[CPEO-BIF] New Orleans toxics

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

N.O. spots are testing positive for toxins
But most chemicals here before Katrina

By Matthew Brown
New Orleans Times-Picayune
March 6, 2006

A litany of environmental and health unknowns hangs over the region more 
than six months after Hurricane Katrina, from 46 potential hot spots of 
contamination and the continuing cleanup of 8 million gallons of spilled 
oil, to health care workers raising the alarm over a spike in 
Legionnaires' disease.

Nevertheless, authorities expressed increasing confidence in recent days 
that the region successfully skirted the nightmare scenario: a New 
Orleans forever marred by tainted soils, foul waterways and 
unexplainable health maladies. Instead, state and federal environmental 
agencies and public health officials depict a region grappling with 
problems already present on Aug. 29.

This theory rejects the popular image of Katrina as culprit, tearing 
through chemical depots and unleashing the contents of tens of thousands 
of gas tanks to stir up the widely publicized "toxic gumbo." Rather, it 
suggests the storm highlighted chemical problems and health issues that 
the city had lived with for decades.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1141628222146210.xml

--


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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