Title: Hundreds of Hazardous Waste Facilities May Face Risks from
Climate Change

Description: There are more than a thousand facilities across the U.S.
that treat, store, or dispose of various types of hazardous waste. Some
of these facilities are located in areas increasingly prone to flooding,
extreme weather events, or wildfires. What's being done to protect them
through these climate-related threats? We find out more from GAO's
Alfredo Gomez.  

Related work: GAO-25-106253, Hazardous Waste: EPA Should Take Additional
Actions to Encourage Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities to
Manage Climate Risks 

Released: November 2024

{Music}

[Alfredo Gomez:] There are many facilities around the country that are
located in areas that could be affected by these climate change risks.

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for
fact based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. There are more than a
thousand facilities across the U.S. that treat, store, or dispose of
various types of hazardous waste. Many of these facilities face the same
risks from climate change that we all do. Some are located in areas
increasingly prone to flooding or extreme-weather events like
hurricanes, and some are in regions where wildfires are increasingly
destructive. So, what's being done to guard these facilities from
climate-related risks so that hazardous waste doesn't leak into our
environment? We'll find out from GAO's Alfredo Gomez, an expert on
climate and environmental issues, who lead work for a new report on this
topic. Thanks for joining us.

[Alfredo Gomez:] Thank you for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] So, Alfredo, can you give us an idea of what the danger
is here? What are the risks?

[Alfredo Gomez:] So these facilities store a variety of different kinds
of hazardous waste. And a lot of these waste are byproducts from
industrial processes. For example, they're discarded solvents from
industrial cleaning, they're wastes from chemical manufacturing. Now,
these wastes can be extremely harmful to humans and the environment as
they are highly toxic. They can also readily catch fire. They can also
explode or corrode and dissolve materials. And, as you can imagine,
we're concerned when there are accidental releases because they could
contaminate our drinking water, for example, and they could lead to
illness.

[Holly Hobbs:] How many of these facilities are at risk and where are
they located?

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yeah. So there are over a thousand facilities and
they're located throughout the country in every state. And we found that
more than 700 of these facilities, or about 68%, are located in areas
that could be affected by these climate change events. These are, for
example, located in places that are affected by flooding, that are
affected by wildfire, or are in coastal areas that could be affected by
storm surge during a hurricane, or from sea level rise. And we've seen
these effects already.

[Holly Hobbs:] So given that, what's being done to better protect these
facilities from climate-related risks? What's the Environmental
Protection Agency--the EPA--doing? 

[Alfredo Gomez:] Yeah. So the people that are running these facilities
are required to manage various risks, including protecting the facility
from natural hazards. Now, EPA does have a role here in that they set
regulations and standards. So that it's clear to facilities what they
have to do. EPA has also authorized the majority of the states to do the
oversight of these hazardous waste programs. And so the EPA and the
states, for example, are the ones that are doing the oversight. They're,
for example, responsible for issuing the permits, conducting inspections
to make sure that the facilities are safeguarding the waste
appropriately.

[Holly Hobbs:] So we've talked about EPA's role. What about the
facilities themselves or the states where these facilities are located?
What have they told us about what they need to better protect these
facilities?

[Alfredo Gomez:] So what we've learned in our work is that there are
real challenges that the states and the facilities face when addressing
climate change risks. For example, the facilities may not know, like
what tools or data are available for them to be able to evaluate the
climate risks that they're facing. We also learned that the standards
for facilities might not be sufficient to manage these climate risks.
And what I mean by that is, for example, EPA established a flood
standard for facilities. And this standard relies on FEMA flood maps.
And these maps generally do not account for the more frequent and
intense rain events and extreme flooding that's happening because of
climate change. And so, EPA guidance and training would be most helpful.

[Holly Hobbs:] So these facilities, they're all over the U.S. And some
parts of the US don't get wildfires, and some do and some get hurricanes
and some don't. Is EPA doing anything or the states or the facilities
themselves to kind of understand the risks that are more risky to them?

[Alfredo Gomez:] So, you know, the risks that each facility faces is
different, right? So, a facility, for example, that's located on a river
may face risks from extreme rain events that cause flooding. A facility
that's on the coast, for example, would face risks from storm surge from
more intense hurricanes, for example. And so it's important then, for
facilities to be able to know how to identify the risks, how to assess
the risks and then how to address the climate risks to their facilities.
And this is an area where EPA can help.

{MUSIC}

[Holly Hobbs:] So Alfredo just told us that more than 700 hazardous
chemical facilities across the U.S. are at risk from climate-related
events. And that each of these facilities--depending on their
location--face different kinds of risks and challenges in protecting
them. So, Alfredo, given the risks and the challenges that we identified
in our report, what more do we think EPA should be doing?

[Alfredo Gomez:] So EPA could help ease the challenges that the
facilities are facing. And we have made 9 recommendations to the EPA.
For example, we've recommended that EPA issue guidance on how to
identify, assess, and address the climate risks. That would be very
helpful. We have also recommended that the EPA provide climate related
data, also provide training, and provide tools to help these facilities
better manage these risks.

[Holly Hobbs:] And last question. What's the bottom line of this report?

[Alfredo Gomez:] The bottom line of this report is that there are many
facilities around the country that are located in areas that could be
affected by these climate change risks. And there are a lot of things
that EPA could do. We've made 9 recommendations for EPA to help these
facilities address the risks.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Alfredo Gomez talking about our new report about
hazardous waste facilities. Thanks for your time, Alfredo.

[Alfredo Gomez:] Thank you for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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