Lawmakers Object to Rebuild Without Toxic Soil Testing

Will there be toxins beneath the thousands of homes rebuilt from the firestorns that engulfed areas around Altadena and the Pacific Palisades? We may never know.

California lawmakers have blasted a federal decision to forgo soil testing in neighborhoods burned in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, where cleanup crews have begun to haul away ashes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Eight federal lawmakers led by Rep Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, criticized the decision by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to skip the soil testing in a letter to its acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton.

The federally hired cleanup crews have been removing ash and debris, plus a 6-inch layer of topsoil from sites destroyed in the January wildfires.

But asked last month by The Times, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed they won’t test the soil after they finish their cleanup — breaking with a long-standing practice meant to ensure that homes and schools don’t still contain excessive levels of harmful chemicals after wildfires and other environmental disasters.

The elected officials pressed Hamilton to explain the change. Their question: how FEMA can make sure stripping 6 inches of soil is enough to clear toxic substances from the blackened properties.

“The residents of greater Los Angeles should be informed of any potential toxins in the soil as they navigate the complicated recovery process,” the letter reads. “Wildfire survivors deserve to return to safe, toxin-free properties.”

The Eaton and Palisades wildfires damaged or destroyed more than 13,500 properties across Los Angeles County. The resulting public health risks are too great to skimp on environmental testing, Friedman said.

“FEMA’s refusal to test for toxins in the soil after wildfire cleanup in Los Angeles County is unacceptable,” Friedman said in a statement. “Families deserve to know their homes are safe and free of dangerous chemicals. This is a break from decades of FEMA precedent — and it risks exposing entire communities to long-term health threats.”

Federal cleanup crews have cleared ash and rubble from more than 860 properties, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. About 200 rebuilding permits have been filed with local agencies — and a few have already been approved, according to the Times.

Los Angeles city and county officials say they won’t require soil testing before issuing most rebuilding permits.

Without soil testing, many residents worry that new buildings could be built on contaminated land, increasing the likelihood that residents and workers may be exposed to toxic chemicals by inhaling airborne dust.

Environmental and health officials have warned that wildfire ash from burned buildings can contain hazardous substances, including cancer-causing arsenic and brain-damaging lead. Experts warn that the pace of rebuilding shouldn’t outpace necessary safety precautions.

Soil testing in the aftermath of earlier wildfires found that a significant swath of properties still had excessive levels of heavy metals, even after cleanup crews removed a 3-to-6-inch layer of topsoil. They include the 2018 Camp fire in Northern California and the 2018 Woolsey fire near Malibu, which left properties where contaminants exceeded state standards.

Cleanup crews then returned to remove another layer of soil, and to conduct further soil testing, according to the Times.

But now FEMA officials insist that excavating 6 inches of soil from properties is enough to remove fire-related contamination. Anything deeper, they say, is likely to be preexisting contamination, which is beyond the agency’s purview.

The federal agency encouraged state and local officials to pay for soil testing, if they believe it’s necessary.

“You’re going to have to show me definitive testing that shows that material below 6 inches is attributed to the fire or debris caused by the fire,” FEMA Region 9 administrator Robert Fenton told the Times. “I have not found that yet.”

— Dana Bartholomew