Katrina's Wake: Arsenic-Laced Schools and Playgrounds puts New Orleans Children at Risk

August 2007
Katrina’s Wake
Arsenic-Laced Schools and
Playgrounds Put New Orleans
Children at Risk
Authors
Leslie Fields
Albert Huang
Gina Solomon, M.D., M.P.H.
Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, M.P.H.
Patrice Simms
Natural Resources Defense Council

---

About NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense Council is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than
1.2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have
worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City,
Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org.
Acknowledgements
The Natural Resources Defense Council would like to acknowledge the following individuals and foundations for
their generous support: Anne and Greg Avis, Colleen Bell, Leslie and Walter Burlock, Frank Hatch, the Heinz Family
Foundation, The Charles M. and Mary D. Grant Foundation, Sofie Barron Howard, Patricia Cox Hunckler, Jesse and
Mary Tyler Johnson, Pamela Kohlberg, Gwen McCaw, Henry van Ameringen, and Dorothy Weaver.

A major thanks to Dr. Howard Mielke and his colleagues at Tulane University for providing us with location-matched
pre-Katrina soil samples for analysis.
Special Acknowledgement
This report was made possible by the tireless work of community and environmental activists on the ground in New
Orleans. From day one, they demanded that all residents had the right to return to a New Orleans that was safe, not
toxic. NRDC fully supports their efforts to rebuild their communities in a just, healthy, and sustainable way.

Wilma Subra, chemist, Louisiana Environmental Action Network
Dr. Beverley Wright, Director, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Pam Dashiell, former President, Holy Cross Neighborhood Association in the Lower 9th Ward
Monique Harden, Co-Director, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Nathalie Walker, Co-Director, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Father Vien Nguyen, Mary Queen of Vietnam Church
Darryl Malek-Wiley, Environmental Justice Organizer, Sierra Club, Louisiana
Dr. Lovell Agwaramgbo, Director, People's Environment Center
Brice White, Operations Director, People's Environment Center
Marylee Orr, Executive Director, Louisiana Environmental Action Network
Allison Rolfes, Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade
NRDC Director of Communications: Phil Gutis
NRDC Marketing and Operations Director: Alexandra Kennaugh
NRDC Publications Manager: Lisa Goffredi
Production: Tanja Bos, tanja@bospoint.com
Copyright 2007 by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
For additional copies of this report, send $5.00 plus $3.95 shipping and handling to NRDC Publications Department, 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011.
California residents must add 7.5% sales tax. Please make checks payable to NRDC in U.S. dollars. The report is also available online at www.nrdc.org/policy
This report is printed on paper that is 100 percent post-consumer recycled fiber, processed chlorine free.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 2

---

Table of Contents
Executive Summary
4
CHAPTER 1: Hazards on the Playgrounds: NRDC Finds Elevated Levels of Arsenic in
New Orleans Schoolyards
8
CHAPTER 2: Health Threats to New Orleans Residents: Pollution in the Air, Land, and Water
12
CHAPTER 3: A Mountain of Trash Left Behind
18
CHAPTER 4: Storms Shine a Spotlight on Environmental Injustice
20
CHAPTER 5: Charting a New Course for New Orleans
23
APPENDIx A: Arsenic Sampling Methodology, March 2007
26
APPENDIx B: EPA Legal Authorities and Obligations to Respond to Natural Disasters
26
APPENDIx C: EPA Response to Community Coalition Letter on Schoolyards
29
APPENDIx D: DEQ Response to Community Coalition Letter in Schoolyards
31
Endnotes
33
Natural Resources Defense Council I 3

---

Executive Summary
W hen Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans in August 2005,
the levee failures inundated the city—particularly its most vulnerable
neighborhoods—with a hazardous sea of fuel, sewage, and chemicals.
Floodwaters containing pathogens from raw sewage and toxic contaminants from
oil spills, pesticides, and hazardous waste poured into neighborhood streets, leaving
behind thick sediment inside homes, in parks, and on lawns. Two years after the
storm, a team of researchers from NRDC, working in partnership with local
community groups, has found that hazardous levels of arsenic are still present in
the soil at several locations in New Orleans—including schools, playgrounds, and
residential areas.
Testing of sediment in flooded areas of New Orleans in the months following Katrina by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NRDC identified high concentrations of arsenic, lead, and other
contaminants in many areas of the city in significant excess of state and federal clean-up guidelines. Two years later,
we have discovered that people are returning home to communities that have still not been adequately cleaned up.
Soil sampling done by NRDC in March 2007 revealed that nearly 25 percent of the 35 New Orleans playgrounds
and schoolyards tested two years after Katrina may be classified as arsenic “hot spots.” Our data show six schools, two
playgrounds, and four residential areas sitting on arsenic “hot spots,” where levels of the toxic substance exceed EPA and
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) clean-up guidelines (see Table 1).
Table 1: New Orleans Schools That Exceed Government Clean-up Levels for Arsenic
School*
Arsenic Level2 (mg/kg)** District
McDonogh Elementary (#42)
34.4
Mid-City
Dibert
22.8
Mid-City
Drew Elementary
20.3
Bywater/St.Claude
Craig Elementary
16.1
Mid-City
Medard H. Nelson Elementary School
12.4
Uptown/Carrollton
McMain Magnet Secondary School
12.6
Uptown/Carrollton
* We only tested schools that were previously-flooded and open in March of 2007. Since then, many other

previously-flooded schools have been opened and warrant additional sampling.
** Based on sampling done in March 2007.
• Note: LDEQ arsenic clean-up guideline is 12 mg/kg.
• Note: Region 6 EPA arsenic soil cleanup level for residential areas is 0.39 mg/kg to protect against cancer.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 4

---

Our testing has further shown that arsenic was not a problem in most locations prior to Katrina. NRDC’s testing of
archived, location-matched samples from 63 residential areas around the city showed that arsenic concentrations were
low before the flooding, indicating that the floodwaters created a new arsenic problem. This finding is important because
EPA and LDEQ have dismissed the high arsenic levels as probably present before the flooding, thus not triggering a legal
authority for them to clean up the contamination now. We now know that the high arsenic levels are a new issue in many
areas of New Orleans, not an old problem.
Arsenic may come from prior use of arsenic-based pesticides, trash incineration, leakage from industrial sites and the use
of building materials pressure-treated with chromium-copper arsenate. Alternatively, the arsenic may have been in the
sediment at the bottom of the canals and Lake Pontchartrain and distributed throughout the city with the floodwaters.
Regardless of where the arsenic came from, the flooding spread it on the surface of the ground, where people can easily
touch it, breathe it, or get it in their eyes and mouths. Children’s tendency to put their hands in their mouths and play
on the ground make them particularly vulnerable to contaminants in soil where they live, learn, and play.
Health Risks of Arsenic Exposure
Arsenic is toxic to humans and is known to cause cancer; no amount is considered fully safe. Many scientific
studies, including numerous reviews by the National Academy of Sciences, have determined that arsenic can cause
cancer of the bladder, skin and lungs; likely causes other cancers; and can cause a variety of other serious health
problems, including birth defects, cardiovascular disease, skin abnormalities, anemia, and neurological disorders.
Other Health Concerns in the Aftermath of the Storm
In addition to toxic sediment, residents returning to the region have been exposed to other health threats:
• Mold, the product of heat, water, and natural organisms growing on walls and elsewhere, poses serious risks to air
quality. When inhaled, mold spores can cause major allergy and asthma attacks, cough, hypersensitivity pneumonitis
(a pneumonia-like illness), and even infections in people with weakened immune systems.
• Fine particulate matter—small particles of soot, dust, or dried-up sediment
that penetrate deep into the lungs—has been linked to reduced lung function,
"After Hurricane Katrina, it is
coughing, wheezing, cardiac arrhythmia, stroke, lung cancer, and premature
just as important to test and clean
death. In New Orleans post-Katrina, the particulate matter in the air was
up school yards as it is to provide
unusually high in toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, and lead.
text books to our children. School
officials must understand that the
• Contaminated drinking water resulted from significant damage to the municipal
important work of removing mold
water system and broken water mains. In the days immediately following the
and repairing our school buildings
storm as many as 185 of the 683 drinking water facilities in the state were unable
after the storm must also include
to provide clean, safe water to residents. In New Orleans, the storm ruptured
ensuring that our children are not
more than 20,000 water pipes and there were published estimates of 100 million
exposed to arsenic and other toxic
gallons of water per day leaking underground throughout the system during the
contaminants in school yards."
months following the flooding.1
—Mary Joseph, Executive Director,
Children's Defense Fund Louisiana, and
It is critical that officials on the local, state, and federal level work together to
Monique Harden, Co-Director, Advocates
eliminate these health threats from post-Katrina New Orleans and to repair the
for Environmental Human Rights
heavily damaged infrastructure to make the city safe for returning residents.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 5

---

Residents Still Wading in Debris and Waste
Hurricane Katrina left behind another, more visible reminder of the storm: an enormous quantity of debris, much of
which has still not been cleaned up. The forces of Katrina and Rita combined to dump as much as 100 million cubic
yards of debris into the region—enough garbage to fill the Superdome more than 55 times—much of it mixed with
hazardous materials.2 Although the Army Corps of Engineers, supervised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), has been largely responsible for cleaning up this debris, efforts have been slow and uncoordinated, and a great
deal of debris remains in neighborhoods. It is critical that debris cleanup proceed with an eye toward a sustainable New
Orleans. Measures must be taken to preserve the unique historical and social flavor of the city without creating new
problems that will only add to the legacy of toxic pollution in the region.
Solutions for Charting a Safer Course for New Orleans
Our government must make New Orleans safe for returning residents and kids. We recommend a three-step plan
for safely cleaning up schools, playgrounds, and communities in New Orleans. The EPA and LDEQ should protect
residents by:
1. Fully informing the public of health risks, including access to treatment and information on exposure to toxins;
2. Conducting additional sampling at schools, playgrounds, and other “hot spots” where EPA and NRDC testing
has shown high levels of arsenic or other contaminants in the soil, to determine the full scope of the contamination.
Sampling should also be done at other locations around the city to make sure that other hot spots have not been
missed, with particular attention to locations where there are sensitive populations, such as schools and playgrounds.
3. Performing a site-specific assessment after sampling to determine whether the contamination poses a health risk,
especially to sensitive populations such as children.
4. Working with local communities to clean up all areas that have unsafe levels of contamination. Clean-up measures
include removing the first 6 inches of topsoil, safely disposing of the contaminated soil, and then replacing it with
6 inches of fresh topsoil. The cost of doing this is relatively low. For an average-size single-family home, the cost
of completing the remediation, including soil hazardous material disposal fees and equipment rental, is between
$3,500-$5,000.

