More than 900 toxic waste sites in the United States are in areas at risk of climate disasters, a new government analysis found, raising concerns about the potential spread of dangerous contaminants.



The report, released by the Government Accountability Office on Monday, also argued that the Environmental Protection Agency, which is tasked with overseeing the cleanup of these sites, should be doing more to protect them against climate hazards.

After Hurricane Harvey dropped record levels of rain on the Houston area, resulting in one especially toxic site in the city springing a leak, the GAO agreed to investigate how vulnerable other toxic sites across the nation are to extreme weather.

“We can no longer ignore the fact that the climate crisis is here and it’s in our backyard,” Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat and one of the members of Congress that pushed GAO to investigate the issue, said in a statement emailed to BuzzFeed News. “This report underscores that protecting our communities requires us to demand that the EPA incorporates climate change into its cleanup plans for current and future Superfund sites.”



Using federal climate data, the GAO has analyzed potential risks posed to 1,571 toxic zones, called Superfund sites, located across the US and its territories. The government watchdog group’s analysis found 945 of the sites, or about 60%, were at risk of at least one of the following hazards: wildfires, flooding, storm surge, or sea level rise.

Climate-linked flooding poses the most widespread threat, imperiling more than 700 Superfund sites on the coast and in the middle of the country. According to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, climate change is already making storms wetter and more frequent, and rising seas have already contributed to an increase in flooding from high tides in certain communities.