Floods and firestorms can spread toxins from Superfund sites
0Reported today on The Verge
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Reported today in The Verge.
Floods and firestorms can spread toxins from Superfund sites
Wildfires and flooding exacerbated by climate change threaten to unleash contaminants from some of the most polluted sites across the United States, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned in a report publicly released Monday. According to the watchdog agency, about 60 percent of these sites are vulnerable to extreme weather events made worse by a changing climate.
Superfund sites are locations so contaminated that they've been placed on a National Priorities List by the Environmental Protection Agency. Of 1,571 nonfederal Superfund sites spread across the country that the GAO examined, 945 are vulnerable to some of the most extreme effects of climate change. The GAO plotted these 945 climate-vulnerable locations on an interactive map color-coded to show whether each site is threatened by wildfires, storm surge, sea-level rise, or coastal and river flooding.
Asked about the new report, a spokesperson for the GAO tells The Verge that the EPA needs to safeguard the sites, and make sure that the contaminants within their boundaries remain contained. Of particular concern to the GAO are Superfund sites located near big urban centers.
Take the San Jacinto River Waste Pits near Houston, for example. After Hurricane Harvey barreled through the area in 2017, floodwaters eroded an "armored cap" sealing off dioxins and other toxic substances linked to cancer, and liver and nerve damage. After the storm, officials found that dioxin levels in the river sediment nearby was more than 2,000 times higher than what the EPA normally allows. That toxic site is still vulnerable to future storm surges and rising sea levels, according to the GAO report.
The Carr fire, which raged through part