EPA should take additional actions to manage risks from climate change
Climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of certain natural disasters, which could damage Superfund sites—the nation’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites.
Federal data suggests about 60 percent of Superfund sites overseen by EPA are in areas that may be impacted by wildfires and different types of flooding—natural hazards that may be exacerbated by climate change.
This report examines, among other objectives
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what available federal data suggest about the number of nonfederal NPL sites that are located in areas that may be impacted by selected climate change effects and
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the extent to which EPA has managed risks to human health and the environment from the potential impacts of climate change effects at such sites.
GAO analyzed available federal data; reviewed laws, regulations, and documents; interviewed federal officials and stakeholders; visited three nonfederal NPL sites that experienced natural disasters; and compared EPA actions to manage risk to GAO’s six essential elements of enterprise risk management.
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