[CPEO-BIF] Katrina's environmental aftermatch

[lsiegel@cpeo.org]

[Several major newspapers have recently published articles about the
environmental consequences of Hurricane Katrina. This is but one. - LS]

Toxic Threat Still Vague but Ominous, EPA Says
Health risks are many but the measurements are inconclusive, agency
chief says. Some contend the tests are inadequate.

By Marla Cone
Los Angeles Times 
September 15, 2005

Calling Hurricane Katrina the largest disaster that the Environmental
Protection Agency has ever encountered, the nation's top environmental
official said Wednesday that the Gulf Coast was still facing an array of
serious health threats, including lack of clean drinking water,
astronomically high bacteria counts and unsafe levels of several toxic
metals in floodwaters.

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said it was impossible to estimate
how long the cleanup would take because no one knows the magnitude of
the problems.

Signs are emerging that there could be widespread hazardous waste in New
Orleans that could delay rebuilding efforts, although the EPA so far
says it has detected just three chemicals in the floodwaters at unsafe levels.

Hexavalent chromium and arsenic, which are known human carcinogens, were
reported Wednesday in floodwaters in some New Orleans neighborhoods at
levels that are unsafe for drinking water. The latest available samples
were taken Sept. 4 through Sept. 6. The chromium compound is used in
metal plating. Arsenic, found naturally in the Earth's crust, occurs in
pesticides and wood preservatives.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pollute15sep15,1,3037991.story

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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