EPA’s internal watchdog plans to review how climate change could affect toxic waste sites owned by the federal government.
EPA’s Office of Inspector General said in a project notice that it will launch an evaluation of “potential climate change impacts” for federal facilities deemed Superfund sites. The watchdog office considers mitigating global warming as a top challenge for EPA, which has become the tip of the spear under the Biden administration to address the climate threat.
“Our objective is to determine whether the required Five-Year Reviews for federal facility Superfund sites adequately assess impacts to the continued protectiveness of implemented cleanup remedies from sea-level rise and storm surges caused by climate change,” said the Aug. 13 notice, signed by Gabby Fekete, who is based in the inspector general’s special review office.
The inspector general office’s review will be conducted in EPA’s solid waste office, which is responsible for the Superfund program. The evaluation’s “anticipated benefits” are assessing “potential climate-change-related issues” that could affect cleanup of the federal sites.
