Safety Places a Distant Second in Race to Repopulate New Orleans

[Guest guest]

Safety Places a Distant Second in Race to Repopulate New Orleans

Part Two

by Chen

The NewStandard - Syracuse,NY

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2487

Mixed messages from officials at all levels are conpounding danger

with urgency as thousands of residents and workers try to clean up

and rebuild in places where hazards are at best uncertain.

*A correction was appended to this news article after initial

publication.

This is the second in a series of articles by staff reporter

Chen examining the challenges and tensions in the

rebuilding of New Orleans. Part One of this series, " Katrina's

Displaced Move to Defend New Orleans from Elite Visionaries, " ran on

October 7. Part Three, " New Orleans' Displaced Struggle for Housing,

Jobs, Neighborhoods, " ran on October 21.

Oct. 14, 2005 – The new New Orleans is a post-apocalyptic frontier

town. Residents trickle in to scavenge among the ruins or begin

scraping layers of mold from waterlogged homes. Workers pile sodden

chunks of houses into putrid mounds on the street, feeding an

estimated 50 million cubic yards of hurricane debris.

Your privacy is strictly respected. Amid warnings that the city is

reassembling itself in the deepening shadow of toxic contamination,

local officials are undaunted. Backed by reassurances from state and

federal environmental authorities, Mayor Ray Nagin is beckoning

people to come back, clean up, go on with life and get back to

business.

" It's a dirty town, " said , a local environmental

lawyer who has returned regularly to the city on volunteer relief

missions. " It's dusty, and a lot of the residue from the flooding is

evident everywhere. "

Disturbed that he has no idea if his own neighborhood is safe to

live in, complained, " Nobody's telling me anything… At what

point does the public get apprised of this situation and involved? "

A Sopping Mess

According to sampling data from the Environmental Protection Agency,

sediment left over from Katrina's floodwaters harbors fuel

components, metals, pesticides and other chemicals. Many

contaminants could potentially cause acute and chronic health

effects, including nervous system damage and cancer, and some are

steadily evaporating into the air that residents are breathing.

Despite detecting persistent contamination for over a month, the

EPA's analysis has generally deemed the chemical concentrations

not " immediately hazardous to human health. " Meanwhile, splotches of

fuzzy mold consume walls, ceilings and furniture. Indoor mold spores

can cause or aggravate respiratory illnesses, especially in people

with weak immune systems, and emit chemicals known as mycotoxins,

which studies have tied to debilitating illnesses.

" You have a real gemischt in these houses, " said Straus, a

microbiologist and mold specialist at Texas Technical University, of

the mix of biological and chemical substances. " It's not just mold.

You have all these other potential toxins. " He pointed out the

possibility of " a synergistic effect " as airborne mold compounds the

effects of chemical pollutants.

Despite detecting persistent contamination for over a month, the

EPA's analysis has generally deemed the chemical concentrations

not " immediately hazardous to human health. " The EPA has also stated

that fuel oil residues would not harm emergency responders wearing

appropriate protective gear. The agency reported that most readings

for the toxic fuel components benzene, toluene, and xylene were safe

for short-term, 24-hour exposures.

Concerned that the EPA's assessments were inadequate, Wilma Subra, a

local environmental chemist, conducted her own testing in New

Orleans and neighboring St. Bernard Parish last month. She found

several carcinogenic toxins, including the probable carcinogen Benzo

(a)pyrene, along with concentrations of arsenic up to 75 times

greater than the EPA residential safety standard. Subra also

detected heavy metals, like lead, and hazardous petrochemicals.

Concerned that the EPA's assessments were inadequate, Wilma Subra, a

local environmental chemist, conducted her own testing last

month.Subra said that although her results are comparable to what

the EPA has found, her evaluation lacks the EPA's positive spin. The

agency assesses contaminants in isolation, she said, whereas she

looks at the confluence of overlapping biological and chemical

hazards.

" If it was a Superfund site, " said Subra, " and the concentrations

were at the levels we're finding, they wouldn't allow people to go

back and live there. They would require that that material be

removed, treated, detoxified. "

Safety Second

While monstrous fungal growths and chemical-encrusted sludge drape

the Crescent City, environmentalists say that the EPA's response is

scarcely visible, eclipsed by the political momentum of the

rebuilding process.

Dana Tulis, deputy director of the EPA Office of Emergency

Management, said the agency's role " continues to evolve " and

essentially follows the cues of policymakers. " The locals are making

the decisions, and we're trying to provide them with the best data

we can, " she told The NewStandard.

Tulis said the EPA will continue monitoring to determine long-term

environmental impacts, and the Army Corps of Engineers is developing

plans to clear out the sediment in the coming months. In the

meantime, she said, " as long as people aren't sort of trudging

through this stuff, you know, barefoot… they should be okay. "

But critics fear the EPA and city officials are paving the way for

unprotected residents to enter a chemical minefield.

In testimony submitted to a Senate subcommittee last week, the

environmental advocacy organization Natural Resources Defense

Council said the EPA's assessments were misleading the public.

The EPA's recent public service announcements advise residents to

wear a dust mask when handling debris containing lead, asbestos or

chemical residues, but according to industrial guidelines, basic

dust masks will not protect against airborne asbestos or toxic

vapors.For example, the group argued, EPA air sampling results often

register levels of benzene, a carcinogenic petrochemical, that fall

well below the 24-hour acute exposure limit. But when the same data

is compared to the threshold for intermediate-term exposures, many

samples jump from " safe " to hazardous. The established health

threshold for benzene is 50 parts per billion for 24 hours, but only

four parts per billion for a two-week exposure.

