EPA Sweep Includes Sites Near Schools - Education Week - October 22, 1997

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EPA Sweep Includes Sites Near Schools

From lead-filled soil to polluted water to landfills, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency estimates that there are 68 Superfund sites in or around

schools that have yet to be completely cleaned up.

According to the EPA:

In the mountains of Mintern, Colo., a middle school sits next to

lead-contaminated wetlands that served as a dumping ground for mining

operations in the 1850s.

Summer classes were halted in one Florida school this year after a nearby

chemical company leaked elemental phosphorous into the air, setting off

mini-explosions.

In Gaston County, N.C., a school was hooked up to the city's water system

after a dry cleaning operation chucked chemical waste into local wells,

polluting what had been the school's water supply.

" Hazardous-waste sites are a blight on the communities, and we need to get

these under control, " says Mical, an EPA spokeswoman, who adds that,

as well as potential hazards near schools, 10 million children in the United

States live within four miles of a toxic-waste dump.

Not everyone is as alarmed by that prospect as the EPA, though.

Sometimes people overestimate environmental threats, says Green, the

director of environmental studies at the Reason Public Policy Institute, a

Los Angeles-based think tank.

" Unless kids are getting into the Superfund site or there are chemicals that

can migrate to where the children are, the chances of risk from that event

are very, very low, " he says.

In an effort to prevent children from being exposed to potential hazards in

the first place, EPA Administrator Carol Browner established the agency's

first office of children's health earlier this year to focus her agency's

efforts on the risk to children from hazardous-waste sites and to educate

the public on how to prevent exposure to toxic materials.

Children and infants are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards,

child-health experts say. They may be more susceptible to the negative

effects of air pollution, for example, because they breathe much faster than

adults and can take in more contaminated air, according to Dr. Ruth Etzel,

the chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on

environmental health.

Dr. Etzel, a pediatrician, adds that, because of their small stature,

infants and children are more likely to inhale chemicals such as mercury

that are heavier than air and linger closer to the ground. Because they are

still growing, children also tend to drink and eat more than adults relative

to their size and are, therefore, prone to ingesting a greater proportion of

food or water-borne impurities, she says.

" Hopefully, increased awareness of how children differ from adults will lead

to more prevention of environmental problems, " Dr. Etzel says.

Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, giving

the EPA the authority to regulate hazardous waste and issue rules on its

treatment and storage. In 1980, Congress established the Superfund program,

through which the EPA has overseen the cleanup of 493 Superfund sites.

Many of the contaminated areas developed as a result of past ignorance about

the harmful effects of certain materials, the EPA says. The remaining sites

were brought about by violations of dumping codes or environmental

accidents. The EPA pays for cleanup efforts when the parties are bankrupt or

defunct, but in 75 percent of the Superfund sites, the responsible party

foots the bill.

Ms. Browner pledged this year to accelerate the pace of the cleanup effort

and to complete work on 900 of the 1,206 existing Superfund sites by the end

of 2000. The Clinton administration had requested $2.1 billion from Congress

this year--a 50 percent increase in the Superfund program's budget--to

accomplish that task.

But earlier this month the House and Senate approved an appropriations bill

that would provide only $1.5 billion for the Superfund program. The bill was

awaiting President Clinton's signature last week.

Some critics in Congress voted against fully funding the Superfund program,

because they consider it bloated and inefficient. Projects take too long,

and are too expensive and bureaucratic, say some congressional critics who

may lead an effort to overhaul the Superfund program later this year.

" Projects to clean toxic-waste sites haven't been completed because [the

EPA] has unreasonable and unrealistic standards, " said Wilcox, a

spokesman for Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, who chairs the House Ways and Means

Committee.

EPA officials said this month that they will continue their accelerated pace

of eradicating environmental hazards, particularly those near schools, while

Congress debates the program's fate.

" We are going to clean up as many as we can, " Ms. Mical said.

--JESSICA PORTNER

© 1997 Editorial Projects in Education