Fox News: EPA chief takes on Mexican 'sewage crisis' flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train

[riky]

EPA chief takes on Mexican 'sewage crisis' flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to visit San Diego Tuesday to view the Tijuana sewage problem leaking into US waters and meet with Navy SEALs who train there.

                   
                       

FIRST ON FOX: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login will visit San Diego next week to meet with Navy SEALs and local leaders as he zeroes in on addressing a Mexican sewage problem flowing into waters off the California coast, Fox News Digital learned. 

Zeldin will head to San Diego on Tuesday, when he will see firsthand reported sewage flowing from across the border in Tijuana into American waters where Navy SEALs train, an EPA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The EPA administrator will also tour the southern border by helicopter and meet with the SEALs who train in the water filled with sewage. 

"Administrator Lee Zeldin will be in San Diego next Tuesday, 4/22, to see this international sewage issue firsthand," the spokesperson said, confirming the trip. "He will be touring the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant, participating in a roundtable with local stakeholders and elected officials, taking a helicopter tour of the U.S. Southern border, and meeting with Navy SEALs who train in the area." 

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

"Administrator Zeldin is committed to ensuring every American has access to clean air, land and water, and he looks forward to the opportunity to get out to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login." 

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Zeldin first addressed the sewage problem in March before previewing the trip to take the issue head on. 

"I was just briefed that Mexico is dumping large amounts of raw sewage into the Tijuana River, and it's now seeping into the U.S.," he posted to X March 8. "This is unacceptable. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login its commitments to control this pollution and sewage!" 

He previewed in another X post in April that he would travel to the "You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States."

Local leaders have been sounding the alarm on the sewage problem, including Imperial Beach's Mayor Paloma Aguirre, who sent a letter to Zeldin in March describing how the raw sewage has sparked one of "America's most horrendous environmental and public health disaster" as billions of gallons have polluted the Pacific Ocean since 2023 alone. 

"The toxic sewage coming across the border from Mexico into South San Diego County is among America's most horrendous environmental and public health disasters," Aguirre's March 3 letter to Zeldin and published online reads. "Since 2023, over 31 billion gallons of raw sewage, polluted stormwater and trash have flowed across the Mexican border, down the Tijuana River, through the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach and into the Pacific Ocean." 

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

The letter called on Zeldin to assist with the crisis by authorizing a new review of the Lower Tijuana River Valley's sewage crisis for Superfund designation. The crisis has affected tourism, homeowners and the Navy SEALs, who train at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, as well as surrounding beaches in the massive Southern California county. 

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

"Our residents, are getting ill due to polluted air," the letter continued. "Workers, including Navy Seals training in the area, have been sickened on the job by waterborne and aerosolized diseases. Many homeowners have been forced to place air quality monitors on their property so they know whether or not its safe to go outside. And the economic impact is profound, with the sewage crisis hurting area tourism, maritime industry jobs and local property values." 

A Department of Defense Inspector General report published Feb. 7 determined that between January 2019 and May 2023, more thanYou are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and SEAL candidates became sick after training in the water, including with acute gastrointestinal illnesses. 

Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login