The EPA gave mayor Ray Nagin very good news orally. Happy happy joy. They are going to open areas in NO where the waters have subsided, as soon as the EPA can produce doctored results that say everything is wonderful… no toxic pollutants here.
This morning on CNN, Miles O’Brien interviewed a cameraman who suited up and joined a hazmat team and went into an area where some, but not all, water had receeded. Their report to Miles was horrific. Miles said that what they were telling him “…Flies in the face of what mayor Ray Nagin has been saying.” …about reopening the areas of the city where the water has receeded. No amount of happy talk from the EPA can change the fact that the mud itself is toxic. The local man who was part of that team remarked that perhaps Mayor Nagin should rethink his plan.
Kind of reminds me of the press conference on Thursday, Sept 1 with Chertoff and others. Here’s Chertoff’s description of evacuation efforts:
Alongside Skeletor on the split screen were evacuees chanting “help! help!” and an angry black man pointing to dead bodies in the street speaking truth to the monumental lies.
The lies and cover ups continue. The whole area is toxic; neighborhoods, industrial zones, marshes… toxic. The list of contaminants is incredible: PCB’s, household chemicals, raw sewage, gasoline, oil. The problem is not confided to New Orleans… all up and down the effected GulfCoast it’s the same story.
The poisonous stew is being pumped out of New Orleans and into the lake and the Mississippi, making life hazardous for those downstream.
Where does it all eventually go? The Gulf. There are horrified fisheries experts making dire warnings about how much damage heavy metals and other pollutants can have on shellfish and other fisheries in the Gulf. Maybe as far away as Florida. For the first time ever, the Society for Enviromental Journalists has released a statement against the official stonewalling of the EPA.
The EPA is just as rife with cronyism and corruption and incompetence as FEMA. This is going to be the all time worst economic and environmental disaster for the US. What is the government doing about it? Are they gathering the best and brightest minds to try to come up with a plan? Nah. They’re covering it up. They’re trying to save what they can politically and throw the rest into the toxic sludge, hoping no one will notice.
Next on my agenda: Gee, they lied about relief, lied about pollution, but I’m sure they’re going to be straight with the American people about the body counts. Um-hmmmm. And I’m the Queen of France.
[UPDATE by Nag at 4pm, 9/14/05: more evidence of EPA coverup]
Kauffman, a 35-year EPA veteran who has served in Republican and Democratic administrations, says that the Bush administration is preventing the EPA from releasing information that oil and chemical companies are mandated by law to provide.
Kauffman says the Bush administration’s cover-up is endangering residents and relief workers throughout the Gulf Coast region, who are being exposed to dangerous levels of toxins, some of which have been proven to cause cancer and birth defects.
Here’s a portion of the transcript:
HUGH: No, they’re not. All of the oil and chemical companies that own storage tanks, facilities in that area that were flooded or impacted are required to publish with our regional office in Dallas instantly—whenever there’s a release; whenever there’s a breakage from pipelines, from storage tanks, refineries. The regional office, under orders, is not releasing that information to the public, and the Society of Environmental Journalists has sued EPA and the Federal Government to try and get that information released, so the public will see the full magnitude of how much toxic material they are being exposed to in that region of the country.
MARC: So, Hugh Kauffman, Senior Policy Analyst from the EPA, you’re telling me they have that information. The EPA office in Louisiana has that information, and you are absolutely sure that that information is horrendous, but they are keeping it under lock and key, because they don’t want the people to know the truth of what’s really going on down there on a toxic level?
HUGH: That’s correct. And that’s why the Society of Environmental Journalists are suing under the Freedom of Information act to try and get that information.
Just like after 9/11. Here’s the link from Buzzflash
The lask of reporting in the MSM about this subject is disgusting. The fact is that this needs a Federal plan to try and reduce the devastating impact on the gulf coast… the people, the wildlife, the fisheries. The fact that the Feds are just ignoring it, lying about it is another example of incompetence. If the water is OK for people to start moving back into New Orleans I want to see Bush, Chertoff and others share a glass of that toxic soup… bottoms up.
This issue is getting short shrift in the local news media and national, although I hear more local news on the contamination in Chalmette. No one really dealing with the issue of this contamination spreading and contaminating sea life in the wetlands.
I did uncover quite a few articles, but like you say, most are local. Not much about the fisheries in the Gulf. I hope you don’t like shrimp.
One of my plans for this week is to get ahold of my Uncle-in-law who words for the toxic releases section of the CDC. This kind of shit is his speciality, and I need to ask him a few pointed questions. I don’t know how much he’ll be able to answer and still keep his job, but I am going to try — he’s no fan of Bush or the fucking DHS. I haven’t bothered him yet because I’m sure he’s been busy, but I think now is the time.
I’ll let you know what, if anything, I can find out ….
Woo hoo! That’s the kind of info we need. I wonder very much what the CDC thinks about all this. I’ll be anxious to hear what your Uncle-in-Law has to say, if anything.
Your comment “The EPA is just as rife with cronyism and corruption and incompetence as FEMA.” is a bit broad-brushed, in my opinion. In my experience, the folks at the bottom of the organizational chart at EPA care very much about the environment, and are literally paying cash for their decision to work there, as they could be making more $$$ in industry. on the other hand, they are very much at risk if they speak truth to power, just as happened during the Reagan administration. Your description is accurate when it comes to folks at the Regional Administrator level, who are political appointees.
Brinnainne makes a very good suggestion, as the CDC seems to have retained a little more independence under Bush, and has folks in the field of environmental health that can make a determination of the health risk to humans of returning to the mud and mire. And if it’s toxic to humans, odds are it’s more toxic to many other creatures. (We have stronger livers than many other animals – the dioxin sites in Missouri were discovered because of dead birds and dead horses, not dead people.)
If some reporter wanted to win the next Pulitzer Prize, she should be out collecting samples around New Orleans now and having them analyzed, and comparing them to what is released to the press. If anyone out there is interested in doing this, I will offer my services as an environmental chemist pro bono in helping you plan the sampling and analyses, and in interpreting the results. Email me.
Maybe there remain some people in the EPA at the bottom who care about the environment, as you say. They aren’t in charge. They haven’t stopped the absolute rape and selling of the environment to the highest bidder. I have no more confidence in the competence of the EPA than I have in FEMA or in Homeland Security.
Your suggestion to take samples and have them independently tested is an excellent one. Kudos to you for offering to do work pro bono. I hope someone takes you up on it.
I SOOO want to see this done!
You are awesome to offer this!