The city can also take steps to remove the mountains of debris left behind by the storm. Some strategies for effective
debris management include:
• Practicing deconstruction, not demolition, by dismantling structures in a way that separates its
component materials.
• Recycling, reusing, and composting.
• Emphasizing proper waste disposal by banning open burning, avoiding the construction of unnecessary new
landfills, and using the proper procedures for removing hazardous debris.
• Establishing an effective process for debris management that includes plans for short- and long-term
debris disposal.
Finally, the federal government has a role to play in helping New Orleans rebound from the storms. The 110th Congress
can aid cleanup efforts by:
Natural Resources Defense Council I 6

---

• Demanding that agencies charged with natural disaster responsibilities—FEMA, the EPA, and the Army Corps
of Engineers—exercise their legal authority to conduct site-specific risk assessments in areas where EPA and
independent sampling have identified toxic contamination and to execute comprehensive cleanup actions;
• Advocating for strengthening existing levees, closing the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR GO), and restoring the
coastal wetlands that can buffer against future storm damage;
• Demanding joint oversight hearings on reconstruction activities by the relevant federal agencies—and on agency
plans for future natural disasters—by the appropriate congressional committees; and
• Investing in capacity building for community-based organizations in New Orleans working to rebuild in a manner
that is green and sustainable.

Environmental Justice After the Storm

The images seared into our collective national memory from the days following Katrina are those of displaced
victims waiting, often for days, to be rescued from the deadly storms that had engulfed New Orleans. The grim reality
is that, more often than not, these victims were low income and people of color. Low-income communities and
communities of color often bear the brunt of environmental health disasters; nowhere was this more evident than in
post-Katrina New Orleans.

Before the storm, low-income communities and communities of color in New Orleans were already dealing
with more than their fair share of environmental burdens: A quarter of inner-city New Orleans children had enough
lead in their blood to be classified as lead-poisoned, and at risk for learning disabilities and behavioral problems.3

Two years after the storm, not only are pollution problems in these neighborhoods exacerbated, but public
services such as schools, day care centers, hospitals, and public utilities continue to function at lower levels than before
the storm. Public housing is scarce, and other housing is more expensive than it once was. Some 114,000 people still
live in temporary trailers. Many of the neighborhoods that remain virtually uninhabitable were once predominantly
communities of color.

In those neighborhoods that are coming back, environmental agencies are using the fact that some New
Orleans communities had poor environmental quality before the storm as an excuse not to clean up to levels that
would adequately protect public health now. They say Katrina can’t be blamed for the problem. But the reality is that
even if the storm didn’t discriminate, decisions not to address health threats that remain in low-income communities
and communities of color do discriminate. Environmental justice requires that policy decisions, funding choices, and
revitalization efforts include the voices of all New Orleans residents.
NRDC in Action: Responding to Katrina

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, NRDC responded to the crisis by immediately sending to New Orleans
a team of experts on public health and environmental protection. NRDC’s field studies were among the first
conducted in the city after the storm hit. We partnered with local groups to measure toxins, test for health hazards,
and make sure that government support reached the city’s neediest neighborhoods. We distributed information on
proper cleanup techniques and helped residents to make sense of the EPA’s inscrutable data on environmental hazards.

Two years after the storm, our work in New Orleans continues: NRDC scientists continue to take soil samples
that expose dangerous chemicals in schoolyards, our policy experts are pushing the government to respond to
residents’ contamination concerns, and our advocates are working with local groups to make sure clean-ups take place.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 7

---

CHAPTER 1
Hazards on the Playgrounds:
NRDC Finds Elevated Levels
of Arsenic in New Orleans
Schoolyards
NRDC sampling two years after Hurricane Katrina shows that arsenic levels
at some New Orleans schools and playgrounds today exceed LDEQ and
EPA clean-up guidelines. Arsenic is a substance that can cause cancer,
neurological damage and other chronic health problems, and is particularly harmful
to children.4
In March 2007, NRDC researchers returned to New Orleans to test for ongoing evidence of arsenic in areas of concern
such as schools, playgrounds, and residential areas where previous sampling conducted by EPA in 2005 and 2006 found
high levels of arsenic. The team tested at 116 residential, elementary school, and playground sites in the city. The arsenic
levels in these soil samples varied significantly. This is not surprising, as the contaminated sediment likely washed into
low areas, against structures, or down storm drains, creating a patchy residue of contamination. Although only four
of the 81 residential sites (5 percent) exceeded the government clean-up level in this most recent round of testing two
years post-Katrina, some of these sites had very high levels. For example, a soil sample from a residential neighborhood
in Mid-City contained a whopping 41 mg/kg of arsenic, and residential areas in New Orleans East contained arsenic
concentrations of 23.6 and 30 mg/kg (see Table 2). These levels are two to three times higher than the government
clean-up levels for arsenic. Remaining residential arsenic “hot spots” were identified in Mid-City, New Orleans East, and
Lakeview. However, many other hot spots may be unidentified, since the scope of the sampling was limited.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 8

---

Some Schoolyards and Playgrounds Are Arsenic “Hot Spots”
Schools and playgrounds showed some of the highest arsenic levels among the sites tested. Soil tested in playgrounds
and schools in March 2007 shows that almost 25 percent of the 35 playgrounds and schoolyards tested may be arsenic
“hot spots.” Thirty percent of samples taken from schools and 13 percent of samples taken from playgrounds exceed the
Louisiana and EPA clean-up level (see Table 3).
Table 2: Arsenic Hot Spots in New Orleans Today
District
Sampling
Arsenic

Location
Concentration


(mg/kg)
Gentilly
Alexander Milne Playground
18
Gentilly
Schabel Playspot
19.3
Lakeview
Residential Neighborhood
14.3
Bywater/St. Claude
Drew Elem
20.3
Mid-City
Residential Neighborhood
41
Mid-City
Craig Elem
16.1
Mid-City
McDonogh Elem (#42)
34.4
Mid-City
Dibert Elem
22.8
New Orleans East
Residential Neighborhood
23.6
New Orleans East
Residential Neighborhood
30
Uptown/Carrollton
Medard H. Nelson Elementary School
12.4
Uptown/Carrollton
McMain Magnet Secondary School
12.6
* Sites where arsenic concentrations exceeded the clean-up level.
Note: Based on sampling done in March 2007. LDEQ clean-up level = 12 mg/kg. Region 6 EPA arse-
nic soil clean-up level for residential areas is 0.39 mg/kg to protect against cancer.
Table 3: Present-Day Arsenic Levels in Some Parts of New Orleans
Sampling
Percent of sites Number of
Average Minimum Maximum Number of
Location
sampled that
hot spots
arsenic
arsenic
arsenic
sites

were hot spots
exceeding
(mg/kg)
(mg/kg)
(mg/kg)
sampled


clean-up


levels*



Elementary/
Middle Schools
30%
6
6.9
0.40
34.4
20
Playgrounds
13%
2
6.8
0.45
19.3
15
Residential
Neighborhood
5%
4
3.4
0.41
41
81
Total
10%
12
4.4
0.40
41
116
*Clean-up level = 12 mg/kg.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 9

---

Arsenic Contamination of Soils in New Orleans is a New Problem Since Katrina
In addition to studying current day levels of arsenic in New Orleans soils, NRDC also conducted additional testing
to determine if New Orleans soils were high in arsenic before the flooding caused by Katrina. Archived soil samples
collected by researchers at Xavier University in residential neighborhoods in the years before Katrina hit were tested
for arsenic and the results were compared to the results of EPA testing at the same (or nearby) locations conducted
immediately after the flooding. The levels of arsenic in the soil were consistently higher in the samples taken after the
storm (see Figure 1). Out of 63 residential locations with elevated arsenic levels according to EPA tests in 2005-2006,
only four sites had elevated arsenic pre-Katrina. The post-flood “hot spots” contained arsenic concentrations averaging
24 mg/kg, whereas pre-Katrina soil samples from matched locations averaged 4 mg/kg (see Table 4). In comparison, the
LDEQ clean-up guideline is 12 mg/kg.
Figure 1: Arsenic Contaminated Sediment from New Orleans
Floodwaters Matched with Pre-flooding Soil
50.00
45.00
Pre Flooding (mg/kg)
Post Flooding (mg/kg)
) 40.00
35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
A
verage Arsenic concentration (mg/kg)
5.00
0.00
All Hotspots
Gentilly
Lakeview
Lower Ninth
Marginy,
Mid-city
New Orleans
Bywater,
East
Error bars=95% Confidence Interval
District
St.Claude
Government Has Been Unresponsive to Contamination Dangers
Despite potentially hazardous levels of arsenic in New Orleans soil, not one cleanup of contaminated sediment has been
conducted by either the EPA or the LDEQ since Hurricane Katrina struck. Both agencies claim that the high arsenic
levels existed before the hurricane, and therefore do not trigger any legal authority for them to clean up schoolyards and
other contaminated areas (see Appendices C and D). However, NRDC’s analysis of archived soil samples demonstrates
that the arsenic discovered post-Katrina was generally not present before the storm. Responding to pressure from NRDC
and community groups, on August 21, 2007, LDEQ performed sampling at four of the top six schools NRDC identified
with high levels of arsenic. At the time of publication, the results were not yet made available.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 10

