Federal officials have declared they will not order soil sampling after completing debris removal on Los Angeles properties that succumbed to the region’s devastating fires earlier this year, rebuffing concerns raised by state officials about potential contamination.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration last week appealed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in a bid to revive the once-routine testing.
“As practice on all past major fire recoveries, we urge FEMA to conduct comprehensive soil sampling as part of the debris removal process at affected properties,” Nancy Ward, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), wrote in a letter to Curtis Brown, federal coordinating officer for FEMA Region 9. “Without adequate soil testing, contaminants caused by the fire can remain undetected.”
She warned that failing to implement such sampling could “expose individuals to residual substances during rebuilding efforts and potentially jeopardize groundwater and surface water quality.”
FEMA, however, has reaffirmed its decision to forgo the sampling and instead task the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) with eliminating waste and clearing the top 6 inches from ravaged properties without conducting follow-up soil tests.
“The mission assignment USACE was given does not include soil testing,” said Susan Lee, a spokesperson for the Army Corps, in an emailed statement. “The decision regarding soil testing is outside of USACE’s role, as it is not part of our assigned responsibilities for this disaster.”