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Local Industry: Pouring Toxins into Already Cancerous Wounds
Hurricane Katrina's destruction blew in more than devastation, it blew in thousands of individuals helping to rebuild our the Gulf Coast. With hindsight being 20/20, the Coast now has the opportunity to be more beautiful and operate much smarter than we have in the past. Unfortunately, there are always opportunists with short-term profits in their minds who will take advantage of a negative situation. Of these, we must be wary.
We all watched in horror as the hurricane deluged our homes and businesses. So the question exists what is to be done with all of the debris left in Katrina's wake? Many have seen the citizens of Louisiana returned to their oil-soaked homes. And citizens along Mississippi's coast have complained about DuPont's late-night burnings. Now Chevron has used this opportunity to propose a Liquid Natural Gas facility.
Has industry learned nothing? Whether or not one believes in global warming, nearly all meteorologists have confirmed we are in, at the very least, a warming cycle which will bring more Category 4 and 5 storms to our region over the next couple of decades. Why do humans arrogantly assume they can outsmart Mother Nature when time and again she proves us wrong?
USA Today reports a myriad of man-made chemicals which have been manufactured along our coast, including:
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found in coal, creosote and tar. These chemicals can impair immune systems and cause cancer in lab animals.
- Barium, an ingredient in lubricants for drilling rigs. It can damage the heart, liver and kidney.
- Benzene, widely used in the chemical industry to make plastics and other materials. It causes cancer and damages bone marrow.
Because Mississippi and Louisiana has embraced so many industries, it has some of the highest cancer rates in the country, according to the national Cancer Institute. And the National Lung Association has already given us an "F" in air quality. Fortunately, there are precedents that have been set by states like California and Hawaii who have dealt efficiently with such disasters. It may have taken a little longer, but public health costs were spared in the long run.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) itself issued a report in 1995 entitled, Planning for Disaster Debris, which included many success stories in recycling hurricane and other disaster debris. It reports, for example, that the Hawaiian island of Kauai relied heavily on recycling when it was forced to cope with more than 5 million cubic yards of debris after Hurricane Iniki of 1992. Because Kauai is an island, it had few landfill options and could not easily transfer waste to other areas. Although it took about three months to put a plan together, the local government produced a comprehensive debris management plan that banned burning of debris and focused on recycling. While the delay increased stockpiles of materials, EPA's 1995 report states:
"It resulted in much higher debris diversion rates, minimized environmental impacts, reduced waste management costs, minimized threats to health and safety, and significantly shortened the duration of the cleanup effort."
EPA's 1995 report also notes that Los Angeles was able to recycle nearly 56 percent of all materials collected after the Northridge earthquake of 1994 for less than the cost of disposal. These success stories are very encouraging and should provide helpful guidance in disaster response.
Open-pit burning of debris and burial of hazardous waste should not be tolerated under any circumstances. And the last thing our state should tolerate right now is the reduction of environmental protections as proposed by President Bush. This is yet another opportunity for industry to take advantage of its less-informed citizenry and deny charges of contamination (or at the very least hide behind the laws they seek to circumvent) in the long term when illnesses continue to plague the public.
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