EPA's In Orlando To Check The Clean-Up

You may be asking, "uhhh, what clean-up?" Aren't you glad the Deputy Administrator of the EPA, David Fotouhi, joined Preston?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Large radio app.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Who knew it could happen? Who knew that the Environmental
Protection Agency could be actually concerned about protecting the environment
and not a fictional climate change agenda that doesn't exist
and shouldn't exist. Look, we all believe in being good stewards.

(00:30):
But we're under the direction of President Donald Trump and
Lee Zelden and this man, we have gotten the EPA
back focused on things the EPA ought to be focused on.
And I'm pleased to have with us on the program.
Deputy Administrator of the EPA, David Fatui. David, welcome to
the show. How are you, sir, Hey doing well?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Preston, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Absolutely my pleasure. What brought you to Orlando, Florida specifically,
what were you there for?

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Well, I had the opportunity to come down to central
Florida and take take a look at one of the sites,
one of the many sites that we're working hard to
clean up. It's really one of the parts of our
core mission of the agency is to you know, tackle
contaminated sites across the country and get them back into
productive reuse and get them back safe for the communities.

(01:19):
So I was in downtown Orlando taking a look at
the old Orlando gasification plant site that's well on its
way to getting back into productive reuse.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Tell now, when I saw that even that phrase Orlando
gassification plant, I was stumped. I thought, I kind of
knew Florida pretty well. What in the world is that.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
You know, it's a site in downtown Orlando, just a
couple blocks away from the Kia Center that back in
the last century, you know, around World War Two and
into the sixties, was an active gasification plant. It's been
torn down since then, but there was groundwater and soil
contamination from all those decades of operation, and so we've

(02:06):
been working hard with the State of Florida and other
parties to address that, to make sure that the community
that's built up around that area, businesses and homes are
safe and protected. And that's something that's already been achieved.
We achieved a lot of milestones during the first term
of the Trump administration at that site dealing with some

(02:27):
of the groundwater and soil contamination. So I got a
first hand look at the progress that's been made so
far and got to see some of the plans that
are being considered and shared with the community about taking
the final step to address the last of the groundwater
contamination down there.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
EPA Deputy Administrator David Patui with me. David pie charted
for us how much of this restoration is the responsibility
of the community Orlando, the State of Florida, and the
federal government.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, we're the federal government and the state are overseeing
the clean up, but right now, the responsible parties are
the ones who are putting the bill. So this is
one This is a great example of a polluter pays principle,
where the responsible party is on the hook for paying
for the work, and EPA our job is to make
sure that the work is being done effectively, to ensure

(03:19):
that down the road we've got a cleaned up site
both soil groundwater, a site that's not dealing with vapor
intrusion or other issues like that, and we're well on
our way to achieving that.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Am I too idealistic to believe that we might actually
be on an issue here that has bipartisan support Both
sides of the aisle agree these are things that need
to need to happen.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Well, I think that's how it should be. We've got
thousands of sites across the country that are contaminated in
one way or another that need to be addressed. It's
part of a core mission of EPA. Unfortunately, the last
administration sort of took its eye off the ball. They
were focused, as you said, on issues related to climate
change and environmental justice and instead instead really should have

(04:07):
been focused on getting more of these sites cleaned up
and back into their communities for reuse. It's something we're
laser focused on. We're going to be announcing a set
of changes here in the coming weeks to really get
sites across the country back on track that have fallen
off track. We've got sites that have been on a

(04:27):
so called national Priorities list for decades. Doesn't seem like
much of a priority. So we're getting that program back
on track and it should be something that both sides
can support because we all want clean land and clean water.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
David, how much of the work has been done, what's
left to do and then what is the future for
the site?

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, a substantial amount of work has been completed, including
during the first term of the Trump administration. The soil
under the site and the shallow groundwater has been addressed,
and there's a remedy that's operating to take care of
some of the vapor intrusion issues, but no, there's no

(05:08):
human health risk at the moment, so I want to
be clear with folks that there's no risk at the site,
that it's fully controlled. What we're looking to do now
is ensure that the deeper groundwater is being treated and
is ultimately going to be able to be used in
the future for drinking water if that becomes necessary, and
so that's what we're looking to install at the site currently.

(05:30):
There was recently a community meeting in the area to
make sure that folks understood the options that are being
considered for installing some new groundwater extraction and treatment technology.
And so we're going to make a decision by the
end of the year, really on an extedited timeframe on
what to do for this very final stage of the project,
and then the construction will hopefully begin next year.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
David, if you don't mind, I want to take a
couple of minutes and broaden this a little bit because
you mentioned the paw for four years in the Biden
administration and the focus on climate change and the forcing
people into certain directions through various mandates and so on.
I'm just curious there is a nexus there between what

(06:15):
in fact that the alleged renewable energy demands and requirements
are going to place on our environment, and I specifically
want to get your thoughts on what is the future
of what the EPA is going to try to do
to address solar panels. I came across the story back
a couple of years ago of California, which of course

(06:38):
was one of the first in the country to go
all in on solar. But now they're twenty plus years
in and they have solar panels that are going bad
and their toxic waste, and no one knows what to
do with all the solar panels. What is that on
the EPA radar, and if so, what's going to be
done to address that very real issue.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well, so, it is a very real issue, and I
think it's something that was not given full consideration in
the last administration when you had to push away from
coal fired and gas fired power generation and towards renewables.
You know, there was a concerted effort across the agency
to come up with new and onerous regulations that made

(07:20):
you know, producing baseload power with with coal and natural
gas and oil just that much more expensive than those
costs were passed on to consumers, and it's something that
we are working actively every day under Administrator Zalden's leadership
to try to reverse so we can bring down the
costs of energy, so that folks can see a reduction

(07:40):
in their electric bills, and so we can have reliable
baseload power. But back to your point, you know, it
is one of the things we have to consider. You know,
if there, if there are going to be solar panels
generating electricity across the country, we're going to need We're
going to need a plan to deal with that waste
once those solar panels are beyond their useful life. And

(08:03):
you're right, there are metals in those solar panels. There's lead,
there's cadmium, there's other types of toxic materials, and so
a lot of times those just can't simply be thrown
into a landfill. They need to be managed properly and carefully.
So that is something that our career scientists and experts

(08:24):
are absolutely looking at.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I'm curious does that spill over into the electric car
industry as well?

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well? That is another push of the last administration to
sort of force an ev mandate by requiring higher and
higher emissions limits that most car companies have said they
can't meet. And so, yes, one of the things to
look at there is you've got massive, multi hundred pound
batteries that are going into some of these evs. They
last for a certain amount of years and then they

(08:52):
need to be addressed as waste, and so there are
lots of issues there. These cars don't run on fare,
they run on these massive batteries. So, you know, one
thing that we've done, you know, is to try to
make sure that consumers have a choice at the car lot,
that there are cars on the lot that meet their needs.
And one of the ways to achieve that is by

(09:14):
not pushing an aggressive eed mandate through regulation. We've rescinded
the so called endangerment finding, which was the bedrock for
all of these greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks,
and we've projected that just that one action alone that
we took earlier this year will bring down the price
of the average new car truck by twenty four hundred dollars.

(09:37):
And more importantly, make sure that when folks go to
the car lot to decide what their next car should be,
that there will be options for them that fit their family.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
David, thanks for the time this morning. I wish you
well and join us anytime we can be a help.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Thanks for having me on my

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Pleasure, David the Twoey, Deputy Administrator for the EPA, my
guest from Orlando here on the Morning Show with Preston
Scott six