EPA Gets an Earful on Clean Air at RTP Hearing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday held a daylong public hearing in Research Triangle Park on North Carolina's petition under Section 126 of the Clean Air Act asking the federal government to force coal-fired power plants in 13 other states to cut pollution. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper filed the petition in March 2004.

After many months of foot-dragging, the EPA in July finally responded to the petition by saying the Clean Air Interstate Rule it released earlier this year would improve the state's air quality in the future.

"A future fix falls short," Cooper told the EPA. "We need action now to stop out-of-state air polluters from dirtying our air." He urged the EPA to both implement CAIR and grant the petition so the state gets relief from air pollution now and in the future.

Other speakers at the hearing included a representative of the Tennessee Valley Authority, whose plants are a major source of the pollution problem in the North Carolina mountains, as well as elected officials and representatives of the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense and the Public Interest Research Group.

One of the most powerful statements delivered at Wednesday's hearing came from Avram Friedman of the Canary Coalition, an Asheville-based network of local government officials, environmental organizations, businesses and medical associations. Calling the EPA's response to North Carolina’s petition "insufficient," Friedman blasted the EPA and discussed pollution as a human rights' issue.

"I'm under no illusion that I'm talking to an Environmental Protection Agency that actually has as its mission the protection of the environment," Friedman said. "The current administration under who you operate has made it abundantly clear that utility company shareholder profits are much more important to your mission than the health and well being of people and the environment on which all our lives depend. I'm under no illusion that your agency intends to meet its responsibilities under Section 126 or its responsibilities in general to reduce air pollution as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm under no illusion that the agency that has attempted to gut the New Source Review provision is going to turn around and willingly enforce another aspect of the Clean Air Act that would accomplish essentially the same reduction in emissions from older power plants, factories and refineries. Let's stop pretending that the administration that would attempt to strong-arm through Congress the so-called 'Clear Skies' legislation by manipulating the process and threatening key witnesses with financial audits is going to willingly allow substantive progress or even full enforcement of existing environmental regulations.

"Let's be clear that your agency and the movement I represent are involved in a human rights struggle. People have the right to breathe clean air, and polluting industries and corrupt government enforcement agencies on the federal and state levels are violating that right. And just like the Civil Rights Movement … had to overcome government indifference, violation of voting rights and unequal treatment under the law for all people, so will this movement overcome your agency's flippant attitude toward its responsibilities under the law. The delay has gone on long enough. No more capping and trading or other gimmicks to delay what should have been done half a century ago. We want clean smokestacks now. Not in 10 or 15 years. Your agency may not intend to enforce the law and protect our rights, but the EPA is going to do exactly that. Because there is a groundswell developing in this country that will make Hurricane Katrina look like a passing sun-shower, and it's going to blow this whole corrupt and inept administration out of the water just like we did to Nixon thirty years ago. We have a right to breathe clean air and we are determined that this right will be realized."

For information on submitting your own comments on the EPA's proposal, click here.

NIEHS Launches Enviro Database on Katrina

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. has created a database to help assess environmental hazards in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The resource aims to provide up-to-date information for public health and safety workers on contaminants in floodwaters, infrastructure and industry maps. It also offers census maps on minority populations in the affected region.

"With a disaster of this magnitude, people need many things, including easy access to science-based information so they can make informed decisions to further reduce their risk of harm," NIEHS Director Dr. David Schwartz said a statement. "Consolidating information in this new website is one vehicle that NIEHS is using to help our fellow citizens."

Duke University in Durham, N.C. and the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park are among the organizations helping NIEHS develop the site.

Katrina's Floodwaters Inundate NOLA's Own Love Canal

The people of New Orleans used to call the toxic waste site in central New Orleans "Dante's Inferno" because of the underground fires that burned there. But today the Agriculture Street Landfill - among the most dangerous toxic waste sites in the country - is submerged beneath Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters, raising the possibility that highly poisonous chemicals will leak out into the environment and harm humans and other living things.

