[CPEO-BIF] "Climate change threatens to spread pollution at Superfund sites" - GAO warns

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Climate change threatens to spread pollution at Superfund sites — report warns

by Kurtis Alexander 
San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
November 18, 2019

When the Carr Fire tore through Northern California last year, burning more than 1,000 homes in and around Redding, it also came dangerously close to setting off an explosion at an old iron mine. The cloud of toxic gas that could have resulted would have been devastating.

The threat was highlighted Monday in a federal watchdog report that claims the Environmental Protection Agency is not doing enough to protect Superfund sites from wildfires and other climate-related disasters.

The report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office says 60% of the nation’s more than 1,500 Superfund sites, areas where contamination is so bad that they require federal attention, are at risk of creating even more pollution because of climate change.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/Climate-change-threatens-to-spread-pollution-at-14844817.php

For the GAO report, go to
https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-73


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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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