Superfund Communities Need Fast Relief From EPA, Advisers Say

Communities near Superfund sites need fast relief from potential exposure to toxic chemicals while the EPA works on a years- or decades-long cleanup process, the agency’s environmental justice advisers said Thursday.

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council is drafting recommendations on how to improve the Superfund program’s relationship with communities affected by contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency can do that by adding air monitors when residents ask for them, an adviser said, or placing plastic coverings over homes’ windows to keep out airborne particles.

“While the rest of the remediation process takes place, there has to be something that people ...