To the editor: Your article, “Feds won’t test soil after L.A. wildfire cleanup, potentially leaving contamination behind,” raises essential considerations about post-fire cleanup requirements. But it surely overlooks an important query: Who ought to pay when state environmental requirements exceed federal necessities?
Whereas the article successfully highlights the general public well being implications of the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers skipping soil testing to see if the state’s contamination requirements have been met, it by no means addresses whether or not California has traditionally funded the extra cleanup wanted to satisfy its stricter requirements, or whether or not it ought to.
That is significantly related provided that, as your article reviews, about one-third of properties after the Camp fireplace required extra cleanup past the federal baseline six-inch soil elimination.
If California chooses to take care of stricter environmental requirements than federal laws require, shouldn’t the state be ready to fund the distinction? Simply as California funds enforcement of its stricter car emissions requirements, it appears affordable that the state would fund soil testing and cleanup past federal catastrophe response requirements.
Fairly than merely criticizing federal companies for not exceeding their scope, we should always have a clear dialogue about state funding duties when California’s environmental protections transcend federal necessities.
Brian Mason, Joshua Tree
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To the editor: I recommend that each rebuilt property in L.A. County be required to incorporate a belowground rainwater seize system with a built-in pumping unit. The identical requirement must be a part of any new residence development in fireplace zones.
Rain water would stream from gutters right into a seize tank. In a fireplace emergency, the pump would distribute water to the house’s roof on the push of a button.
The added price throughout residence development can be a small fraction of the constructing expense. Shouldn’t this be a metropolis planner’s first fireplace prevention thought?
Dennis McLaughlin, Rancho Palos Verdes