---

Table 4: Arsenic Levels Pre- and Post-Flooding
District
Avg
Avg
Avg increase
Avg distance Number of

pre-flooding
post-flooding post-flooding between
matched

concentration concentration
matched
samples




samples(m)
Gentilly
5.5
30.5
25.0
108.3
8
Lakeview
1.7
26.8
25.1
101.2
9
Lower Ninth
0.4
15.1
14.7
93.8
2
Marigny, Bywater,
St. Claude
2.5
20.6
18.1
163.4
8
Mid-City
7.9
32.0
24.1
154.7
9
New Orleans East
3.0
20.5
17.5
292.1
25
All Hot spots
3.9
24.0
20.1
195.0
63
“It is the government’s responsibility to provide clean and healthy
schools for our children, and it is their duty and moral obligation to
help this city get back on its feet. It’s time for government officials to
quit passing the buck and do their job.”
—Dr. Beverly Wright, Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Natural Resources Defense Council I 11

---

CHAPTER 2
Health Threats to New Orleans
Residents: Pollution in the Air,
Land, and Water
Years of environmental abuse in New Orleans did more than simply expose the
region and its residents to the deadly winds and floodwaters of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. Long-term neglect also made it possible for floodwaters
to distribute a variety of health and safety hazards throughout the area. Floodwaters
containing pathogens from raw sewage and toxic contaminants from oil spills,
pesticides, and hazardous waste poured into neighborhood streets, leaving behind
sediment inside homes, in parks and other public spaces, and on lawns. As the waters
receded, mold grew abundantly in flooded buildings, contaminating both the indoor
and the outdoor air with dangerously high levels of mold spores. The drying sediment
blew in the air, creating another respiratory hazard for returning residents. Finally,
contaminated drinking water from leaking sewer and water mains was an ongoing
threat for many months.
In the years since Katrina and Rita, a number of organizations and agencies have tested the air, water, and soil in the
areas affected by the storms. Among those collecting data were government agencies such as the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); a team of scientists dispatched
by the Natural Resources Defense Council, joined by the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Louisiana
Environmental Action Network, Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, and other local groups; and a team of testers
Natural Resources Defense Council I 12

---

working for the Louisiana-based Subra Co. and Altamont Environmental, Inc. The results of these tests were remarkably
consistent, showing a clear set of environmental concerns in the region.
History of Toxin-Laden Sediment
The floodwaters that inundated New Orleans carried a mixture of soil, sewage, and industrial contaminants.5 When
they receded, they left behind a layer of sediment up to 4 inches thick. Although some of the sediment has washed into
storm drains, much of it has likely settled into the soil or accumulated along the sides of buildings. When activities
disturb the sediment, these toxins can become airborne and inhaled by workers and residents. As families move back into
these communities, children may be playing on contaminated soil for years to come.
The toxins spread throughout New Orleans likely came from multiple sources, including:
• storm-related releases and spills of petroleum, pesticides, and other chemicals;
• toxic sediment from lake and river bottoms stirred up by the storm;
• flooding of hazardous waste sites;
• household hazardous wastes, such as cleaning agents and home pesticides; and
• abandoned automobiles.
Testing by NRDC, the Subra Co., and the Environmental Protection Agency found sediment contaminated with lead,
petroleum, pesticides, industrial chemicals, arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Health effects from
long-term exposure to arsenic and the various toxins in sediment after the flooding include an increased risk of cancer, as
well as neurological damage and other chronic health problems.6
The testing that has received the broadest attention was that done by the EPA. By and large, the EPA has reassured the
public that the communities are safe. But NRDC’s careful analysis of the EPA’s data called into question the agency’s
assurances.
Specifically, NRDC analysis showed that most districts in New Orleans contained—and in some cases, still contain—
concentrations of arsenic, lead, diesel fuel, or cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene above levels that would normally trigger
investigation and possible soil cleanup in the state of Louisiana. Some hot spots in residential neighborhoods had levels
of contamination that are more than 100 times normal soil-cleanup levels. For example, at a location in Mid-City, the
amount of arsenic in the soil following the storm was 200 times the federal health-based level of concern for soil in
residential neighborhoods, and 6.5 times the Louisiana cleanup level for residential soil. Locations in Chalmette and in
the St. Roch neighborhood had diesel fuel contamination more than 200 times the Louisiana soil-cleanup level. A hot
spot for benzo(a)pyrene contamination was in Bywater, at the Agricultural Street Landfill, where the levels exceeded
Louisiana soil-cleanup levels by a factor of more than 50.
Independent tests by NRDC and others also revealed that sediment contamination by certain substances, such as arsenic
and diesel fuel, was widespread in a number of neighborhoods (Mid-City, Lakeview, New Orleans East, Uptown/
Carrollton, the Garden District, Bywater, the Ninth Ward, and Gentilly). In all of these areas, arsenic and diesel fuel
contaminants were found at levels that exceed the soil-cleanup guidelines for residential neighborhoods issued by the
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) and the EPA.
Such sediment contamination poses a health hazard in both the short term and the long term. In the short term,
residents and workers may be exposed to toxic materials by getting harmful particles on their hands or in their eyes and
mouths, or by inhaling dust from airborne sediment at a cleanup site or elsewhere. Such exposures can cause coughing;
irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat; and skin rashes. In the long term, families living in once-flooded neighborhoods
may be at significant health risk from exposure to contaminated soil, unless the sediment is safely removed and replaced
with clean soil.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 13

---

NRDC analysis of EPA data collected in 2005-2006 turned up disturbing results about the level of contamination of
four dangerous toxins in the greater New Orleans area:
• Arsenic—Ninety-five percent of the sediment samples collected by the EPA had levels of arsenic that could
potentially pose a significant cancer risk, according to EPA guidelines. Thirty percent of samples could trigger
cleanup under the weaker Louisiana guidelines. Arsenic is toxic to humans and is known to cause cancer; no amount
is considered fully safe.7
• Diesel fuel—The levels of diesel fuel (measured as diesel-range organics) in 59 percent of the sediment samples
collected by the EPA would potentially trigger soil cleanup under LDEQ guidelines. In Orleans Parish, this number
reached 91 percent. Inhalation of the vapors released from diesel fuel can damage the kidneys, increase blood
pressure, and decrease the ability of blood to clot.8
• Benzo(a)pyrene—Levels of the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene were high enough in 43 percent of the sediment samples
collected by the EPA to potentially trigger soil cleanup under LDEQ guidelines. Benzo(a)pyrene is one of several
dangerous PAHs that can cause chromosome damage, cancer, and immune suppression and pose risks to normal fetal
development.9
• Lead—Lead, which is known to affect brain development in children and believed to cause kidney problems10
and reproductive disorders11 in adults, was found at levels that could pose a serious health risk. Five percent of the
sediment samples the EPA collected in the greater New Orleans area had levels of lead that would potentially trigger
soil cleanup under LDEQ guidelines. However, in Orleans Parish, as much as 28 percent of samples taken had
enough lead to be classifiable as hazardous waste according to EPA guidelines.
Mold
The combination of late-summer heat and floodwaters created the perfect mold-growing environment, and NRDC's
testing in the months after the flooding revealed extremely high levels of mold spores in the air. Mold exposure can
cause congestion, sneezing, runny or itchy nose, and throat irritation. More serious symptoms include major allergy and
asthma attacks, cough, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (a pneumonia like illness with symptoms including difficulty
breathing and fevers). Some studies have shown that outdoor levels of mold spores are directly associated with childhood
asthma attacks requiring a visit to an emergency room, and that these respiratory effects are present even where daily
airborne spore counts are relatively low.12 Mold also poses a special threat to immunosuppressed individuals.13
Children in New Orleans may be especially vulnerable to mold because of the city’s very high asthma rate. One study
indicated that “if a child lives long term in New Orleans, the chance is approximately 24 percent that the child will
develop asthma over his or her early lifetime.”14 The combination of mold and asthma can prove deadly. According to
one study, “the risk of death from asthma is 2.16 times higher if mold spore counts are greater than 1,000 spores per
cubic meter.” 15 In post-hurricane New Orleans, NRDC tests found that outdoor spore counts per cubic meter soared to
more than 50,000 in some neighborhoods.
Using standards established by the National Allergy Bureau, outdoor mold spore counts in most flooded neighborhoods,
including New Orleans East, the Lower Ninth Ward, Bywater, Gentilly, Chalmette, Uptown/Carrollton, and Mid-City,
were classified as “Very High,” with estimated average daily levels of more than 50,000 spores per cubic meter. Levels
in Lakeview were deemed “High.” Such outdoor mold spore concentrations could easily trigger allergic or asthmatic
reactions in sensitive people.
NRDC’s testing of homes for indoor mold found that where moldy furniture, carpets, and drywall were still in place,
mold readings were extremely high—so high, in fact, that these homes would be considered dangerous and uninhabitable
by any definition. NRDC also tested homes that had been flooded and had then undergone some remediation, including
Natural Resources Defense Council I 14

