The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Well, the one year anniversary of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina has been duly marked: the Emperor went to the Gulf Coast and proclaimed progress. That was that. It's now time to gear up for the five year anniversary of the devastation of 9/11.
Except that isn't it: the devastation will continue in the Gulf Coast for years to come, only it will be in the most insidious of fashions. From yesterday's Star Tribune:
Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has been closely involved with the cleanup of hazardous wastes at sites like Love Canal and the World Trade Center. A year ago, after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, he was widely quoted describing the wreckage as a "toxic gumbo." In the Twin Cities last week to visit the State Fair, he contacted the Star Tribune to discuss its coverage of the Katrina anniversary. Commentary editor Eric Ringham spoke with him by phone.
Q You said your eye was caught by a photo in the Star Tribune?
A Yes. On the front page on Sunday there was a picture of a volunteer worker in the contaminated areas of one of the homes in the Gulf Coast, I believe in New Orleans. And I've seen similar pictures. The person who was trying to be helpful was wearing a dust mask. The pores in those masks are so large that they will allow mold, asbestos and toxic air contaminants, all things that are prevalent in that area, through the pores and into the lungs.
That's one of the problems we identified in response to the 9/11 case in New York, where you had volunteers going in with either no protection or dust masks, and for all intents and purposes all the toxic material in the air would go into the lungs. Now, five years later, a lot of the people are starting to die off from the health effects of inhalation of toxic materials which are very similar to the materials that are in the air in New Orleans and other areas.
Q Why didn't the government step in to stop it then, and why isn't it stepping in to stop it now?
A One thing the federal government did once Katrina hit was waive all the environmental and occupational safety rules that would require people working down there to have adequate protection to protect their health.
Q Why would the government waive those rules?
A Those rules are waived because it will make cleanup much cheaper. If in fact you follow the rules and you certify cleanup people, properly equipped, the costs for remediation would be substantially more expensive. And according to the laws, government really is on the hook for doing and paying for that type of cleanup. But the federal government has so much money going overseas that it does not want to budget more money to remediate the Gulf Coast areas properly.
On top of that, the government wanted to rely on volunteer organizations as opposed to the government following the rules and doing it themselves. ... And the people who run the volunteer organizations -- God bless 'em, their hearts are in the right place, but they're not experienced people in the field of remediation where there are toxics, asbestos, etc., involved. So waiving the rules allowed the government to save billions of dollars and expose hundreds of thousands of people to the high risk of cancer 10 and 20 years down the line. [Emphasis added]
How sick is that? About as sick as the first responders to 9/11 are beginning to be at this point, and the really horrific diseases (e.g., mesothelioma) are still five to ten years away from manifesting.
It is clear that we are being governed by greedy homicidal maniacs.
Outrageous!
Except that isn't it: the devastation will continue in the Gulf Coast for years to come, only it will be in the most insidious of fashions. From yesterday's Star Tribune:
Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has been closely involved with the cleanup of hazardous wastes at sites like Love Canal and the World Trade Center. A year ago, after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, he was widely quoted describing the wreckage as a "toxic gumbo." In the Twin Cities last week to visit the State Fair, he contacted the Star Tribune to discuss its coverage of the Katrina anniversary. Commentary editor Eric Ringham spoke with him by phone.
Q You said your eye was caught by a photo in the Star Tribune?
A Yes. On the front page on Sunday there was a picture of a volunteer worker in the contaminated areas of one of the homes in the Gulf Coast, I believe in New Orleans. And I've seen similar pictures. The person who was trying to be helpful was wearing a dust mask. The pores in those masks are so large that they will allow mold, asbestos and toxic air contaminants, all things that are prevalent in that area, through the pores and into the lungs.
That's one of the problems we identified in response to the 9/11 case in New York, where you had volunteers going in with either no protection or dust masks, and for all intents and purposes all the toxic material in the air would go into the lungs. Now, five years later, a lot of the people are starting to die off from the health effects of inhalation of toxic materials which are very similar to the materials that are in the air in New Orleans and other areas.
Q Why didn't the government step in to stop it then, and why isn't it stepping in to stop it now?
A One thing the federal government did once Katrina hit was waive all the environmental and occupational safety rules that would require people working down there to have adequate protection to protect their health.
Q Why would the government waive those rules?
A Those rules are waived because it will make cleanup much cheaper. If in fact you follow the rules and you certify cleanup people, properly equipped, the costs for remediation would be substantially more expensive. And according to the laws, government really is on the hook for doing and paying for that type of cleanup. But the federal government has so much money going overseas that it does not want to budget more money to remediate the Gulf Coast areas properly.
On top of that, the government wanted to rely on volunteer organizations as opposed to the government following the rules and doing it themselves. ... And the people who run the volunteer organizations -- God bless 'em, their hearts are in the right place, but they're not experienced people in the field of remediation where there are toxics, asbestos, etc., involved. So waiving the rules allowed the government to save billions of dollars and expose hundreds of thousands of people to the high risk of cancer 10 and 20 years down the line. [Emphasis added]
How sick is that? About as sick as the first responders to 9/11 are beginning to be at this point, and the really horrific diseases (e.g., mesothelioma) are still five to ten years away from manifesting.
It is clear that we are being governed by greedy homicidal maniacs.
Outrageous!
posted by Diane at 8:53 AM
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