Exclusive — Lee Zeldin: EPA Finishes ‘Phase 1’ Hazardous Material Removal in L.A. in Just 28 Days
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially completed “Phase 1” of the cleanup effort in the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire in Los Angeles on Tuesday, finishing in just 28 days after President Donald Trump ordered the agency to move as quickly as possible.
The Palisades Fire burned nearly 24,000 acres and nearly 7,000 structures. The Eaton Fire burned over 14,000 acres and destroyed over 9,000 structures. Originally, federal officials said the Phase 1 process, focusing on the identification and removal of hazardous material, would take 90 days, or even up to a year.
President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin set a more ambitious target of 30 days – and finished even sooner.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Administrator Zeldin said: “President Trump set an ambitious deadline of 30 days for EPA to get the hazardous material cleanup done after the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles, and EPA got the job done in 28 days. I’m extremely proud of the phenomenal job of our team to aid in the recovery. They’ve set the bar for future emergency response efforts.”
Zeldin personally visited Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, as well as the EPA‘s incident command post in Burbank, earlier this month to oversee the Phase 1 process.
Hazardous materials removed from burned lots included lithium ion batteries, associated with electric vehicles and power storage systems; household cleaning products; ammunition; and other items that release dangerous and toxic substances when exposed to fire.
The EPA surveyed over 13,000 properties and removed hazardous materials wherever they found them, except where there were structural dangers involved in removal (such as a lithium battery mounted against an unstable wall). EPA personnel will remain onsite to assist the Army Corps of Engineers with Phase 2, which involves the removal of ordinary debris, to deal with 4,000 properties where hazardous waste removal was deferred.
The EPA’s rapid progress has come to symbolize the accelerated cleanup and rebuilding effort being pushed by the Trump administration, and by Ambassador Ric Grenell, who is the President’s envoy for special missions, and who has been overseeing progress in California, making sure that federal, state, and local authorities are cooperating with one another.
Phase 2 debris removal — the final step before rebuilding — has already begun, with the Army Corps of Engineers telling Breitbart News it hopes the process can be finished within a year, six months ahead of original 18-month estimates.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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