LOS ANGELES, California — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin told residents of the Pacific Palisades that his agency was “working ’round the clock” to remove hazardous material from the burn area.
The Palisades Fire ignited in Palisades and spread to Malibu on January 7; later that day, the Eaton Fire hit Pasadena and Altadena to the east. Thousands of homes were destroyed and tens of thousands of people were displaced.
The EPA is responsible for the first stage of the cleanup from the L.A. fires — so-called “Phase 1” — which involves removing hazardous materials, including the remnants of electric vehicle batteries; household cleaning supplies, and other toxins.
Originally, the EPA was expected to take 90 days to complete its survey and cleanup of the burn area. But under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Administrator Zeldin, the timeline has been shortened to 30 days.
That, in turn, has allowed other stages of the process to accelerate. The most important of these is “Phase 2,” which involves the removal of debris from burned properties, and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers (though homeowners can also hire their own contractors).
Originally, the timeline for Phase 2 was 18 months. But Major General Jason Kelly told Breitbart News: “I’m going to tell you right now: I plan to beat a year.”
Residents are happy that the EPA is moving quickly. However, there have been some concerns about the fact that the EPA is using the parking lot at the Will Rogers State Beach as a temporary storage site for the hazardous materials before they are removed to a safe disposal site.
Administrator Zeldin told Breitbart News that “nothing touches the ground” as part of the process of managing the hazardous material, and that the EPA would make sure that “no activity … will do anything other than make land, air, and water safer, healthier, and cleaner.”
He added: “EPA’s role is to help… we will work around the clock.”
He noted that there were already 1,200 EPA personnel on the ground, and that the EPA would continue to accelerate its efforts.
In addition, residents are frustrated about apparent delays in the start of Phase 2. They explained to General Kelly that while many of them had signed the “Right of Entry” forms that allow the Army Corps of Engineers to enter their properties, the bureaucracy at Los Angeles County had not yet compiled the forms and sent them to the Army.
Ambassador Ric Grenell, the president’s envoy for special missions, urged federal, state, and local agencies to work together more efficiently to speed up the process of rebuilding the area.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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