EPA Faces Challenges In Implementing First Superfund Equity Review

摘要

EPA is facing challenges in implementing its first-ever environmental justice review of a Superfund cleanup plan, with one potentially responsible party (PRP) arguing the document incorrectly finds "disproportionate" harm to affected groups, and a collection of community organizations saying the analysis isn't sufficiently reflected in the cleanup plan. A group of PRPs also questions whether the review's recommendations should influence a cleanup decision because environmental justice is not specifically included in decision criteria under the Superfund law and the National Contingency Plan. Doing so might "add a possibly unlimited suite of otherwise-unauthorized measures to gamer greater acceptance from tribes, the state, or the community," the PRPs say. The analysis looks at potential equity effects from remediating Seattle's Lower Duwamish Waterway, a 5-mile industrial river contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins/furans, carcinogenic polyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and arsenic.