The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Phase 1 of its hazardous material cleaning efforts has been completed after the fatal Eaton and Palisade fires announced Wednesday.
The Lario staging area in Irwindale, which was sent to be disposed of for the dangerous goods, will also be dismantled, and new testing in the area will begin.
“We’ll do air monitoring until we’re done here. It’s continuous. And the soil sampling we’re trying to do is across the compound. Kelly says, “If we find something, we’ll clean the area and resample it again.”
According to EPA Onsen Coordinator Brian Kelly, the remaining lithium batteries will be shipped for disposal in a few weeks.
The staging area is gone, but community members are concerned about the waterway just behind the site.
“Any accident will go straight into the aquifer, and I’m worried about it. We already have super funds for El Monte, San Gabriel River and El Monte in Baldwin Park,” said Lucia Attencio, who lives in Duarte.
The City of Duarte is requesting access to Lario Site Test Data to independently audit soil and water samples.
Another nearby city, Azusa, is working to ensure longer term monitoring is possible once surgery is stopped.
“We’re working with Senator Susan Rubio and working with Cal OIS on some kind of insurance bond or some kind of performance bond. This can happen if there’s a language of the type of language that will protect us financially in the future,” said Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzalez.
Army engineers are working to clean up hazardous materials in places that are too dangerous for EPA crews to acquire.
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