Almost a third of the 157 federal facilities designated as superfund sites in the National Priority Priorities list of the United States National Environmental Protection Agency may be at risk of increasing sea level or increased storms, according to a new report by the Agency’s Inspector General.
Many of these places, all military installations, are near population centers and important ecological areas. About three million people live in a mile from a superfund federal site and about 13 million are three kilometers, according to the report.
Superfund sites can be federal, owned or operated on the federal government or private facilities sites. The EPA oversees the cleaning of sites in the federal facilities.
The national and atmospheric national administration classifies the increase in sea level as a global concern, with the rate of acceleration: from 0.06 inches a year for most of the last century to 0.14 inches from 2006 to 2015, according to the report. Sea levels throughout the United States adjacent from 10 to 12 inches by 2050, increasing floods and storm tests, added ..
Critical deterioration
The cleaning remedies that have already been implemented in the federal facilities are susceptible to such extreme weather events, which could also “critically affect” ongoing cleaning efforts, said the Inspector General.
“If the cleaning remedies fail or are affected in a different way, this can lead to the spread of pollutants and increasing the risk of human and environmental exposure of these pollutants,” the report said. This could affect the health, jobs and around millions of North citizens -Americans and waste the federal dollars they already spend to implement the remedies, he added.
First Street research, a non -profit climate risk data company, shows that 2,702 sites are classified into superfund or dangerous waste, Jeremy Porter, head of research on climatic implications, told Enr an email. Of these, 207, around 7.7%, show a risk of moderate or higher flood, said Porter, warning that their data does not separate superfund sites from larger dangerous waste sites.
The inspector -general report indicated the locations of the site using Noaa and National Weather Service Modeling data, identifying 49 of the 157 sites in the federal facilities at risk. The report highlights three regions: Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay, of which they have various federal installation sites and combined representative 26 of the 49 superfund sites in the federal facilities.
The report did not offer any recommendations, but said that it is up to EPA managers to make final decisions on how to move forward. The EPA did not provide a formal response to a report from the report, but staff provided incorporated technical comments.
A spokesman for the General Inspector Office told Enr in an email that this EPA report does not contain recommendations: “The agency is not obliged to respond -and we have not received a response.”
Financing proposed by EPA
The report is presented in the midst of Trump Administration calls to reduce jobs and reduce EPA budget next year to $ 4.2 billion, less than half of its current $ 9.1 billion. The movement would include cuts to the Agency Superfund program. In addition to the annual funding of appropriations, however, the EPA is expected to receive $ 1.6 billion in superfund tax receipts in the year 2026, which are not reflected in the total budget, the administration said in the proposal. Said additional income will support the cleaning and application of superfund.
“The EPA is fully transmitting the Superfund Remedy Program to Superfund Tax for Critical Pre-Construction projects, continuing construction projects and starting new remedy work in list of national priorities to address pollutants, including leads and by and the polyphluoroali of substances (PFAS),” said the agency, which added that Superfund Tax Receipts would support of the Federal Superfund facilities and the emergency response program.
