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Cantwell Announces Immediate Protections For Owners Of High-Risk Tacoma Yards

Date: Aug. 19, 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Issues: Environment


Cantwell Announces Immediate Protections For Owners Of High-Risk Tacoma Yards

EPA responds, will use emergency funds to secure yards Cantwell toured

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will use "Emergency Removal" funds to protect residents from the arsenic and lead-laden soil in their yards in Tacoma, Washington.

Contaminated soil at several homes will be covered today until it is removed over the weekend.

Yesterday, Cantwell sent a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, expressing concern that legal maneuvering between Asarco and the EPA would "further delay completion of this remediation effort." She went on to request that the agency use its "'Emergency Removal'" funds to complete this vital work."

Cantwell learned from EPA Region 10 Administrator Michael Bogert this afternoon that the "Emergency Removal" funds would indeed be used to protect the residents most at-risk.

"This is great news from the EPA," Cantwell said. "Asarco may have abandoned its responsibilities but we haven't. The EPA's response is the right one, and I look forward to the time when all the yards affected by Asarco's pollution are clean and the kids who play in them are happy --and safe."

On Wednesday, Cantwell met with residents whose yards are in various states of disrepair due to the sudden announcement by Asarco that it had declared bankruptcy. The announcement halted the work by the company's contractors who were removing contaminated soil and replacing it with clean soil.

In one case, on Tuesday a contractor dug up a large portion of a yard and piled the contaminated dirt in the corner of the yard. The contractor did not return to the yard to remove the soil or replace it with clean soil. Rather, the large, contaminated mound remains, and the homeowners have prohibited their children from playing in the yard until the soil is removed.

http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/releases/2005_08_19_asarco_update.html

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