School Children Still at Risk from Toxic Waste

Do you know if there is a Superfund site where you live? Good luck finding out from the Superfund website. I don't think they want you to know. For example, one featured site is listed for my 'area', in Florida (I'm in Myrtle Beach, SC). Just a guess, but I think Savannah River is still pretty messed up and that's quite a lot closer. In fact, on another website, I learned there were no fewer than 4 Superfund sites in Myrtle Beach. There is even one in Murrells Inlet, probably within blocks of my house. These sites may be perfectly remediated, but the point is, the existence and status of the sites isn't common knowledge.

The Superfund was enacted by the US Congress in 1980 in response to the Love Canal disaster. The federal money to respond to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances comes from a tax on petroleum and chemical industries. Given that Love Canal was thirty years ago, you might think the danger to school children from hazardous waste sites would be a thing of the relatively distant past. Not so, according to an article at CNN which basically says schools can still be built on or near toxic waste dumps. Some states prohibit building a school on an active waste site, but consider a remediated site to be just fine... which it may be, or may not be. I'd rather not take the chance with my kids and I think most parents feel the same way. Unfortunately the Love Canal scenario could still occur today because toxic waste dump land is cheap land and cheap land is affordable for building schools. Kind of makes you stop and think, doesn't it?