Rebuilding on poisoned ground: amidst unprecedented toxic contamination, cleanup and rebuilding plans could worsen environmental racism in the Gulf.(IS IT SAFE TO REBUILD?)

Publication: Colorlines Magazine

Publication Date: 22-MAR-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Color Lines Magazine

At Momma D's home in the Seventh Ward of New Orleans, a network of generators and car batteries powers several houses, a radio station, and--at night--a string of lights spanning the street between two live oaks. They're the only lights for blocks in a pitch-dark, eerie cityscape, strung in effort to stop police harassment. A curfew restricts people to their homes after dark in unlighted areas; electricity has not been restored to the mostly Black and Black Creole Seventh Ward. Momma D--Diane Frenchcoat--has lived in her grandmother's house on Dorgenois Street since the early 1950s. She's worked for decades to protect her neighborhood from police brutality and redevelopment, and after 1965's Hurricane Betsy, she organized her neighbors to survive and rebuild. Bringing back her flooded neighborhood this time around will be complicated by new, unprecedented toxic contamination.

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Most people here assume that Coastal Louisiana's longstanding toxicity has worsened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Testing by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent scientists confirms their fears. Lead, a severe hazard to children's development, was stirred up and moved around by the floodwaters. Arsenic, highly carcinogenic, leached from car batteries, pressure-treated wood and disturbed landfills. In St. Bernard Parish, a giant storage tank ruptured, and 800,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the town of Mereaux. The oil-slicked floodwaters released carcinogenic volatile gases, including benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Deep South Environmental Center and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) have demanded that the EPA and other federal agencies manage the toxic deluge's aftermath and monitor and treat exposed residents scattered by the evacuation. The EPA's inadequate and, some suspect, distorted sampling and public information has contributed to a situation where rebuilding continues without sufficient attention to toxicity or protection especially for poor people...

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