---

removal of contaminated furniture and carpets and removal of some drywall. In these homes, mold concentrations were
lower, but still dangerously high. Tests of two homes that had been fully remediated, including removal of all furniture,
carpets, and drywall down to the studs, as well as airing and mold treatment, found mold spore counts that very nearly
matched the outdoor air.
Subsequent testing by other researchers has confirmed the high levels of airborne mold, and has also demonstrated
endotoxin in the indoor air of flooded homes post-Katrina.16 Endotoxin is a product of certain types of bacteria, and is a
very potent cause of inflammatory reactions, especially of the respiratory system. There is a need for ongoing monitoring
of the mold situation in residential neighborhoods of New Orleans. Unfortunately, the EPA and other agencies have
failed to undertake ongoing monitoring, so New Orleans residents today have no way of knowing how high the mold
counts are in their air.
Particulate Matter
Fine particulate matter—that is, very small particles of dust, soot, or sediment—has been linked in hundreds of studies
to a long list of serious human health effects, including reduced lung function, coughing, wheezing, missed school and
work days due to respiratory symptoms, increased use of asthma medications, cardiac arrhythmias, strokes, emergency
room visits, hospital admissions, lung cancer, and premature death. Infants and children are especially sensitive to
particulate matter pollution, as are people with asthma, the elderly, and people with preexisting heart or lung disease.
Particulate matter is a problem in many American cities, largely the result of cars, trucks, construction vehicles, and
industrial facilities that burn fossil fuels. New Orleans faces a very specific challenge because floodwaters covered much of
the city with sediment that carries a range of toxic substances. After the floodwaters receded, the sediment dried, and it
was then kicked up into the air by wind or even by attempts to clean it. Once airborne, it easily could be inhaled.
NRDC samples of airborne particulate matter revealed high levels of lead, arsenic, and chromium. The concentrations
of arsenic and chromium were far above EPA guideline values for air, and the concentration of lead was above EPA’s air
quality standard. Compared with monitored concentrations of lead from prior years in New Orleans, the concentrations
were far higher in the aftermath of Katrina (October 2005). Separate testing in St. Bernard Parish conducted by the
Louisiana Bucket Brigade found “arsenic, cadmium, and various benzene compounds…at levels that exceed EPA and
the [Louisiana] Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) standards.”17 It is unlikely that the EPA standards for
regular particulate matter were sufficient to protect against the unusual composition of the particles in the air in the New
Orleans area. Unfortunately, there were no government warnings about disturbing or inhaling the sediment, and ongoing
testing of the air quality has not been done to ascertain that the problem has resolved.
Damaged Drinking Water Systems
Another health challenge confronting the Gulf Coast is the provision of clean water to residents.18 Louisiana estimated
that it needed to rebuild 50 percent of affected sewage treatment plants at a cost of $38 billion.19
When water mains rupture, the pressure in nearby sections of the water system decreases significantly. The low water
pressure can cause contaminants from outside the pipes to be sucked into the system. Contaminated soil, effluent from
adjacent broken sewer mains, or petroleum spills can be pulled into the drinking water system through breaks in the
pipes. As a result, even if the water leaving the treatment plant is safe to drink, it may become contaminated on the way
to the tap.
In June 2006 the New Orleans water system was still losing 85 million gallons of water daily—more than two-thirds of
the total leaving the city’s treatment stations. By September 2006 the volume of water leaking out of the system was still
estimated at 40 million to 50 million gallons per day.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 15

---

In response to community concerns about potential contamination of the drinking water, NRDC lead a coalition of
nonprofit, nongovernmental groups, that tested water in New Orleans on three separate occasions in June through
October 2006. The testing focused on residual chlorine, bacterial contaminants, byproducts of disinfection, and
parasites; five samples were also tested for a list of 170 chemical contaminants.
Sampling showed that the quality of the drinking water in most homes
was fairly good. Testing for bacteria, molds, and yeasts did show that the
“The recovery of the city of New
heterotrophic plate count (HPC) was significantly elevated above the guideline
Orleans has been a demonstration
level in three samples tested (10 percent). Although the EPA nonenforceable
of public will. Pulling together with
guideline limit is 500 colonies, these three samples tested at 1,700, 1,700, and
neighbors and volunteers, residents
5,700 colonies.20 The elevated HPC is an indicator of poor system maintenance
have done what government has to
but is not itself considered to be a direct health threat. Water systems with a
do—rebuild and recover.”
layer of microbial material (known as biofilms) inside their pipes may have a
—Stephen Bradberry, Lead Organizer ACORN
high HPC count even in the presence of a disinfecting agent such as chlorine.
New Orleans and recipient of the 2005 Robert
The samples that tested high for HPC were located in Uptown/Carrollton and
F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
in Village de l’Est. Retesting at these three sites revealed lower HPC (4, 100,
and 740 at the three sites). The persistently elevated HPC was in a FEMA
trailer in Village de l’Est.
None of the initial 30 tests were positive for total coliform, but one of the three retests was positive for total coliform.
Total coliform is an indicator of certain types of bacteria in water. However, because coliform may be from a fecal or
non-fecal source, the presence of total coliform alone is not a decisive indicator of the health risk of drinking water.
However, one of the sites had elevated coliform bacteria on repeat testing. Coliform bacteria can be associated with
intestinal illness, and are a potential cause for concern.
Although the results of the independent water tests do not demonstrate widespread contamination or clear health threats,
the sampling was too limited to conclude that the water is safe at all times and in all locations in New Orleans. Many
residents reported sporadic problems with low water pressure and unusual smell, color, or taste, so it is fairly likely that
there are still remaining problems with the water system. More systematic testing throughout the system is necessary in
order to assure residents that their water is safe to drink.
What Oil Spills and Toxic Chemical Pollution Mean for New Orleans Neighborhoods
According to the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA, some 575 Katrina-related spills of petroleum or hazardous chemicals
were reported in the aftermath of the storm. Ten major to medium oil spills have fouled the Mississippi River from
Chalmette to Venice and west to Port Fourchon, releasing a total of nearly 8 million gallons of oil, and the Coast Guard
estimates that the region endured approximately 134 minor spills of less than 10,000 gallons each (see Table 5). (By way
of comparison, the Exxon Valdez disaster resulted in the release of 11 million gallons of oil.) The flood-affected area has
some 2,200 underground fuel tanks, an unknown percentage of which ruptured in the storm.21 Post-storm testing by
local and national environmental groups, the EPA, and state officials confirmed that many formerly flooded areas were
contaminated with pathogens and toxic chemicals, often at concentrations significantly higher than federal and even lax
state safety guidelines. At most of these major oil spill sites, cleanup is ongoing.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 16

---

Table 5: Ten Most Significant Louisiana Oil Spill Sites
Facility, Location
Spill

(gallons)
Murphy Oil, Meraux
1,050,000
Chevron Empire Terminal, Buras
983,000
Bass Enterprises, Cox Bay
3,780,000
Shell, Pilottown
1,070,000
Dynegy, Venice
24,822
Sundown Energy West, Potash
13,440
Sundown Energy East, Potash
18,900
Bass Enterprises, Point a la Hache
461,538
Shell Pipeline Oil LP, Nairn
136,290
Chevron, Port Fourchon
53,000
TOTAL
7,590,990
Gert Town: A Community with a Legacy of Environmental Abuse

The New Orleans community of Gert Town, site of the former Thompson-Hayward pesticide blending and
storage facility, highlights the problems associated with pre-storm contamination. Gert Town is a low-income area
where the residents, overwhelmingly African-American, earn an average household income of less than $23,000. 22 At
the edge of the community is a one-block plot where the Thompson-Hayward company began producing pesticides
such as Agent Orange and DDT in 1941. Production stopped in the mid-1970s, but until the 1980s the company still
used the facility as a warehouse for a number of dangerous pesticides, including aldrin, dieldren, chlordane, and DDT.

In 1987 municipal workers discovered that sewers adjacent to the facility were contaminated with toxic
components of dry-cleaning fluid. A state-ordered cleanup ensued, in which 75,000 gallons of toxic liquids and
millions of pounds of soil were removed. However, an estimated 2,600 tons of herbicide-contaminated soil was left
behind because no state would accept it for disposal. Outrage in the community surrounding the facility led to a
protracted legal battle that resulted in a $51 million settlement.23

Hurricane Katrina brought a renewed pesticide threat to Gert Town when it flooded the community with six
feet of water, prompting worries that the pesticide residue would spread. NRDC sampling done around the site and
in the surrounding residential neighborhood in the immediate aftermath of the storm showed those worries to be
well founded. Tests showed that the level of DDT and one of its breakdown products in the sediment exceeded the
EPA soil-cleanup levels by about twofold. Two other organochlorine pesticides—dieldrin and heptachlor epoxide, a
breakdown product of heptachlor—were also significantly in excess of the cleanup levels, with the dieldrin level
nearly seven times higher.24

When floodwaters engulfed the facility, they carried away pesticides that had not been removed as part of the
state-ordered cleanup in the 1980s, and then spread these pesticides throughout the surrounding area. These pesticides
are so toxic and persistent in the environment—that is, they do not break down into safer components—that they
have been banned for use in the United States for more than 25 years, and are now banned worldwide by
international treaty.

