Superfund sites require full EPA funding

industrial areas.

The Valleycrest landfill is much the same with contaminated soil and groundwater with hazardous chemicals. Residents with affected drinking-water wells have necessarily been connected to the public water supply.

In all, there are 35 Superfund sites across Ohio in both rural and urban areas. All of these sites pose threats to adjacent neighborhoods, human health and nearby waterways. On the tour we prayed for the healing of the land and for the Environmental Protection Agency and others to clean up hazardous material contamination and restore communities.

Imagine living in a neighborhood so tarnished that an elementary school had to be closed and then demolished, and now a vacant lot exists there today; where trees cannot be planted without risking puncturing the manmade seal that keeps the contaminated soil contained and away from anything living. This was just one place we witnessed on our prayer tour. We also visited a neighborhood where residents must have their basements continuously ventilated to keep cancer-causing fumes from permeating their houses.

Imagine living near a former rock quarry where 43,000 55-gallon drums were dumped at night, then shot full of holes, mashed with bulldozers, covered with dirt and abandoned. For years, children played there, not knowing what was under the grass and soil — until a 12-foot fence was erected, video monitors placed on site and prominent signs posted that say: “No Trespassing.”

The factories that contaminated the earth in these neighborhoods have been sold or closed. The owners apparently made their money and moved on. Now, only the EPA has the leverage to force them to pay for the necessary cleanups. Neighborhood residents can’t move because their houses are worth so little now, so they live with the constant threat of cancer.

For these reasons, during our tour, we prayed. We had to. While some may scoff at prayer to bring solutions, I consider prayer to be a great power, the greatest awareness builder and relationship reconciler I know. Especially done where two or more are gathered, prayer is a profound source of good. And no one would dispute that our country’s Superfund sites are in much need of good.

In the coming days and months as Congress shapes key budget decisions regarding environmental issues, I urge members to remember the vital role EPA plays in ensuring that toxic places like the ones we visited will be cleaned up. The Earth is God’s creation and we who have tarnished it must restore it so that God’s people can once again live abundant lives in these neighborhoods. The EPA’s mission is to protect the environment and human health, and Congress should ensure that the agency be fully funded and insist that Administrator Scott Pruitt uphold his obligation to properly shepherd the EPA in its mission.

We in the religious community will continue our faithful commitment to prayer for the healing of the earth and vulnerable neighborhoods across America. Our faith in so many ways is about guardianship of God’s creation and our communities’ health. We will be praying that the EPA is able and willing to do its job and place human health on its sacred pedestal and that the agency vigorously works to restore the life that reigned before toxicity took up residence in Ohio neighborhoods and others nationwide.

I ask for your prayers as well.