PBS高端访谈:哈维飓风淹没的有毒废物场所将接受调查

 　　Houston is an industrial city, central to the nation's oil and gas industry, and home to one of the busiest ports in the country.

　　It's also home to more than a dozen of the 41 superfund sites in Texas.

　　Those are areas contaminated with toxic¹ waste that the federal Environmental Protection Agency is charged with cleaning up.

　　This week, reporters from The Associated Press surveyed seven of Houston's superfund sites to assess the damage from Harvey.

　　AP reporter Michael Biesecker joins us now to discuss this.

　　I wanted to first ask you, can you just describe us to what these superfund sites are?

　　What are they contaminated with? And are more they more dangerous than the chemical plants and refineries² around Houston?

　　Well, they're legacy³ pollution sites.

　　Most were created in the 1950s and 1960s when environmental regulations were much weaker and often because industrial process water they are next to rivers. They're next to lakes.

　　So, these are ducts (ph) and PCBs, heavy metals like lead and arsenic⁴ that have been in the soil, in sediment⁵ at these sites for decades.

　　And the EPA's job is to try to clean those up and find responsible parties, the companies who originally caused the pollution and see if they can pay for the clean up.

　　When they can't, taxpayers⁶ are on the hook and we pay to clean up the sites as funds become available.

　　Can you tell us what did you guys find and what are the threats from the flooding?

　　Well, there are about a dozen superfund sites in the greater Houston area. AP's journalists were able to make it to seven of those sites.

　　We prioritize ones we knew we're one in 100-year flood plains which are the areas most likely to flood. And we found all seven have been inundated⁷ by water.

　　Now, you know, the risk posed by these sites depends a lot on what remediation has taken place through the years, has soil and sediment been removed?

　　Have they been capped, often they're capped with a fiber⁸ liner that's weighted down with rocks to try to prevent flooding.

　　Both the EPA and environmental watchdogs have been warning about these sites close to waterways for a long time. And they are at risk of flooding.

　　The EPA is defensive⁹ about your reporting, and today, they put out a statement saying that the article is misleading,

　　they say that they have conducted assessments¹⁰ at 41 sites -- that 28 have not been damaged, 13 have been damaged.

　　They say they worked to secure the sites before Harvey hit. How do you respond?

　　Well, you know, EPA can speak for itself, but for their calling our reporting misleading, if you carefully release carefully,

　　they confirm what our reporting said which is, yes, there are 41 sites throughout Texas. Yes, EPA has been able to inspect two sites in Corpus Christi.

　　But in the Houston area which suffered much more dire¹¹ flooding, EPA has not yet been at those site.

　　Now, they say from aerial photography that 13 sites appear to have flooded in Texas, including the ones around Houston that we highlighted.

　　But we asked EPA why our reporters were able to make it to these sites

　　and EPA said it was still too dangerous for them to send crews out to assess the damage or to collect samples to monitor whether pollution has spread.

　　They hope to get there next week. Why we were able to make it there and why they weren't, you would have to ask them.

　　Scott Pruitt, the administrator¹² of EPA, has been on the record saying he thinks that projections¹³ of climate scientist,

　　is that hurricanes will be stronger and wetter are alarmist and it's not an issue that at this point, they seem to be planning for addressing.

　　We asked whether Hurricane Harvey had altered Administrator Pruitt's perspective at all on the risk from climate change,

　　the response we got was from an EPA spokeswoman who said that was an effort to politicize the tragedy.

　　All right. Michael Biesecker of "The Associated Press", thank you so much for being with us. Good to be with you. undefined

1 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

5 sediment   

n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物)

参考例句：

• The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后，水变清了。
• Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。

6 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

7 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

9 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

10 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

11 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

12 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

13 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。