EPA watchdog finds nation’s most contaminated sites are vulnerable to
flooding, wildfires
[March 31, 2026]
By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JASON DEAREN
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 100 of the nation’s most contaminated toxic
waste sites are in areas prone to flooding and wildfires, a potential
public health threat to millions of Americans in surrounding
communities, the internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has found.
The EPA’s Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week
that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities
of the 157 federal Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the
serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3
million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13
million people live within 3 miles (4.8 kilometers).
Some of the Superfund sites were found to be at risk from multiple
natural-disaster threats. The studies found 49 in coastal areas are at
risk from sea-level rise or storm surge from hurricanes, with many
located near highly populated areas and important ecological locales
like Chesapeake Bay. Another 47 are in low-lying sites prone
specifically to inland flooding from heavy rain. The review also found
31 sites in areas at high risk for wildfires.
Despite these risks, the five-year plans governing the expensive and
time-consuming cleanups at the sites often failed to account for damage
posed by flooding from sea-level rise and more frequent storms and
wildfire, the IG’s review found.
“That is a big problem because it means the site managers are not
planning mitigation measures,” said Betsy Southerland, a former director
of the agency’s water protection division who spent over 30 years at the
EPA.
“The communities living near those sites should be made aware of this
planning failure and should insist on robust plans,” she said.
At locations with little or no planning for floods, contaminants could
be released into surrounding communities and taxpayer dollars already
invested in remediation could be wasted, the review found.
The EPA said it is reviewing the IG’s findings and that the Superfund
program does factor “the impacts of extreme weather events and other
hazards as a standard operating practice in the development and
implementation of cleanup projects.”
Last year, President Donald Trump fired EPA Inspector General Sean
O’Donnell at the beginning of Trump's second term, and the office’s new
review makes no mention of climate change, a term the Republican
administration has scrubbed from federal websites. But the new reports
issued by the IG’s remaining staff still lay out the risks posed by a
warming planet to the nation’s most dangerous toxic waste sites.
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A barbed-wire fence encircles the Highlands Acid Pit that was
flooded by water from the nearby San Jacinto River in the aftermath
of Hurricane Harvey in Highlands, Texas on Aug. 31, 2017. (AP
Photo/Jason Dearen)
 Lara J. Cushing, a professor at the
University of California, Los Angeles who has studied the effects of
a changing climate on the nation’s toxic waste sites, petrochemical
plants and other hazardous areas, called the new reports “noteworthy
and important.”
“Although President Trump may wish to ignore it, the fact is the
climate is changing and we need to be proactive in responding to
rising seas and more extreme weather or face the consequences of
increasingly frequent cascading natural-technological disasters that
poison communities and local ecosystems,” said Cushing.
The inspector general’s findings echo a 2017 investigation by The
Associated Press that found 327 Superfund sites vulnerable to
flooding driven by climate change. The AP’s review was launched
following Hurricane Harvey, which caused extensive flooding in parts
of Houston that included seven Superfund sites and triggered spills
from tanks holding cancer-causing toxic waste.
The EPA’s new report said that during Harvey, dioxin chemicals were
carried by flooding into neighboring streets, yards and homes close
to the San Jacinto River, an area highlighted by AP’s reporting.
At the time, the EPA under the first Trump administration criticized
AP’s reporting as fear-mongering “yellow journalism.” Trump has
called climate change a hoax, blocked renewable energy projects and
sought to boost the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels.
“This series shines a light on potential threats to federal facility
Superfund sites and the critical role of five-year reviews in
addressing them,” said Kim Wheeler, the spokesperson for the
Inspector General’s office. “By identifying sites at risk from these
weather-related events, we aimed to raise awareness and encourage
forward looking planning.”
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