Since Katrina, onsite but not offsite cleanup has been instituted at the Thompson-Haywood site.25 Due to
pressure by Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, on-site remediation was completed using excavation and
off-site disposal in July 2007.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 17

---

CHAPTER 3
A Mountain of Trash
Left Behind
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita combined to deposit as much as 100 million
cubic yards of debris in the New Orleans area, much of it mixed with
hazardous chemicals.26 This waste includes household items of every
sort, garbage, unknown amounts of hazardous materials from both residential and
commercial sources, white goods (such as household appliances), vehicles, electronics,
vegetation, and demolition debris. Two years later, the task of cleaning up the
enormous quantity of debris is far from finished.
As many as 350,000 automobiles and other vehicles were flooded and ruined by the storms. The gasoline and other
toxic fluids in these vehicles—as much as three million gallons, by some estimates—pose a severe threat to returning
residents.27 After Katrina, sediment testing detected levels of diesel fuel contaminants that exceeded the national and
state cleanup standards. Benzo(a)pyrene, a petroleum chemical that causes various cancers in animals28 and is associated
with lung cancer in humans,29 was also detected above state cleanup levels. Petroleum-based substances degrade over time
if they are exposed to heat and open air, but it is unclear how much contamination from gasoline and other toxic fuels
remains below the surface, in the deeper soil and groundwater. Rather than assuming the contamination will take care of
itself, it is imperative that public agencies continue monitoring the soil and groundwater to ensure the continued safety
of the people and environment of New Orleans.
An unknown quantity of toxic materials from home garages and storage areas, such as pesticides, solvents, and cleaning
agents, also found its way into flood waters. One of the most significant types of Katrina-related debris still in the area
has yet to be addressed: the tens of thousands of flood-ruined structures, many of which are likely to contain hazardous
materials such as lead, asbestos, household hazardous waste, and other toxins. Asbestos, a chemical linked to serious lung
problems and cancer, was once a widely used building material in the South because of its resistance to extreme heat. As
the rebuilding process continues, the release of airborne asbestos is a significant concern.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 18

---

To date, the Army Corps of Engineers—under the supervision of FEMA and with input from the EPA and state
environmental officials—has been largely responsible for addressing the massive debris problem. Waste management
activities thus far have included modest efforts to separate white goods, vehicles (cars and boats), household hazardous
waste, and vegetation from the large stream of hurricane-related debris. But these efforts have been slow and
uncoordinated, and there has been little if any effort dedicated to developing a more comprehensive debris separation,
reuse, recycling, and composting program, which could safely divert millions of tons of waste away from
Louisiana landfills.30
Superfund and Other Hazardous Waste Sites
At least two Superfund sites in the New Orleans area were flooded by Katrina. The Agriculture Street Landfill held
decades of municipal garbage and hazardous waste that contained lead, arsenic, dioxin, and carcinogenic hydrocarbons
(see “Agriculture Street Landfill Seeps Toxins into Community”). The Southern Shipbuilding site in Slidell included
pits and lagoons containing 35,000 cubic yards of sludge contaminated with cancer-causing polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) covering approximately eight acres. 31 Dozens of other hazardous waste sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Alabama were also in the path of Katrina and Rita. Data about their safety are still being collected.32
Agriculture Street Landfill Seeps Toxins into Community

The Agriculture Street Landfill in New Orleans was originally the site of a municipal dump dating back to
the early 1900s. The city closed the 95-acre site in 1958, but reopened it seven years later for debris from 1965’s
Hurricane Betsy. Waste of all sorts was piled onto the site and burned for a period of six months before it was finally
covered with ash and again closed.

In the 1970s, the site—which had once been sprayed with DDT—became home to an ill-conceived housing
development.33 The 390 housing units had approximately 1,000 residents, most low-income African-Americans.34
In 1994, after years of lobbying by community leaders, the city built a fence around an undeveloped part of the
landfill, removed contaminated soil from play areas on the site, and took steps to register the area as a Superfund
site. The EPA ordered in 1998 that the site be cleaned of its toxic load of lead, arsenic, dioxin, and carcinogenic
hydrocarbons.35

Then Katrina flooded the area, and subsequent testing by the EPA, NRDC, the Louisiana Environmental
Action Network, Subra Company, and the San Antonio News Express, found dangerously elevated levels of PAHs,
cancer-causing chemicals from soot and petroleum-based products.36 NRDC’s testers reported that leachate was
visibly leaking from the landfill site, spreading across the street and onto the grounds of the local senior
citizens’ center. Tests of this oily-appearing leachate revealed the elevated levels of PAHs.37

With mountains of debris continuing to clog the city more than two years after the storms, it is critical that
mismanagement of Katrina-related debris does not become the latest addition to the list of burdens being borne by
the people of New Orleans.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 19

---

CHAPTER 4
Storms Shine a Spotlight on
Environmental Injustice
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita focused new attention on the deterioration and
degradation of Louisiana’s coastal landscapes and the toxic legacy of years
of environmental abuse. The residents of southern Louisiana were hit hard,
not just by the storms but also by the government’s failure to prepare for and respond
to their inevitable and devastating effects.38 The grim reality is that the damage done
by the storms might have been less severe were it not for years of careless and flagrant
abuse of the environment.
Poor environmental policy decisions made long before Katrina combined with natural forces to create the worst disaster
to befall an American city in decades. These institutional failures of environmental management and emergency response
have left many residents struggling to rebuild their homes, livelihoods, and communities.39 With the wealthier areas of
the city largely situated on higher ground and insulated from the worst impacts, it is the poor and minority residents
who have been hardest hit. More than a century of laws and policies steering African-Americans and the poor to low-
lying, flood-prone areas left these disadvantaged communities exposed to the most severe storm damage. Louisiana also
has a long history of state-sponsored incentives for industrial expansion that have resulted in a proliferation of polluting
industries along the backyard fence lines of low-income communities and communities of color.40 In Katrina’s wake,
these neighborhoods were devastated, depopulated, and contaminated—and remain so to this day.
Bad Environmental Policy Worsened the Disaster
As ferocious as the hurricanes were, the loss of life and property might not have been as profound but for a series of
bad decisions made by government and business leaders in the decades preceding the storms. Many years of resource
exploitation contributed to the scope of the disaster, first by robbing the area of some of its natural defenses against
flooding, and second by introducing a host of hazardous substances into the floodwaters.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 20

---

Diminished Wetlands Could Not Protect the Louisiana Coast
Years of poor government and industry stewardship destroyed much of the region’s wetlands, depriving the area of more
than a million acres of land that might have absorbed part of the storms’ fury. Hurricane winds sent a surge of saltwater
inland, flooding tens of thousands of acres of freshwater marsh. Much of the water became trapped inside levees designed
to keep it out, where it mixed with oil spills and effluent from ruined houses, businesses, and sewage-treatment plants.
The resulting ecological damage exacerbated an already severe environmental problem that had been decades in the
making.
Healthy coastal wetlands provide critical habitat and food resources and act as natural buffers against hurricanes. Experts
estimate that every 2.7 miles of coastal wetlands along the Gulf Coast reduces storm surge by about a foot.41 But over
the past 75 years, Louisiana has lost more than 1.2 million acres of its coastal wetlands.42 That loss continues today at a
rate of 24 square miles per year, with the hurricanes accelerating that loss.43 Most of this wetlands loss has been caused
by human intervention in the form of navigational channels, oil and gas infrastructure, and levees—particularly the
building of levees on the Mississippi River for flood control and navigation purposes.44 While these levees provided the
needed flood protection, they also prevented vital land-building sediments and nutrients from replenishing and elevating
deteriorating marshes. Instead of feeding into wetlands, sediment followed man-made channels into the Gulf of Mexico.
This system of channels provides navigation for commerce as well as access to oil rigs and other industrial facilities, but
during Katrina it became a “hurricane highway,” allowing stormwater to sweep rapidly inland, bypassing marshland on a
direct course toward New Orleans. A prime culprit was the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MR GO), a 76-mile shortcut
from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.45 The construction and maintenance of this little-used navigation
channel over the past 40 years has destroyed 20,000 acres of coastal land in St. Bernard Parish. It is believed to have
channeled the Katrina storm surge into some of the most vulnerable areas of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish.46
Oil and Gas Industry Pollution Opened the Door for Toxic Contamination
Over the years, environmentally disastrous choices were made to create and store toxic waste and to allow serious
contamination of soils and underwater sediments in an area that annually faces the threat of severe hurricanes. These
choices led to a commingling of toxic contamination and floodwaters that spread poisons throughout the region.
With its huge reserves of crude oil, Louisiana ranks fifth among the 50 states in oil production, generating about 4
percent of total U.S. crude oil.47 The state has nearly 20,000 producing oil wells and a large network of crude oil
pipelines, liquefied petroleum gas pipelines, and storage facilities. Louisiana is also home to two of the four U.S. Strategic
Petroleum Reserve storage facilities, at West Hackberry in Cameron Parish and at Bayou Choctaw in Iberville Parish. The
state’s 19 petroleum refineries have a combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 2.8 million barrels per calendar
day, second only to Texas.
The inevitable byproduct of these industries is hazardous waste, and Louisiana ranks second, again behind Texas, in the
quantity of hazardous industrial waste generated. Calculated on a per capita basis, Louisiana actually leads the nation.48
Rather than imposing and enforcing meaningful environmental standards, the state government has generally catered to
industry, even going so far as to promote the state’s southern bayous as a potential disposal area for other states’
hazardous waste.49
Reconstructing New Orleans for the Future
The reconstruction of New Orleans and the surrounding areas must be informed by past mistakes, so decision makers
can steer clear of the calamitous choices that exacerbated the damage done by the storms of 2005. Industry can and
should return, but it must learn to do business in ways that do not subject the region to toxic waste or contaminated soils
Natural Resources Defense Council I 21

