EPA faulted on contamination dangers
Government confirms USA TODAY findings over 464 former factory sites.
A government audit confirms many findings of USA TODAY’s 2012 “Ghost Factories” investigation and faults the Environmental Protection Agency for lacking criteria and time limits to screen more than 460 potential lead smelter sites that were first brought to the agency’s attention by a scientific researcher in 2001.
In the past two years the EPA has spent an estimated $9.2 million assessing the risks of lead contamination at the sites, and the report says 50 sites have been identified that pose dangers to human health and the environment. At greatest risk are young children, who can suffer lost intelligence and other irreversible health effects from lead exposure.
The EPA took more than 12 years to complete preliminary assessments of the sites but is now making progress, the EPA Office of Inspector General reported Tuesday. Among the office’s recommendations was that the EPA create a process to better evaluate sites referred to the agency outside of a formal petition process and to establish guidance for addressing those that are in urban settings with multiple potential sources of lead contamination.
“The damage that can result from lead contamination caused many in the EPA, Congress and the media to become appropriately alarmed about whether and how these historical smelter sites were being addressed,” said Carolyn Copper, an assistant inspector general.
The EPA agreed with the recommendations and is working on addressing them by September 2016, the report says.
In April 2012, USA TODAY’s “Ghost Factories” investigation revealed that the EPA was given a list in 2001 of closed lead factories, called smelters, that primarily operated and shut down during the 1930s through the 1960s, before the era of environ- mental regulation. The EPA was warned by the scientific researcher who compiled the list that many of the long-closed factories had likely contaminated the soil in surrounding properties with a toxic layer of lead fallout from their smokestacks — a risk to children playing in the dirt and putting dusty hands and toys in their mouths.
USA TODAY’s examination of all 464 sites on the list found that federal and state regulators had done little to investigate many of the sites or warn thousands of the people in harm’s way.
The series, including videos and a multimedia interactive allowing users to view details of more than 230 sites, is at ghostfactories.usatoday.com.
As of late 2013, the EPA was still assessing five sites; 50 others were referred for cleanups, and the agency determined that 409 need no further action, according to the agency and a spreadsheet detailing each site’s status released to USA TODAY. Just over half of the assessments of the 464 sites have occurred since 2012, the report said. From 2001 to 2012, EPA regional offices annually assessed as few as two and as many as 38 per year, the audit found.
“I’m encouraged that the EPA has made progress in identifying these harmful legacy sites, but more must be done to ensure families know about these sites and can protect their children,” said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D- Ohio.