Protests erupt over government's plan to dump hazardous waste near vulnerable communities: 'There are no good answers'

While the initial devastation of the Palisades wildfires was gut-wrenching enough, it was really only the beginning. The debris that the inferno left behind is full of highly toxic materials, and the Environmental Protection Agency's handling of it has caused an inferno of its own.

What's happening?

The EPA's plan to use Will Rogers State Beach to sort through the toxic wildfire debris has ignited protests from locals, as the Guardian reported. They fear that the toxic materials will find their way into the ground, waterways, and air. It's difficult to project what sort of harm this could cause to the local environment, but it's not hard to imagine that it could be devastating.

Worse yet is the fact that the proposed cleanup site is somewhere between a quarter mile and a mile from two colleges and two elementary schools. Protesters fear that airborne particles of these toxic materials can easily reach those areas and threaten the health of all those who occupy them. 

The list of toxins found in this wildfire debris is as long as it is alarming. A petition against the cleanup site mentioned by the Guardian lists "asbestos, heavy metals, dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" among them. 

According to the Guardian, one of the problems is that the cleanup sites must be at least five acres in size and "preferably paved, so that trucks can enter and exit, and they can lay down large plastic sheets and fencing to contain dust," which is one of the reasons the public beach site was chosen. 

"In a situation like this, unfortunately, there are no good answers, and there isn't really a 'better place,'" Annelisa Moe, of the nonprofit Heal the Bay in nearby Santa Monica, told the Guardian. "There's just the least-worst option."

Why is this protest important?

As nice as it would be to fully trust the knowledge and expertise of a massive federal agency like the EPA, that's unfortunately not wise. And with the current administration recently placing 168 EPA employees on administrative leave, it's becoming less wise by the day.  

Those living in the area have more to lose than any government agency by allowing these debris removal plans to go unchecked. Taking a stand against the plans won't just help protect their community, but it may also inspire others to take their own stand to uphold more careful environmental standards. 

With extreme weather causing more droughts and threatening more wildfires, it's crucial that we remain aware of all the dangers that entails. These protests highlight those dangers and have likely enlightened many who were unaware of the toxic debris leftover after these devastating events.

What's being done about the threat of wildfires?

Wildfires are extremely difficult to stop, which is why preventing them is critical and some chemicals were used in the process of extinguishing the fires that hit Los Angeles earlier this year. Of course, putting an end to them is not exactly easy, either. However, there are efforts underway to make wildfire prevention a greater possibility.

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According to the Guardian, waste will be sent to landfills that have a liner to protect against any leaking or leaching into the wider ground or groundwater.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles' major utility company, Southern California Edison, has been testing technology that can prevent one of the major causes of wildfires: downed power lines. 

While the technique has been known for centuries, dating back to Indigenous tribes, scientists have also discovered that controlled burning may be a more effective wildfire prevention method than previously believed. They released a study showing that controlled burns reduced the odds of a high-intensity wildfire by 64%.

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