EPA official: government must plan for climate change
Source: Associated Press
EPA official: government must plan for climate change
By MICHAEL BIESECKER
Today
WASHINGTON (AP) A top manager who supervises the Environmental Protection Agency program responsible for cleaning up the nations most contaminated properties and waterways told Congress on Thursday that the government needs to plan for the ongoing threat posed to Superfund sites from climate change.
The testimony by EPA Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Barry Breen before a House oversight subcommittee conflicts with the agencys policy positions under President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax. Breens boss, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, is an ardent fossil fuel promoter who questions the validity of mainstream climate science.
During a hearing Thursday, Rep. Jerry McNerney, a California Democrat, asked Breen whether extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires could damage the highly toxic sites and cause contamination to spread.
We have to respond to climate change, thats just part of our mission set, replied Breen, a career official who leads EPAs Office of Land and Emergency Management. So we need to design remedies that account for that. We dont get to pick where Superfund sites are. We deal with the waste where it is.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/616e88f2d2454762b30eac32f258b191/EPA-official:-government-must-plan-for-climate-change