The story has not been widely reported in the mainstream U.S. media; a Nexis search conducted today turned up a brief mention of the toxic hazard in the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald and Canada's Toronto Sun. However, a Canadian trade publication called Solid Waste & Recycling last week reported on the potential disaster-within-a-disaster.

"The ASL can be thought of [as] a sort of Love Canal for New Orleans - and now it sits under water," the story said. "It's not outlandish to consider the possibility that toxic waste from the landfill may mix with floodwaters and spread far beyond the old landfill site."

That potential scenario is not unlike what actually happened - albeit less dramatically - at Raleigh's Ward Transformer site. There carcinogenic PCBs from old electrical equipment have washed into the environment over the years and contaminated Little Brier Creek, Brier Creek Reservoir, Lake Crabtree and Crabtree Creek, rendering fish in those waters dangerous to eat.

Declared a federal Superfund site in 1994, the 95-acre Agriculture Street Landfill contains more than 50 cancer-causing contaminants including arsenic, lead, mercury and pesticides. In the late 1960s, New Orleans and the federal government financed the building of a low-income community on part of the landfill, according to an environmental justice case study published by the University of Michigan. Residents soon began complaining about unusual patterns of diseases, including an unusually high number of breast cancers in both men and women. The concerns sparked an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the site's eventual placement on the National Priorities List for cleanup.

To date, the EPA has not issued any statements addressing specifically the threat the landfill presents in Katrina's wake. However, the agency and the Department of Health and Human Services have issued a general caution for those who come into contact with the floodwaters, noting that they are contaminated with "raw sewage and other hazardous substances."

Brad Miller Has 'Hard Questions' About Katrina Disaster

U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat who represents the 13th Congressional District, on Friday issued the following statement on Hurricane Katrina. Acknowledging the anger many Americans feel over the federal government's murderously inept response to the predicted disaster, Miller questions some officials' admonishments against finger pointing and demands to know when the nation's leaders will be held accountable.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09.02.05
CONTACT: Joe Bonfiglio, (202) 225-3032

Miller Statement on Katrina Relief Supplemental

Washington, DC - U.S. Rep. Brad Miller (NC-13) delivered the following statement today on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of the $10.5 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill for Hurricane Katrina victims:

"I know that today's session was a formality, that there would be no votes other than a voice vote, but I thought it was important to be here to show my support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in whatever way I could, however modest.

"Martin Luther King said, 'we cannot walk alone.' We are responsible for one another. We help others in need on the faith that when we are in need we will be helped.

"North Carolinians have twice faced desperate needs following devastating hurricanes in just the last decade. Other Americans responded generously both acting together through their government and in their contributions to private relief efforts. Americans are again responding generously to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"But, Mr. Speaker, I share the anger of many Americans at how shamefully inadequate our government's response has been. Tens of thousands of Americans are living outside the walls of civilization. They are without food, they are without water to drink, they are without medicine or medical care, they are without effective shelter, they are without the protection against violence that law provides.

"The failures that led to that are not the failures of the last four days; but of the last four years.

"There have been repeated warnings that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were vulnerable to precisely what has occurred and yet our government was stunningly unprepared.

"The President's press secretary was asked earlier this week about our government's response to the hurricane and he said, 'now is not the time for finger pointing.'

"Earlier today on this floor Mr. Lewis [CA-41] said, 'now is not the time for finger pointing.'

"Mr. Wamp [TN-03] said, 'now is not the time for finger pointing.'

"Mr. Kirk [IL-10] said, 'now is not the time for recrimination.'

"Mr. Lungren [CA-03] said, 'now is not the time for recrimination or for finger pointing.'

"They say now is the time to grieve for the victims of the hurricane.

"Mr. Speaker, I do grieve for the victims of the hurricane.

"They say now is the time to help the victims of the hurricane.

"Mr. Speaker, I want to help the victims of the hurricane in every way that I can. I am here today and like millions of Americans, my wife and I are contributing to private relief efforts.

"But Mr. Speaker, there has to come a time for accountability. If there is not accountability for the stunning failures that we have seen in our government's response to this hurricane, we will fail again and again.

