The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially completed “Phase 1” of the cleanup effort in the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire in Los Angeles on Tuesday, finishing in just 28 days after President Donald Trump ordered the agency to move as quickly as possible.
Originally, federal officials said the Phase 1 process would take 90 days. President Trump and EPA aAdministrator Lee Zeldin set a more ambitious target of 30 days – and they finished even sooner.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Administrator Zeldin said: “President Trump set an ambitious deadline of 30 days for EPA to get the hazardous material cleanup done after the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles, and EPA got the job done in 28 days. I’m extremely proud of the phenomenal job of our team to aid in the recovery. They’ve set the bar for future emergency response efforts.”
Zeldin personally visited Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, as well as the EPA‘s incident command post in Burbank, earlier this month to oversee the Phase 1 process
Hazardous materials removed from burned lots included lithium ion, batteries, associated with electric vehicles and power storage systems; household cleaning products; ammunition; and other items that release dangerous and toxic substances when exposed to fire.
The EPA’s rapid progress has come to symbolize the accelerated cleanup and rebuilding effort being pushed by the Trump administration, and by ambassador Ric Grenell, who is the president envoy for special missions, and who has been overseeing progress in California, making sure that Federal, State, and local authorities are cooperating with each other.
Phase 2 debris removal — the final step before rebuilding — has begun, with the Army Corps of Engineers telling Breitbart News it hopes the process can be finished within a year, six months ahead of original estimates.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
