NASA will be spending billions on environmental cleanup

NASA is encountering some difficult waters in trying to get congressional funding. Though they are not spending money putting individuals into space, NASA will still be innovating. The advancement will be aiming into groundwater, not into space. The environmental cleanup will take years to clean up, as it took decades to trigger. The budget for the cleaning is reaching close to $1 billion.



The chemicals in the ground



There have been 267 total NASA online websites contaminated including the Kennedy Space Center. Any chemicals poured or spilled to the ground have brought on this contamination to happen. There were a ton of different contaminants that went to the ground. Sometimes where even 90 foot long "plumes" was that went in. Drinking water has yet to be impacted by the "goo." Drinking water is safe although it might be impacted without a fix.



Ongoing cleaning efforts



The environmental cleaning is not ignored completely by NASA. About $9 million a year has been spent on chemical spills by the agency. This is the average number since 1989 when the cleanup began. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began. Before that, most of the NASA contamination occurred. A chemical found in most NASA sites was regulated by Congress in 1980. It started regulations to protect the environment. Birth defects and cancer can come from the chemical called "trike" by most. NASA has cleaned up 141 of 267 sites with known contamination, an estimate that it will be at least another 30 years before the worst of the contamination is neutralized.



New science



Scientific discovery has been coming from NASA for quite a while. The 30 year time frame and $1 billion budget show one thing. NASA will keep that trend up. The agency is developing cleaning methods and procedures that are more effective and, in some cases, less costly than traditional cleaning procedures. Cleaning up hazardous materials is always difficult for everybody. This is why NASA and the University of Central Florida are working together to discover non-hazardous byproducts to use. This is all being done by binding the trike in the soil with corn oil and other "heavy" solvents.



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