More than half of the heavily contaminated US toxic waste sites that are designated for the Superfund cleanup program overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) face new threats from wildfires and flooding due to climate change, according to a report by the General Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2019) More than half of the heavily contaminated US toxic waste sites that are designated for the Superfund cleanup program overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) face new threats from wildfires and flooding due to climate change, according to a report by the General Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday."Federal data suggests about 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by EPA are in areas that may be impacted by wildfires and different types of flooding - natural hazards that may be exacerbated by climate change," the report said.
The report recommended that EPA provide data and instructions on dealing with climate change to on-site managers responsible for site clean-up operations.
The GAO report identified 945 sites in the Superfund program, which targets the United States' most toxic sites for cleanup that could be impacted by wildfires or flooding.
