D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh wants to block federal regulators from seizing contaminated properties along the Anacostia River so the land can potentially be more quickly cleaned and developed. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to take over the cleanup process of three toxic properties along the river if the city doesn’t act by mid-December to force the property owners to remove contaminants. But the EPA is notoriously slow, often taking more than a decade to get projects done, and neither the D.C. attorney general nor the District Department of the Environment have the power to force landowners to act.
To fix that, the Ward 3 councilwoman has introduced a bill to give District authorities the tools they need to force property owners to clean up. Cheh told The Washington Examiner that she’ll soon introduce emergency legislation to make sure a version of the bill is passed in time to meet the EPA’s deadline.
“Even if these sites are not developed, they could be used for a recreational purpose,” Cheh said. “Not having these sites cleaned up impedes the opportunity to functionally use them.”
In an August letter, the EPA warned the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments that it will list the city-owned Kenilworth Landfill, a Washington Gas property on 12th Street Southeast and a Pepco facility on Benning Road Northeast on its Superfund National Priorities List. There are already three D.C. sites on the list, including the Washington Navy Yard, where the first stage of cleanup started in 1998 and has yet to be finished. All of the properties leak deadly toxins such as PCBs, arsenic and lead into the river.
In 2000, the District, along with almost every state, passed a bill meant to localize the regulations of the federal law that created the Superfund. But unlike other jurisdictions, D.C.’s law had no enforcement measures and left the choice to clean contaminated land up to property owners. Cheh’s bill would correct that omission, she said.
“It’s disappointing that it took so long for us to get to this point,” Cheh said.
Pepco spokesman Andre Francis said, “We will comply with any legislation that’s passed.”
The power company’s Benning Road facility, however, is “vital” and will continue to operate, Francis said.
Washington Gas spokesman Ruben Rodriguez said the company has already spent “several millions of dollars” on cleaning up the site, which it routinely monitors to ensure toxins are not slipping into the river.