---

and sediments. The water management infrastructure—including dams, levees, and channels—must be planned so that
it no longer robs the region of its needed wetlands or funnels stormwater straight at the heart of New Orleans.
Importantly, rebuilding also presents a unique opportunity to build a modern and sustainable city, one that preserves
New Orleans’s unique architecture and spirit while leaving its citizens less vulnerable to environmental disaster. The new
New Orleans should be a city where neighborhoods are separated from industry, so that there are no longer any low-
income citizens living just beyond industrial fence lines, exposed to toxins with every breath they draw. It should be a
place where transportation from home to work and back does not demand a daily overdose of air pollution.
The reconstruction process will take years; various stakeholders are still arguing over what areas of the city will be
rebuilt and how the rebuilding will be done. Nearly two years after Katrina and Rita, little progress has been made on
the long-term environmental and economic issues confronting the region. Its citizens deserve better. Policymakers,
business leaders, and community officials must be willing to commit energy and resources to building a sustainable
environment for Louisiana’s coast, address serious public health questions, and create an efficient and effective disaster-
preparedness system.
The EPA Fails to Protect the Health of New Orleans Residents
After Katrina, a natural disaster of unprecedented scope and scale, the affected communities looked to their local,
state, and federal government for support and assistance. Communities not only sought immediate disaster response
assistance but also guidance regarding whether it was safe to return home. Residents expected that if the government
found toxic contamination, it would exercise its authority to the fullest extent to clean it up and protect residents. But
the Environmental Protection Agency—the nation’s primary body of expertise and regulatory enforcement authority for
controlling and responding to environmental threats to public health—decided early on to punt its responsibility.
It did so in two major ways. First, the agency declared that it had no authority or responsibility to monitor or address
indoor air pollution, claiming that the mold threat was an indoor air problem despite NRDC data demonstrating
extremely high mold levels even in outdoor air in flooded areas.50 Second, with regard to toxic sediment, the EPA
deferred to local authorities—which often lacked the staff of environmental health experts and access to scientific
resources available to the national agency—regardless of the fact that EPA had primary responsibility to protect citizens’
health in the wake of the massive Katrina-related oil and hazardous chemical releases.
The EPA itself noted on its Katrina home page, “In emergency situations such as this, EPA serves as the lead Agency for
the cleanup of hazardous materials.”51 But surprisingly, the EPA repeatedly stated after the hurricanes that it was not the
agency’s obligation to decide whether environmental conditions in New Orleans and other areas affected by toxins and
oil pollution were so dangerous as to warrant continued quarantine or additional cleanup prior to general repopulation
of the affected areas. In short, the EPA refused to make any explicit public statements about whether it was safe for
the public to return to New Orleans and other hard-hit areas. This reluctance was especially puzzling in light of the
staggering amount of the agency’s own sampling data demonstrating significant toxic contamination.
It was not until August 17, 2006, a year after the hurricanes, that the EPA officially made the explicit public statement
that “adverse health effects would not be expected from exposure to contaminated sediments from the previously flooded
areas, provided people use common sense and good personal hygiene and safety practice.”52 When the announcement
was finally made, an estimated 190,000 residents had already returned to previously flooded areas and were potentially
already at risk.53
Natural Resources Defense Council I 22

---

CHAPTER 5
Charting a New Course
for New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest disasters in the history of the
United States. Now, two years after the storm tore through the city, we
must ensure that our handling of the toxic chemicals and mountains of
debris left behind by the storms does not compound this tragedy by passing on a toxic
legacy for future generations. Expansive and systemized solutions will be needed to
protect the long-term safety of residents rebuilding their city. This section outlines
some first steps for rebuilding New Orleans.
Protecting Public Health
1. Ensure safe and healthy schools for returning children.

Flood-damaged schools should be rebuilt in a manner that fully protects children’s health. Rebuilt schools should
be LEED-certified and incorporate guidelines developed by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools for the
design of energy-efficient, healthy, comfortable, well-lit schools. Care should be taken to make design, engineering,
and materials choices that prevent mold from growing indoors. The city also should guarantee that soil on school
grounds is clean and safe by making sure it is tested and cleaned to at least the level of the most protective cleanup
guidelines in the country.
2. Remove contaminated sediments.

The city should immediately request that FEMA and the EPA remove contaminated sediment from New Orleans’s
communities and conduct further investigation and remediation of toxic hot spots.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 23

---

3. Monitor the air and water.

There is a need for ongoing monitoring of the air and water quality in New Orleans. In many cases, no data are
available since 2006, yet we know that there were documented problems with mold, endotoxin, heavy-metal-
contaminated particulate matter, and drinking water contamination. These findings need to be followed up to
ensure they have resolved.
4. Fully inform the public of health risks.

The city should ensure that state and federal agencies continue to fully assess health risks for residents returning to
contaminated areas before making any official declarations that it is safe for them to do so.
5. Initiate state legislative hearings on cleanup.

The city should request that the Louisiana legislature hold hearings on the sediment contamination health threat and
the need for sediment cleanup/remediation. The city also should push for more public and legislative dialogue on the
issues of rebuilding and debris and waste management.
6. Give residents access to treatment for exposure to toxins.

The city should demand that the federal Public Health Service and Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry
provide ongoing medical care and testing to residents exposed to toxins, as required by the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (section 104(i)(1)).
7. Restore coastal wetlands.

Decades of industrial misuse and government-sponsored reengineering gone awry have almost completely destroyed
the Gulf of Mexico’s natural coastal barriers. The city should work with federal and state officials to ensure they
adopt a major coastal wetland restoration program in the Louisiana Delta.
Ridding the City of Hazardous Waste and Debris
Tens of thousands of buildings will need to be demolished due to irreparable structural damage or because of the impact
of petroleum spills, mold growth, and other contamination. This demolition process will generate an enormous quantity
of debris, which is likely to contain hazardous materials such as lead, asbestos, household hazardous waste, and other
toxins. Rebuilding the city will also generate significant quantities of construction debris, which will only add to the
debris management burden.
The city must act now to adopt a forward-looking debris management strategy that complies with EPA requirements for
“integrated waste management.” The recommendations below, in addition to offering wiser debris management choices,
suggest actions that will contribute meaningfully to New Orleans’s economic recovery by creating jobs, generating
marketable products for recovery/rebuilding efforts, and facilitating the development of an active marketplace for
reconstruction materials.
1. Practice deconstruction, not demolition.
Instead of knocking a building down with heavy equipment and carting the resulting debris away as a mixed
aggregate of solid waste, deconstruction involves deliberate dismantling of a structure to separate its component
materials. The ability to effectively take advantage of building deconstruction requires development of a well-thought-
out process for:

• on-site deconstruction, separation, sorting, and diversion of debris materials;

• transport of debris to temporary staging/sorting/distribution locations;

• distribution of constituent materials to recycling facilities, construction or restoration projects, or other

processors or end users; and

• proper disposal of debris that cannot be otherwise salvaged for a useful purpose.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 24

---

2. Recycle, reuse, and compost.
A cleanup plan that emphasizes these three components would benefit the health of New Orleans’s communities,
reduce the need for landfill space, facilitate economic recovery, and allow the city to respond much more quickly (and
more sensibly) to future disasters.
An effective recycling plan must include, at minimum:

• Recycling of aggregate (brick, masonry, etc.);

• Recycling of metals (roofing materials, appliances, piping, wiring, etc.);

• Recycling of nonmetal roofing materials;

• Recycling of glass and ceramics;

• Recycling of plastics;

• Recycling (or reuse) of clean lumber; and

• Composting of any suitable organic materials (including soils).
3. Emphasize proper waste disposal.
New Orleans can ensure that its waste disposal process adequately protects the public by:

• Identifying specific procedures and targets for removing hazardous components of the disaster debris


(including household hazardous waste and asbestos);

• Avoiding the creation of new landfills if possible;

• Banning the use of open burning as a debris management strategy (including use of “air curtain

incinerators”);

• Using appropriate types of landfill that consider the nature and characteristics of the waste;

• Applying appropriate siting procedures, including meaningful public participation criteria and

environmental justice principles for new landfills, if necessary; and

• Planning to remediate existing landfills (such as the Chef Menteur landfill) that contain potentially

harmful inappropriate wastes.
4. Establish an effective process for debris management.
New Orleans must pursue a community-centered, public-private collaboration that is transparent and accountable.
The city should join with the state of Louisiana and relevant federal agencies to form a multidisciplinary stakeholder
task force whose mission is to help the city quickly develop short- and long-term recommendations for dealing with
post-Katrina solid waste and debris.
Federal Cleanup Solutions: Recommendations for the 110th Congress

As the 110th Congress continues its work, we recommend the following actions:
Meetings with senior officials at the appropriate federal agencies charged with natural-disaster responsibilities—
FEMA, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers—to demand action on the above priorities, accountability for past
problems, and proactive measures for future storm seasons.

