Mountain State Times

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, heading the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, facilitated a recent hearing in Washington, D.C. The discussions focused on finding ways to enhance the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund program's efficiency.

During the hearing, Chairman Capito sought insights into factors causing delays and increased costs in Superfund cleanups. She also inquired about actionable steps that could be adopted from state and volunteer efforts to provide certainty for communities impacted by these cleanups. Chairman Capito also emphasized the bipartisan agreement on improving the Superfund program's effectiveness.

The hearing included testimonies from experts with firsthand experience in managing Superfund and other environmental cleanup projects.

Robert Fox, responding to Chairman Capito's inquiry about remediation plans, stated, “There are very known ways to evaluate what the risk is at the site, and how to clean them up. Some sites are more complicated than others, but those general principles that I mentioned, about knowing who's exposed, knowing what they're exposed to, and eliminating those pathways – I don't want to use the wrong term – but it's not rocket science. We’ve been doing this for a long time. What happens is, the process is so cumbersome, the reports, the back and forth on scientific stuff. It's not a science project where you have to study every molecule. You can get there much faster, get a remedy selected.”

Comparing costs, Chairman Capito questioned Steven Radel regarding cleanup efforts under different programs. Radel commented, “In 2022 in Indiana, the Superfund site, if we had done that cleanup under the voluntary program of Indiana, versus how we did it under the Superfund program, just my consulting costs alone, and to some extent, my legal costs, probably two times more doing it on the Superfund site than if we were in that same work under a voluntary program.”

The conversation also touched upon community concerns surrounding Superfund sites. Chairman Capito noted that cleaned sites hold economic development potential but are hindered by prolonged cleanup times.

Robert Fox elaborated, “I agree with you 100%, I see it over and over again. Communities are frustrated because the potential exists for a win, win, win. Redevelopment of the site, protective of their human health and the environment, and the longer it goes on, they become distrustful. They become distrustful of EPA, they become distrustful of the private parties that are doing the work, and it feeds upon itself. Speeding up the process will get this back to productive use, and eliminate the exposure of these communities, and they will eliminate that distrust.”

Closing the session, Chairman Capito remarked on the successful bipartisan effort, saying, “I would like to say just in closing, that I think, first of all, this has been an excellent hearing because you’re all so knowledgeable on the issue, having lived it. But I think we have good, bipartisan agreement here that the system is broken. We’ve put more money in this, recently, and we want to see it result in the completion of these projects as much as you do. So, let’s work together to try and find a solution. Hopefully we can ameliorate some of the problems that have been identified today.”

For further details on Chairman Capito’s questions and opening statement, relevant video links have been made available.