EPA, Army Corps report major progress on debris removal; testing and landfill questions remain

Federal and county officials told a Los Angeles County recovery press conference that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have made major progress removing household hazardous materials and fire-related debris, but questions persist about confirmatory soil testing and where ash and debris will be disposed.

At the briefing, Bill Dunbar, Public Information Officer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said, "this morning, we've hit another major milestone" and that "as of last night, of the 13,000 plus properties impacted by the fires, EPA has completed over 80% of our work to conduct our portion of the recovery process, which we have been calling Phase 1." Dunbar said EPA has completed household hazardous material removals at more than 8,000 properties and has identified roughly 3,400 properties to defer to the Army Corps of Engineers for Phase 2 due to unsafe conditions for EPA crews.

Colonel Eric Swenson, Army Corps of Engineers recovery field office commander, said U.S. Army Corps teams were actively clearing properties and had "mobilized nearly 750 personnel" with the number expected to grow as operations ramp up. He said the Corps had…