It might not surprise you that approximately 70% of all U.S. pollution cleanup projects started in the past 20 years have never been closed to regulatory cleanup levels. One of the reasons for this appalling record is the politics of public and corporate bureaucrats wanting to enhance their job security with lots of open projects and environmental contractors using outdated 1980’s technology that prolongs the cleanup project by treating the symptom of the problem rather than the source of the problem. Kind of like putting a water filter on your faucet to stop the foul odor and bad taste rather than fixing the source of the problem at the public water works or, better yet, at the underground source. This “symptom mentality” helps sell a lot of water filters, creates a large “monitor the problem and hope it goes away naturally” consulting industry, which prolongs the problem by keeping regulators happy, but really never solves the problem!
So here we are in a political environment that doesn’t want a solution for the environmental problem because it will upset the status quo for those who feed off the system of prolonging the problem! But what about mankind? I read the other day that perchlorate (used in rocket fuel), a chemical suspected of causing cancer, is now being detected in California grown lettuce and our milk supply (see www.ewg.org for the details) and we are ingesting it with unknown potential future problems. This contaminant is so harmful that California ex-governor Gray Davis signed a law that requires perchlorate users to got back 53 years and document their usage, storage and spillage of this chemical so that action may be taken to clean up the contamination we have been exposed to. I applaud the ex-governor for signing this legislation, but it had been sitting on his desk for a very long time and was only signed because a political opponent during his recall election got the endorsement of an environmental group and he needed to show that he was environmentally conscientious too! How much longer will it take to quit playing political games like this that affect you and I?
The environmental cleanup industry needs a change. We (mankind) needs to clean up the contamination mess, complete existing projects to regulatory cleanup levels, and move on to the numerous other cleanups before we pollute the earth so much it will not sustain itself in many areas where clean water, air and soil are required. In fact the biggest challenge I see over the next 50 years is the need for clean water. As this earth grows from 6 billion people to 9 billion by 2050, there will not be enough food or water to feed this population if we continue down the current environmental path. We need change – no - mankind will be required to change or face the environmental, political, economic, and survival consequences!
i heard just this week that the EPA was directed by the White House to lie about the air quality at the site of the Twin Towers cleanup... this led to a lot of health problems for the cleanup crews..you know? the real heroes???? i have been too busy to verify this allegation... anybody got any corroborations????
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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sooner or later? the pollution bill comes due....
and while i am most assuredly a capitalist? part of "the capitalist game" is to pass the expenses on to whoever you can find besides yourself...
hmmmmmm.......
if you had told your grandparents that the lead paint they were using all over the place in the last century really cost well over 50$ a gallon (in 1940/50's dollars) instead of 3$?? would they have used it?????
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
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this one of thoes things meaning new orleans that is just going to cost this country money if you want to have the city back. even if you don,t want it back it still will cost more money than most think. clean up has to be done either way just for health reasons. good by fed budget hello tax bill glta
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Thank you very much for your email note regarding the situation on the Gulf Coast and in particular in New Orleans and Lake Ponchatrain. I share your concerns that the impact on Lake Ponchatrain will be severe and that its recovery may take a considerable amount of time and effort. As you've probably seen on the news over the weekend, the EPA Regional Office (Region 6) and the Office of Water national program office have a number of people in New Orleans and the other coastal parishes who are there to assess the impacts. Preliminary information indicates that there may be substantial problems with coliform bacteria, petroleum and other chemical residues and lead. EPA is monitoring the water for over 100 priority pollutants.
Because the need to remove the hazard from the city and surrounding parishes to protect human health is so dire, EPA has allowed the contaminated water to be pumped back into the lake. There appear to be no other alternatives for removing this volume of water. I think the hope is that natural processes in the Lake will break down some of the chemical contaminants before they are released into the gulf, but I think everyone acknowledges that at least for the present time there will be serious problems and hazards in Lake Ponchatrain. The EPA Regional office is working very hard to assess those conditions and advise the public about the hazards http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/chem/090305/chem2005_09_03.html
I'm not sure what may be under discussion with regard to treating the water in Lake Ponchatrain before it is released to the gulf. I expect that it would be costly and logistically difficult. Lake Ponchatrain water is already discharging into the gulf and some of the contamination, no doubt is moving with it. It seems at the moment that the hope is that natural ecological processes and dilution of the pumped water, both in Lake Ponchatrain and out in the gulf will adequately mitigate the problem over time. I think that as the assessments continue we may have additional information to guide us toward any additional steps. The driver at the moment is restoring safe conditions as quickly as possible for the people of New Orleans and the surrounding area. One of the priority steps for that will be to restore sanitary and drinking water treatment as quickly as possible. I suspect that building new infrastructure to treat the lake water before it discharges into the gulf might severely challenge the resources available to get sanitary and drinking water treatment back on line.
I wish I had a better answer.
Jerry Filbin
--------------------------------------------------- Gerald J. Filbin, Ph.D., Director Innovative Pilots Division (1807T) Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation US Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania, Ave., NW Washington, DC 20460
202-566-2182 202-566-2211 FAX ----- Forwarded by Gerald Filbin/DC/USEPA/US on 09/12/2005 12:41 PM -----
COMMENTS_OF_REQUESTOR
Lake Ponchatrain Clean Up
My question is, How is Lake Ponchatrain going to get cleaned up after they finish pumping all of this toxic materials in it? Has anyone thought of who is going to clean it up?
I came across one company that looks like it would be ideal for this situation.
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Yep. I wish they would do something that works for crying out loud. I wish they'd just spend the cash and clean it up right. It's rediculous that they are just letting the water sit there and haven't made any plans to clean it up that we are aware of.
FEMA already is sending more than $100 million to reimburse the city for recovery expenses, and the city is close to signing a number of contracts for the work, Nagin said. The city’s only final contract as of Monday was for a waste-management company to clear debris.
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