GAO and in chemical plant site in Tarpon Springs, Fla. Associated Press said.
a statement Monday. "The A GAO review of climate-
EPA strongly believes the The GAO review comes greater risk of floods, storm system and risking a mas- change-minded planning
Superfund program's exist- after a 2017 review by The surge from major hurri- sive, poisonous explosion if for keeping the arsenic,
ing processes and resourc- Associated Press found canes, wildfires or sea-level flames reached the heart mercury, PCBs and other
es adequately ensure that that 2 million people in the rise of 3 feet (0.9 meters) or of the mine, the GAO said. dangerous waste at Su-
risks and any effects of se- U.S. live within a mile (1.6 more, the GAO says. Firefighters used special perfund sites away from
vere weather events, that kilometers) of 327 Super- Broken down, that includes gear to stop the flames. the public and environ-
may increase in intensity, fund sites in areas prone 783 Superfund sites at Site operators have since ment found big differ-
duration, or frequency, are to flooding or vulnerable greater risk of flooding un- swapped out PCB pipes ences among the 10 EPA
woven into risk response to sea level rise caused by der climate change, 234 carrying away the toxic regions nationally. Officials
decisions at nonfederal climate change. The AP Superfund sites at high or waste for flame-resistant at four EPA regions were
NPL sites," Wright said. analyzed national flood very high risk from wildfires steel ones. able to point to changes
The GAO report emphasiz- zone maps, census data and 187 sites vulnerable to And east of Houston along they'd made at Superfund
es the challenges for gov- and EPA records in the storm surge from any Cat- the San Jacinto River, re- sites to try to adapt to cli-
ernment agencies under wake of Hurricane Harvey, egory 4 or 5 hurricane, the cord rains under Hurricane mate change, the report
President Donald Trump, which flooded more than researchers said.Senate Harvey dissolved part of a said. At the other EPA re-
who belittles the science of a dozen Superfund sites Democrats asked for the temporary cap on a 40- gions, however, officials
climate change. in the Houston area, with Gao review. A dozen se- acre (16-hectare) Super- said they had not looked
Wheeler's highest-profile breaches reported at two. nior congressional Demo- fund site, exposing con- at climate-change projec-
public remarks on the mat- At the time, an EPA spokes- crats on Monday urged the taminated material. EPA tion for flooding or rainfall
ter came in a March CBS man derided AP's reporting agency to follow the GAO testing there afterward to gauge risks at Superfund
interview, when Wheeler, as "fear-mongering." recommendations. found dioxin at more than sites, investigators said.
a former coal lobbyist, GAO investigators looked "By refusing to address the 2,000 times the maximum In the EPA region covering
called global heating "an at 1,571 Superfund sites worsening impacts of cli- recommended level. Texas and four other south-
important change" but — locations around the mate change – from flood- Superfund sites in that central states — a region
not one of the agency's country contaminated ing to wildfires to more fre- coastal part of Texas "are that includes the Gulf of
quent extreme weather incredibly vulnerable," said Mexico and Houston and
events – at our nation's Su- Jackie Young, head of the other oil and petrochemi-
perfund sites, this EPA is put- Texas Health and Environ- cal hubs frequently bat-
ting public health at risk," ment Alliance advocacy tered by hurricanes — of-
Sen. Tom Carper of Dela- group. While the EPA has ficials "told us that they do
ware, the ranking Demo- since directed that the tox- not include potential im-
crat on the Senate's Envi- ic waste at the damaged pacts of climate change
ronment and Public Works site be moved to higher effects or changes in the
Committee, said. ground, other Superfund frequency of natural disas-
GAO investigators cited sites in the area are still at ters into their assessments,"
California's 150-year-old risk, Young said. the GAO investigators
Iron Mountain mine, where "It's highly unacceptable wrote.q