"I know that this administration thinks that accountability is an ephemeral thing. If there is an attempt at accountability too soon, it's finger pointing. If there is an attempt at accountability too late, then it's something you should get over. There is just a moment for accountability.

"Mr. Speaker, tell me when that moment will be. Tell me precisely when the moment will come for accountability for the failures of our response, for the failures of our planning that have led to the devastation and the hardships that we are seeing now.

"And Mr. Speaker, tell me where the line forms to ask hard questions. I yield back the balance of my time."

The Unnatural Disaster of KatrinaNorth Carolina is also at risk

Mother Nature doesn't deserve all the blame for the tragedy unfolding in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast: Humans' environmental destructiveness is also responsible for a great deal of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact.

Altering the Mississippi River and destroying wetlands at its mouth have left the area around New Orleans abnormally vulnerable to the forces of nature, according to an assessment released today by the Worldwatch Institute. In addition, global warming exacerbated by human greenhouse gas pollution has led to unusually high Gulf water temperatures and rising sea levels, which may have intensified Katrina's power, the organization warns.

"The catastrophe now unfolding along the U.S. Gulf Coast is a wake-up call for decision makers around the globe," says Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin. "If the world continues on its current course--massively altering the natural world and further increasing fossil fuel consumption--future generations may face a chain of disasters that make Katrina-scale catastrophes a common feature of life in the 21st century."

North Carolina lawmakers this week took steps to begin addressing global warming's impact by approving the creation of a commission to study climate change. However, the state faces other problems that leave its people and natural environment vulnerable to severe hurricane damage.

For example, some flood-prone North Carolina communities such as Princeville struggle with inadequate levee systems, as I reported earlier this year in Southern Exposure. In addition, the state has permitted extensive development of its fragile coastline in recent years while allowing beach "renourishment" projects that actually put the coastline at greater risk of destruction, as Duke University coastal expert Orrin Pilkey reported last month in The Independent Weekly.

Let's hope North Carolina officials are paying attention to the lessons of Katrina, which according to Worldwatch include:

1. Maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems should be a priority. "Indiscriminate economic development and ecologically destructive policies have left many communities more vulnerable to disasters than they realize," Worldwatch cautions. "This, together with rapid population growth in vulnerable areas, has contributed to worldwide economic losses from weather-related catastrophes totaling $567 billion over the last 10 years, exceeding the combined losses from 1950 through 1989. Losses in 2004 exceeded $100 billion for the second time ever, and a new record will almost certainly be set this year once Katrina's damages are totaled."

2. Short-term thinking is a dangerous approach to policy. "During the past few years, the U.S government has diverted funding from disaster preparedness to help finance the Iraq War, and has reduced protections for wetlands in order to spur economic development," Worldwatch notes. "Both decisions are now exacting costs that far exceed the money saved. Natural ecosystems such as wetlands and forests are often more valuable when left intact so as to protect communities from floods, landslides, drought, and other natural occurrences. Failure to protect ecosystems contributed to the massive loss of life when the tsunamis swept across the Indian Ocean last year and when Hurricane Mitch killed 10,000 people in Central America in 1998."

3. The links between climate change and weather-related catastrophes need to be addressed. "Although no specific storm can be definitively link[ed] to climate change, scientists agree that warm water is the fuel that increases the intensity of such storms and that tropical seas have increased in temperature by up to 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century," says Worldwatch. "Global warming and its anticipated effects on the hydrological cycle will make some areas more vulnerable as storms, floods, and droughts increase in frequency and intensity."

4. There is an urgent need to diversify energy supplies. "The national and global economic impact of Hurricane Katrina is growing by the day, with consumers around the world now paying significantly more for energy than they were a week ago," Worldwatch observes. "Decades of failure to invest in new energy options [have] left the world dependent on oil and natural gas that are concentrated in some of the world's most vulnerable regions--the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Persian Gulf, and the Niger Delta in Africa. Biofuels and other renewable resources now represent viable alternatives to fossil fuels, which are not only vulnerable to natural disasters but could have a big impact on the severity of future disasters."

We can't say we weren't warned.