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Did you know that EPA's Superfund emergency response teams are often called in by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help with natural disasters, like hurricanes, tornadoes and floods? These homes and about 40 others in Mingo County, West Virginia were irreparably damaged during this summer's floods and must be torn down. EPA emergency personnel were dispatched to the area to oversee their demolition because they contain asbestos. Demolition is scheduled to begin July 26th and last up to 30 days.
EPA and FEMA Work Hand in Hand
In case you're wondering how EPA gets its "mission assignments"—those are the tasks that are assigned by FEMA during an emergency—here's how it works. First, a state governor will ask the president to declare his or her state a disaster area. Once that declaration is made, FEMA's disaster relief funding is released to that particular state. Then the state must ask FEMA to fund certain individual tasks—either assigning a federal agency to do them—such as EPA—or giving the funds directly to the state to carry them out. FEMA decides on a task by task basis which ones will get FEMA dollars.
