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EPA's In Orlando To Check The Clean-Up · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Large radio app.
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  Speaker 2: Who knew it could happen? Who knew that the Environmental
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Protection Agency could be actually concerned about protecting the environment
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: and not a fictional climate change agenda that doesn't exist
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: and shouldn't exist. Look, we all believe in being good stewards.
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  Speaker 2: But we're under the direction of President Donald Trump and
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  Speaker 2: Lee Zelden and this man, we have gotten the EPA
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  Speaker 2: back focused on things the EPA ought to be focused on.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm pleased to have with us on the program.
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  Speaker 2: Deputy Administrator of the EPA, David Fatui. David, welcome to
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  Speaker 2: the show. How are you, sir, Hey doing well?
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  Speaker 1: Preston, Thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely my pleasure. What brought you to Orlando, Florida specifically,
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  Speaker 2: what were you there for?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I had the opportunity to come down to central
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  Speaker 1: Florida and take take a look at one of the sites,
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  Speaker 1: one of the many sites that we're working hard to
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  Speaker 1: clean up. It's really one of the parts of our
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  Speaker 1: core mission of the agency is to you know, tackle
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  Speaker 1: contaminated sites across the country and get them back into
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  Speaker 1: productive reuse and get them back safe for the communities.
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  Speaker 1: So I was in downtown Orlando taking a look at
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  Speaker 1: the old Orlando gasification plant site that's well on its
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  Speaker 1: way to getting back into productive reuse.
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  Speaker 2: Tell now, when I saw that even that phrase Orlando
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  Speaker 2: gassification plant, I was stumped. I thought, I kind of
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  Speaker 2: knew Florida pretty well. What in the world is that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's a site in downtown Orlando, just a
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  Speaker 1: couple blocks away from the Kia Center that back in
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  Speaker 1: the last century, you know, around World War Two and
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  Speaker 1: into the sixties, was an active gasification plant. It's been
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  Speaker 1: torn down since then, but there was groundwater and soil
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  Speaker 1: contamination from all those decades of operation, and so we've
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  Speaker 1: been working hard with the State of Florida and other
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  Speaker 1: parties to address that, to make sure that the community
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  Speaker 1: that's built up around that area, businesses and homes are
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  Speaker 1: safe and protected. And that's something that's already been achieved.
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  Speaker 1: We achieved a lot of milestones during the first term
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  Speaker 1: of the Trump administration at that site dealing with some
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  Speaker 1: of the groundwater and soil contamination. So I got a
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  Speaker 1: first hand look at the progress that's been made so
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  Speaker 1: far and got to see some of the plans that
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  Speaker 1: are being considered and shared with the community about taking
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  Speaker 1: the final step to address the last of the groundwater
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  Speaker 1: contamination down there.
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  Speaker 2: EPA Deputy Administrator David Patui with me. David pie charted
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  Speaker 2: for us how much of this restoration is the responsibility
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  Speaker 2: of the community Orlando, the State of Florida, and the
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  Speaker 2: federal government.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we're the federal government and the state are overseeing
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  Speaker 1: the clean up, but right now, the responsible parties are
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  Speaker 1: the ones who are putting the bill. So this is
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  Speaker 1: one This is a great example of a polluter pays principle,
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  Speaker 1: where the responsible party is on the hook for paying
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  Speaker 1: for the work, and EPA our job is to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that the work is being done effectively, to ensure
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  Speaker 1: that down the road we've got a cleaned up site
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  Speaker 1: both soil groundwater, a site that's not dealing with vapor
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  Speaker 1: intrusion or other issues like that, and we're well on
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  Speaker 1: our way to achieving that.
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  Speaker 2: Am I too idealistic to believe that we might actually
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  Speaker 2: be on an issue here that has bipartisan support Both
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  Speaker 2: sides of the aisle agree these are things that need
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  Speaker 2: to need to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's how it should be. We've got
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  Speaker 1: thousands of sites across the country that are contaminated in
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  Speaker 1: one way or another that need to be addressed. It's
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  Speaker 1: part of a core mission of EPA. Unfortunately, the last
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  Speaker 1: administration sort of took its eye off the ball. They
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  Speaker 1: were focused, as you said, on issues related to climate
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  Speaker 1: change and environmental justice and instead instead really should have
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  Speaker 1: been focused on getting more of these sites cleaned up
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  Speaker 1: and back into their communities for reuse. It's something we're
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  Speaker 1: laser focused on. We're going to be announcing a set
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  Speaker 1: of changes here in the coming weeks to really get
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  Speaker 1: sites across the country back on track that have fallen
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  Speaker 1: off track. We've got sites that have been on a
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  Speaker 1: so called national Priorities list for decades. Doesn't seem like
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  Speaker 1: much of a priority. So we're getting that program back
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  Speaker 1: on track and it should be something that both sides
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  Speaker 1: can support because we all want clean land and clean water.
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  Speaker 2: David, how much of the work has been done, what's
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  Speaker 2: left to do and then what is the future for
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  Speaker 2: the site?