Before the city plunges headfirst into the reconstruction effort,

Subra cautioned, " let's see whether or not it's appropriate to go

back. And then, whether or not you rebuild, whether you bulldoze the

house -- that's going to all be decisions made after. "

A Dirty Job

When visiting one of the spots in the city where Subra had recently

taken sediment samples, Verchick, a law professor at Loyola

University in New Orleans, happened upon a mother and daughter

preparing to reenter their housing complex. The only barriers

between the women and the slew of hazardous chemicals that Subra had

detected were sweat suits, rubber gloves and cheap face masks tacked

upside down over their faces.

Yes, they had looked on the internet for safety information, they

told Verchick, and were following the mayor's instructions to wear

protective clothing and proceed with caution. They told him they

knew nothing about local sediment contamination.

" It's amazing to me, " Verchick told TNS, " that not only is the

government allowing these folks to be in areas that we now know have

extreme contaminants, but that they're not even giving people

information about these contaminants. "

According to Greenwood, director of the Office of

Environmental Health and Safety at University of California–Los

Angeles, even if residents do try to clean their own homes, the

government has a role in minimizing risk and providing detailed

guidance on appropriate safety precautions. " People can protect

themselves, " he said. " The issue is will they, and who will help

them? "

Environmental advocates are wondering the same thing, complaining

that the official efforts at risk communication are both inadequate

and confusing.

The EPA's recent public service announcements advise residents to

wear a dust mask when handling debris containing lead, asbestos or

chemical residues, but according to industrial guidelines, basic

dust masks will not protect against airborne asbestos or toxic

vapors.

For mold-contaminated areas larger than ten square feet, the EPA and

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals recommend professional

assistance, but the state's two-page mold advisory does not explain

how hurricane survivors without insurance, and saddled with other

home rebuilding costs, might pay for professional remediation. FEMA

estimates that 60 percent of housing units in New Orleans lack flood

insurance.

Simply learning about what they will be exposed to could pose a

challenge for returning residents. The EPA website displays sediment

sampling results, but the data charts do not include details on

recommended safety levels or potential health effects of individual

chemicals.

Darryl Malek-Wiley, a New Orleans resident and an organizer with the

environmental group Sierra Club, described the site as " user-

hostile " and, to returnees who lack Internet access, practically

useless.

" They just throw it all back on… individual responsibility, " he

said, " rather than trying to educate people as to what might be

happening. "

Environmental groups are also concerned that there is no formal

environmental clearance standard for home reentry.

Darin Mann, a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental

Quality, said that city authorities are responsible for ensuring

indoor health and safety while environmental agencies are focusing

on outdoor assessments. " We just have no jurisdiction over private

property, " he said. " That's up to the locals. "

For its part, the mayor's office reports that building inspection

teams are combing neighborhoods and marking some homes " unsafe for

reentry, " but decisions are based on structurally stability, not

environmental quality.

Observers report that people's use of protective gear varies widely.

One homeowner might begin a cleanup job in galoshes and a surgical

mask, while a neighbor reenters his or her home encased in a white

Tyvek " moon suit. " Government-contracted personnel are suited

airtight from head to toe, while low-paid laborers, many of them

immigrants, haul debris in jeans, stirring up dust with ordinary

paint masks dangling from their necks.

Subra said that she has observed both residents and response workers

coming down with rashes, breathing problems and persistent skin

sores since entering the disaster areas. She also predicted that the

problem will go underreported: " the responders aren't going to tell

you they're being made sick, because then they're going to lose

their jobs. "

In flood-impacted communities, Subra has worked with the watchdog

group Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) to distribute

free kits containing protective gloves, masks and instruction

materials. The group plans to use private funds to distribute about

2,000 kits. They say the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

has not responded to petitions for government funding.

" I thought Red Cross and FEMA… would be out there assisting people

in a much bigger way than we've seen, " said LEAN Executive Director

lee Orr. " It's disturbing and tragic. "

Between Mistrust and Misinformation

In addressing the environmental mess smeared across New Orleans,

some fear that the only thing worse than government inaction could

be government action. Activists in the black community point out

that historically, officials have dealt with toxic hazards by

shifting environmental burdens, like polluted waste dumps, onto

poor, less politically powerful groups.

Environmental justice advocates say that Congress now has an

opportunity to reinvigorate a legacy of environmental racism, with

pending legislation to allow the EPA to waive environmental

regulations that supposedly impede the recovery process.

Residents also warn that in this atmosphere of post-disaster

impunity, government authorities might selectively play up

environmental danger to target certain communities for demolition.

This controversy surrounds the heavily damaged, disproportionately

black and poor Lower Ninth Ward, some parts of which remain off

limits to frustrated residents.

Beverly , a New Orleans resident and director of the Deep

South Center for Environmental Justice, said that some jaded

evacuees have come to distrust the official environmental response,

for better or worse. " They're getting conflicting information--about

go or stay, go or stay, " she said. " So, people just decide, hell,

I'm going! You know, I want to get back to my house. "

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Determined to reclaim their city without compromising their health,

concerned residents say that environmental authorities can either

engage the public or alienate it further. " We have to find a way to

give the community a voice, and let them make an educated decision

about what's best for their community, " said . " But they have

to have all the facts. "

CORRECTION

Minor Change:

The original version of this article stated that an estimated 60

percent of homeowners in New Orleans lacked flood insurance. The

article has been changed to reflect that FEMA's estimate referred to

housing units instead of owner-occupied homes. Detailed insurance-

policy data on types of homes was unavailable.

| Change Posted February 20 at 12:51 PM EST

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