The Ventura County Star today discusses the EPA's plans to try and cap the notorious DDT sink off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and notes that the persistence of the insecticide is one of its most dangerous legacies:

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a series of remediations off the Palos Verdes peninsula that could help reduce the amount of DDT in the ecosystem by dumping thousands of tons of sand on top of the contaminated area. It could reduce the amount of DDT that creeps into the food chain. But even if the $36.6 million project is approved and deemed a success, it doesn’t mean DDT will be out of the ecosystem. “We are hoping to see an acceleration in recovery, but we are still talking decades,” said Carmen White, project manager with the EPA. “The idea that it could take a long time is disheartening, but it’s a reality.”

Ventura is 70 miles from Palos Verdes, and folks there are still concerned about how the DDT off Los Angeles might affect their birds.