Coordinated lobby days in Congress, with affected community members and environmental, civil rights, and
faith groups supporting legislation to address wetlands restoration and action to assure the rebuilding and cleanup
of the area, including homes, schools, and other buildings affected by the hurricanes.

A joint demand for oversight hearings on reconstruction activities by the relevant federal agencies, and on
agency plans for handling future natural disasters, by the appropriate oversight committees in Congress.

Investment of additional organizational resources in the sustainable renewal and green revitalization of the
Gulf region.The problems left behind by Hurricane Katrina are our nation’s responsibility. It will take a sustained
national effort to rebuild, revitalize, and realize a new, sustainable, and just New Orleans for the future.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 25

---

Appendix A: Arsenic Sampling Methodology, March 2007
1. 85 residential locations in the City of New Orleans had concentrations of arsenic above the LDEQ clean-up
guideline of 22 mg/kg in sediment according to EPA sampling conducted September 2005 through June 2006;
2. These locations were matched using GIS software to the closest soil sample collected pre-Katrina by Dr. Howard
Mielke (Tulane-Xavier) and available in his soil archive;
3. 65 matched pre-flood samples were available, most within 400 meters of the original location. Twenty locations were
not matched because there was insufficient archived sample or because the sampling points were close together and
the matched location was a duplicate;
4. 65 stored soil samples were analyzed for arsenic using EPA method 6010b;
5. 118 residential, school, and playground sites in the City of New Orleans were sampled in March 2007 and analyzed
for arsenic using EPA method 6010b;
6. 65 of these sampling locations were located within one block of sites where previous EPA sampling found elevated
levels of arsenic;
7. Two samples were omitted from this analysis, resulting in 63 matched residential area samples and a total of 116
samples from March 2007.
Appendix B: EPA Legal Authorities and Obligations to Respond to Natural Disasters
The EPA’s decision to defer to local agencies to make determinations of whether it was safe for residents to return to
New Orleans appeared to undermine its own legal authority under such laws as the Clean Water Act (CWA); Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA, or Superfund); and Oil Pollution Act (OPA). Moreover, under its own National Contingency Plan (NCP)
regulations, the EPA carried the lead responsibility for evaluating and acting to remedy environmental health threats.
In particular, NCP regulations impose numerous obligations on the EPA to ensure that its response to releases of
hazardous substances or oil protects exposed citizens. For example, the NCP requires that after an oil spill, “[d]efensive
actions shall begin as soon as possible to prevent, minimize, or mitigate threat(s) to the public health or welfare of the
United States or the environment.”54 Moreover, if “the discharge poses or may present a substantial threat to public
health or welfare of the United States, the [EPA representative] shall direct all federal, state, or private actions to remove
the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of such a discharge, as appropriate.”55 Similarly, RCRA states that once
the EPA knows of hazardous waste at any site that presents an “imminent and substantial endangerment to human health
or the environment,” then the EPA “shall provide immediate notice to the appropriate local government agencies” and
“shall require notice of such endangerment to be promptly posted at the site where the waste is located.”56
Under these laws, the EPA bears the lead responsibility for evaluating and acting to remedy environmental health
threats. While it is clear that local and state authorities also share in the legal obligation to assure that local residents are
protected from such environmental health threats, under federal law, when there is such a declared national emergency
and a significant threat from hazardous substances and oil, the EPA bears the responsibility of being “the lead agency” for
assuring public health protection from these environmental health threats.
The EPA has also often used its Superfund authorities and funding for hazardous waste removal actions and relocations
of entire at-risk populations, but the Superfund is now largely bankrupt because Congress has ended the chemical and
Natural Resources Defense Council I 26

---

oil industry fee that funded it. Consequently, all cleanup and relocation costs now must come directly from the EPA’s
budget, and ultimately from taxpayers. This has served as a political disincentive for the EPA to exercise its authority to
order site cleanup and to protect residents from environmental hazards.
In addition to Superfund, each of the EPA’s major statutes—such as the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), RCRA,
CWA—includes a plenary “imminent and substantial endangerment” provision. The provision allows the EPA to go to
court and/or issue administrative orders to force essentially any action that the EPA believes is necessary to protect public
health or the environment from an imminent and substantial endangerment due to a release or threatened release of
hazardous chemicals or petroleum. The term “imminent and substantial endangerment” has been read by the courts very
broadly to favor EPA intervention whenever there is a reasonable question about the safety to the public posed by toxic
pollution. RCRA, for example, lets the EPA sue or issue orders to force action “as may be necessary” to protect the public
from waste pollution. SDWA provides the EPA broad authority to issue orders or sue to force action to protect public
health from possible contamination of water supplies or underground water. Similarly, CWA gives the EPA authority
to respond to such endangerment by suing for actions “as may be necessary” to force anyone causing or contributing to
pollution to take any action needed to protect public health or the environment.
The exercise of some of these powers is not unprecedented. In the past, the EPA has relocated people from
contaminated homes, and it has sometimes even relocated entire communities (such as Times Beach, Missouri; the
Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York, public housing residents in Portsmouth, Virginia; and, more recently, a large
number of pesticide-contaminated homes in Mississippi, Louisiana, and other states) due to hazardous substance
contamination. EPA has also tested air quality inside private homes in the past. In 1994 the agency took samples
in 9,000 houses in Ohio after a highly toxic pesticide was illegally sprayed in the community. The EPA eventually
decontaminated 1,000 homes.57 Yet in New Orleans, the EPA claimed it did not have the authority or responsibility to
test for contamination inside homes or to decontaminate homes.
Taken together with numerous other legal authorities, it is clear that Congress intended that the EPA have the authority
to take sweeping actions as lead agency in the case of such nationally declared emergencies to protect the people of New
Orleans and other communities from toxic contamination.
EPA Failure to Exercise Legal Authorities
After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, a lawsuit was brought against the EPA for its failure
to act on its legal authorities to clean up environmental contamination at the site.58 Throughout the litigation, the EPA
denied that it had any explicit responsibility to act in response to the disaster. Specifically, the EPA argued that it was not
required to act to protect workers or the public from environmental contaminants, but that it could do so voluntarily at
its own discretion.59 The statement, although shocking, was also extremely revealing regarding the EPA’s reluctance to
exercise the multitude of legal authorities it possessed to clean up and protect people from environmental contaminants
in a time of disaster. The court found that in the case of the September 11 attacks and under the six provisions of the
NCP that the plaintiffs relied on, the plaintiffs did not identify a mandatory duty to act under the provisions of the NCP.
In other words, the court decided that residents do not have a legal right to force the EPA to use its authority. Instead,
the EPA is free to decide when to act.
The September 11 litigation provides helpful insight into explaining why EPA chose not to exercise its legal authorities
after Katrina. In the aftermath of September 11, it was clear that the EPA recognized it had the authority to protect
workers and the public from toxic contaminants. Nonetheless, the agency bent to political pressure and failed to take
charge of the cleanup, instead announcing to the public that everything was fine.
In the case of Katrina, with environmental ramifications on an even greater scale, the EPA was even more careful to avoid
making statements regarding the safety of returning residents. At first, the EPA avoided making any formal declarations
Natural Resources Defense Council I 27

---

regarding the safety of returning to previously flooded areas. However, at the same time, the agency released advisories
recommending that residents take all precautions that one would take if there were significant toxic contamination.60
The advisories ranged from recommending that people shower often, wash their hands regularly, change clothes often,
and use washable doormats, to encouraging the use of respirators in previously flooded areas and avoiding activities that
generate dust.61
The EPA’s careful attempt to walk the line between saying it was “safe” and “unsafe” was clear early on. EPA’s reluctance
to issue firm guidance resulted in confusion among residents and relief workers who, as a result, may have exposed
themselves to unnecessary risks. Shortly after the hurricanes, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson responded to exactly
this question by saying:62
“Well, unfortunately it’s not a yes or a no answer because, again, what we’re seeing in the sediment area
is that we’re seeing some of those sediments highly contaminated with petroleum products and for those
areas that have high contamination you really shouldn’t be coming in contact with it. For those areas with
very low contamination there’s probably not a health consequence with but still prudent advice would
be—common-sense advice would be to avoid exposure, take precaution.”
By sending mixed signals that on one hand it was “safe” to return, but on the other hand people should significantly
alter their normal daily behavior to guard against toxic exposure, EPA performed a grave disservice to returning residents
by allowing them to be exposed to known environmental hazards. Furthermore, Johnson’s admission that “high
contamination” was a problem in some areas in New Orleans is troublesome in light of the agency’s decision to not take
any cleanup actions regarding the contaminated sediment.
In New York, the EPA’s failure to act backfired—the agency is facing extensive criticism from New Yorkers who feel that
the respiratory illnesses they developed subsequent to September 11 could have been avoided if EPA had disclosed the
potential health threats of dust exposure at the site. The long-term health effects of exposure to post-Katrina conditions
remain unknown. The EPA can show it learned from its experience after September 11 by stepping up to protect public
health in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 28

---

Appendix C: EPA Response to Community Coalition Letter on Schoolyards
-1-
Natural Resources Defense Council I 29

---

-2-
Natural Resources Defense Council I 30

---

Appendix D: DEQ Response to Community Coalition Letter on Schoolyards
Natural Resources Defense Council I 31