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  Speaker 1: Well, a substantial amount of work has been completed, including
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  Speaker 1: during the first term of the Trump administration. The soil
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  Speaker 1: under the site and the shallow groundwater has been addressed,
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  Speaker 1: and there's a remedy that's operating to take care of
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  Speaker 1: some of the vapor intrusion issues, but no, there's no
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  Speaker 1: human health risk at the moment, so I want to
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  Speaker 1: be clear with folks that there's no risk at the site,
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  Speaker 1: that it's fully controlled. What we're looking to do now
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  Speaker 1: is ensure that the deeper groundwater is being treated and
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  Speaker 1: is ultimately going to be able to be used in
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  Speaker 1: the future for drinking water if that becomes necessary, and
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  Speaker 1: so that's what we're looking to install at the site currently.
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  Speaker 1: There was recently a community meeting in the area to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that folks understood the options that are being
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  Speaker 1: considered for installing some new groundwater extraction and treatment technology.
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  Speaker 1: And so we're going to make a decision by the
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  Speaker 1: end of the year, really on an extedited timeframe on
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  Speaker 1: what to do for this very final stage of the project,
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  Speaker 1: and then the construction will hopefully begin next year.
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  Speaker 2: David, if you don't mind, I want to take a
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  Speaker 2: couple of minutes and broaden this a little bit because
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned the paw for four years in the Biden
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  Speaker 2: administration and the focus on climate change and the forcing
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  Speaker 2: people into certain directions through various mandates and so on.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just curious there is a nexus there between what
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  Speaker 2: in fact that the alleged renewable energy demands and requirements
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  Speaker 2: are going to place on our environment, and I specifically
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  Speaker 2: want to get your thoughts on what is the future
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  Speaker 2: of what the EPA is going to try to do
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  Speaker 2: to address solar panels. I came across the story back
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  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago of California, which of course
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  Speaker 2: was one of the first in the country to go
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  Speaker 2: all in on solar. But now they're twenty plus years
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  Speaker 2: in and they have solar panels that are going bad
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  Speaker 2: and their toxic waste, and no one knows what to
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  Speaker 2: do with all the solar panels. What is that on
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  Speaker 2: the EPA radar, and if so, what's going to be
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  Speaker 2: done to address that very real issue.
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  Speaker 1: Well, so, it is a very real issue, and I
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  Speaker 1: think it's something that was not given full consideration in
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  Speaker 1: the last administration when you had to push away from
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  Speaker 1: coal fired and gas fired power generation and towards renewables.
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  Speaker 1: You know, there was a concerted effort across the agency
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  Speaker 1: to come up with new and onerous regulations that made
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  Speaker 1: you know, producing baseload power with with coal and natural
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  Speaker 1: gas and oil just that much more expensive than those
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  Speaker 1: costs were passed on to consumers, and it's something that
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  Speaker 1: we are working actively every day under Administrator Zalden's leadership
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  Speaker 1: to try to reverse so we can bring down the
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  Speaker 1: costs of energy, so that folks can see a reduction
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  Speaker 1: in their electric bills, and so we can have reliable
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  Speaker 1: baseload power. But back to your point, you know, it
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  Speaker 1: is one of the things we have to consider. You know,
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  Speaker 1: if there, if there are going to be solar panels
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  Speaker 1: generating electricity across the country, we're going to need We're
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  Speaker 1: going to need a plan to deal with that waste
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  Speaker 1: once those solar panels are beyond their useful life. And
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  Speaker 1: you're right, there are metals in those solar panels. There's lead,
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  Speaker 1: there's cadmium, there's other types of toxic materials, and so
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times those just can't simply be thrown
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  Speaker 1: into a landfill. They need to be managed properly and carefully.
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  Speaker 1: So that is something that our career scientists and experts
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  Speaker 1: are absolutely looking at.
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  Speaker 2: I'm curious does that spill over into the electric car
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  Speaker 2: industry as well?
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  Speaker 1: Well? That is another push of the last administration to
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  Speaker 1: sort of force an ev mandate by requiring higher and
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  Speaker 1: higher emissions limits that most car companies have said they
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  Speaker 1: can't meet. And so, yes, one of the things to
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  Speaker 1: look at there is you've got massive, multi hundred pound
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  Speaker 1: batteries that are going into some of these evs. They
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  Speaker 1: last for a certain amount of years and then they
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  Speaker 1: need to be addressed as waste, and so there are
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  Speaker 1: lots of issues there. These cars don't run on fare,
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  Speaker 1: they run on these massive batteries. So, you know, one
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  Speaker 1: thing that we've done, you know, is to try to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that consumers have a choice at the car lot,
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  Speaker 1: that there are cars on the lot that meet their needs.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the ways to achieve that is by
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  Speaker 1: not pushing an aggressive eed mandate through regulation. We've rescinded
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  Speaker 1: the so called endangerment finding, which was the bedrock for
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  Speaker 1: all of these greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks,
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  Speaker 1: and we've projected that just that one action alone that
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  Speaker 1: we took earlier this year will bring down the price
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  Speaker 1: of the average new car truck by twenty four hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 1: And more importantly, make sure that when folks go to
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  Speaker 1: the car lot to decide what their next car should be,
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  Speaker 1: that there will be options for them that fit their family.
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  Speaker 2: David, thanks for the time this morning. I wish you
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  Speaker 2: well and join us anytime we can be a help.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on my
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  Speaker 2: Pleasure, David the Twoey, Deputy Administrator for the EPA, my
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  Speaker 2: guest from Orlando here on the Morning Show with Preston
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  Speaker 2: Scott six