---

Natural Resources Defense Council I 32

---

Endnotes
1
Krupa, M. “Volume of Water Leaks Cut in Half.” New Orleans Times Picayune, September 20, 2006.
2
Between 55 and 59 million cubic meters of debris resulted from Hurricane Katrina; the Superdome is 971,445.44 cubic meters in its non-
expanded configuration.
3
Shogren, Elizabeth. “Katrina Stirs Up Issue of Lead Levels in Soil.” National Public Radio, All Things Considered, March 1, 2006, available at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5240033 (last visited June 21, 2007).
4
Solomon, Gina M., and Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, “Contaminants in New Orleans Sediment: An Analysis of EPA Data.” Natural Resources
Defense Council, February 2006, p. 4. Available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sedimentepa.pdf.
5
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sediment.asp. Neighborhood-by-neighborhood results are available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/
effects/katrinadata/sediment2.asp.
6 http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sediment.asp.
7 Solomon, Gina M., and Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, “Contaminants in New Orleans Sediment: An Analysis of EPA Data.” Natural Resources
Defense Council, February 2006, p. 4. Available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sedimentepa.pdf.
8 Solomon, Gina M., and Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, “Contaminants in New Orleans Sediment: An Analysis of EPA Data.” Natural Resources
Defense Council, February 2006, p. 7. Available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sedimentepa.pdf.
9 Solomon, Gina M., and Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, “Contaminants in New Orleans Sediment: An Analysis of EPA Data.” Natural Resources
Defense Council, February 2006, p. 10. Available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sedimentepa.pdf.
10 Staessen, Yeoman et al. 1990.
11 Xuezhi, Youxin et al. 1992.
12 http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/mold.asp. Neighborhood-by-neighborhood results are available at http://www.nrdc.org/health/
effects/katrinadata/mold2.asp.
13 Brandt, Mary, et al. 2006. “Mold Prevention Strategies and Possible Health Effects in the Aftermath of Hurricanes and Major Floods.” MMWR
Recommendations and Reports,
June 9, 2006, 55(RR08);1-27.
14 Mvula, M., et al. 2005. “Prevalence of asthma and asthma-like symptoms in inner-city schoolchildren.” J Asthma. February 2005, 42(1):9-16.
15 Targonski, P.V., et al., “Effect of Environmental Molds on Risk of Death from Asthma During Pollen Season.” Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology; May 1995: (95) 955-61.
16 Rao CY, Riggs MA, Chew GL, Muilenberg ML, Thorne PS, Van Sickle D, Dunn KH, Brown C. Characterization of airborne molds, endotoxins,
and glucans in homes in New Orleans after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2007 Mar;73(5):1630-4.
17 Louisiana Bucket Brigade website, October 26, 2005, available at http://www.labucketbrigade.org/press/pr_102605.shtml.
18 Benfield, Chasis, et al., “After Katrina: New Solutions for Safe Communities and a Secure Energy Future.” Natural Resources Defense Council,
September 2005, available at http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/hk/hk.pdf.
19 Benfield, Chasis, et al., “After Katrina: New Solutions for Safe Communities and a Secure Energy Future.” Natural Resources Defense Council,
September 2005, available at http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/hk/hk.pdf.
20 The samples that tested high for HPC were located in Uptown/Carrollton and in Village de l’Est. Retesting at these three sites revealed lower
HPC (4, 100, and 740 at the three sites). The persistently elevated HPC was in a FEMA trailer in Village de l’Est.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 33

---

21 Claren, Rebecca, “The Entire Community Is Now a Toxic Waste Dump,” Salon Magazine, September 9, 2005, available at http://www.
earthshare.org/KATRINA/Salon_toxicwastedump.pdf.
22 Capochino, April, “Ghost Town: Gert Town Abandoned by Residents, Officials,” New Orleans CityBusiness, January 9, 2006, available at http://
www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=14373.
23 Hensler, Deborah R., Bonnie Dombey-Moore, Elizabeth Giddens, Jennifer Gross, Erik Moller, and Nicholas M. Pace, 2000. Class Action
Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals for Private Gain, Rand Corp., pp. 319-333.
24 http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sediment2.asp.
25 Interview with Monique Harden, Co-Director, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights on February 13, 2007.
26 The Federal-State Debris Plan (prepared with the participation of more than 20 federal and state agencies) estimates approximately 120 million
cubic yards of total waste. Debris Management Plan, Hurricane Katrina (“Federal- State Debris Plan”) at 9. See also CRS Report for Congress,
“Disaster Debris Removal After Hurricane Katrina” (June 16, 2006) at 2 (hereinafter “CRS Debris Report”), estimating 95 million cubic yards of
debris, not including demolition debris from private homes.
27 Testimony of Erik D. Olson, Natural Resources Defense Council, to the Committee on Environment and Public Works, U.S. Senate,
October 6, 2005.
28 See Brune 1981; Knauf 1992; and Boffetta, Jourenkova et al. 1997.
29 Chang, Lee et al. 1999.
30 See “New Orleans Dumps Plenty, Recycles Little,” MSNBC (Associated Press), April 12, 2006.
31 EPA fact sheet on Southern Shipbuilding, January 2006, available at http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/pdffiles/0601494.pdf.
32 EPA web summary of Superfund sites, available at http://www.epa.gov/katrina/superfund.html.
33 “Katrina Lays Bare Superfund Woes,” Christian Science Monitor, September 15, 2005, available at http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0915/
p02s01-sten.html.
34 EPA fact sheet on Agriculture Street Landfill, January 2006, available at http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/pdffiles/0600646.pdf.
35 EPA fact sheet on Agriculture Street Landfill, January 2006, available at http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/pdffiles/0600646.pdf.
36 http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sediment.asp
37 http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/katrinadata/sediment.asp
38 See, e.g., McQuaid, J., and Schlefstein, M., “Washing Away,” New Orleans Times-Picayune five-part series (June 23-27, 2002), available at
http://www. nola.com/washingaway. Bourne, J.K., Jr., “Gone with the Water,” National Geographic (October 2004), available at http://magma.
nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/features. National Wetlands Research Center, press release (November 1, 2005), available at http://www.nwrc.
usgs.gov/releases/pr05_007.htm.
39 “Recovering States? The Gulf Coast Six Months After the Storms,” Oxfam Briefing Paper, February 2006.http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
whatwedo/emergencies/hurricane_katrina/Katrina_6_mo_anniversary/recovering_states/oa_briefingpaper-04_FINAL.pdf
40 See generally: Oliver A. Houck, “This Side of Heresy: Conditioning Louisiana’s Ten-Year Industrial Tax Exemption Upon Compliance With
Environmental Laws,” 61 Tul. L. Rev. 289, 292 (1986) (“The ten-year industrial tax exemption is the closest thing to a sacred cow in Louisiana.
Embodied in the state constitution since before World War II, the program currently exempts up to two billion dollars worth of property per
annum from local taxes…”)
41 Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force, “Other Impacts from Coastal Wetlands Loss,” available at http://www.
lacoast.gov/watermarks/1999c-summer/4other/.
42 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1 Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA), “Louisiana: Ecosystem Restoration Study,” Final § 1.1 (November 2004),
available at http://www.lca.gov/final/main_report1.aspx.
Natural Resources Defense Council I 34

---

43 Green Group Katrina Task Force Report and Recommendations, January 16, 2006.
44 “An Unnatural Disaster: The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” Center for Progressive Reform, Alyson Flournoy and Robert Verchick, eds.
October 2005.
45 “Close the Hurricane Highway,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 3, 2006, available at http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/
base/news-2/113626960952410.xml.
46 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1 Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA), “Louisiana: Ecosystem Restoration Study,” Final § 1.1 (November 2004),
available at http://www.lca.gov/final/main_report1.aspx.
47 Energy Information System, Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government, available at http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:YuQABWQz
77QJ:tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/state/la.html+louisiana+oil+production&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1.
48 http://www.gulfstorms.org/Environment.html. Per capita calculation credited to Florence Robinson.
49 http://www.gulfstorms.org/Environment.html. Per capita calculation credited to Florence Robinson.
50 Chen, M. “Unaddressed Health Hazards Persist as New Orleans Slowly Rebuilds,” The New Standard, December 5, 2005, available at http://
newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2646. Bowser, B.A., “The Environmental Impact of Katrina,” PBS Online Newshour, November
8, 2005, available at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec05/neworleans_11-08.html (visited Nov 18, 2006).
51 See http://www.epa.gov/katrina/index.html. Emphasis added.
52 See http://wwwepa.gov/katrina/testresults/katrina_env_assessment_summary.htm.
53 Louisiana Public Health Institute, 2006 Louisiana Health and Population Survey, available at http://popest.org/popestla2006/.
54 40 CFR. §300.310(a). Emphasis added.
55 Id. §300.322(b). Emphasis added.
56 RCRA section 7003(c). Emphasis added.
57 Bowser, B.A., “The Environmental Impact of Katrina,” PBS Online Newshour, November 8, 2005, available at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/
science/july-dec05/
neworleans_11-08.html.
58 See Benzman v. Whitman, 2006 U.S. Dist. Lexis 4005 (S.D.N.Y. 2006).
59 See “Defendants’ Reply to Plaintiffs” Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Count I, at 7 n.7, Benzman v.
Whitman, No. 04-01888 (S.D.N.Y. filed Jan. 14, 2004).
60 EPA News Release: “Environmental Responders Distribute 2 Million Flyers to Southern Louisiana Residents,” January 27, 2006; EPA News
Release: “Release of Multi-Agency Report Shows Elevated Lead Levels in New Orleans Soil, Consistent with Historic Levels of Urban Lead,”
April 4, 2006.
61 See Id.
62 See http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/july-dec05/neworleans_11-08.html
Natural Resources Defense Council I 35

---

Blank Page 36

---