Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Sep 9 2005 (IPS) — As polluted floodwaters are pumped from the devastated city of New Orleans, the true environmental impact of Hurricane Katrina – including oil spills, chemical leaks and toxic waste – will remain unknown for months.

“Unless you’ve seen it, you can’t comprehend the scope of the damage,” said Jean Kelly of Louisiana State’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

The Aug. 29 hurricane wrecked a huge area in southern Louisiana and Mississippi, with dozens and dozens of unnamed towns flattened and unaccounted for. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were without power at one point.

“We haven’t been able to get to some parishes (the equivalent of counties) to even assess the situation,” Kelly told IPS. “Every day, we discover new problems. It’s a monumental challenge.”

Satellite photos taken after the storm show that the Chandeleur Islands southeast of New Orleans, and the home of the Beeton National Wildlife Refugee, have entirely vanished. In fact, the photos show that the coastline of the state has been significantly altered, requiring new maps and navigation charts.

Taking a closer look in a borrowed helicopter, DEQ officials this week discovered that nearly all the buildings are gone in some areas along the coast, said Kelly.

The U.S. Coast Guard has said that 26 massive oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were missing, and another 20 had sustained damage. More than 50,000 miles of oil and gas pipeline are reported damaged.

The Gulf region produces nearly 30 percent of U.S. oil and 20 percent of its natural gas, and experts say it will be months and likely years before the region regains full production.

About 140 large refineries and chemical plants are also located in the region, one of the largest concentrations in the world. Many are situated along the banks of the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in an area known as “Cancer Alley” for its higher than average rates of cancer and other diseases. A significant number are damaged, some badly.

Two major oil spills have been identified so far. A 3.5-million-gallon spill from leaking refinery storage tanks in Chalmette has contaminated much of the town and surrounding wetlands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported.

Ruptured storage tanks at the mouth of the Mississippi River in Venice, 75 miles south of New Orleans, have dumped an estimated 3.3 million gallons of crude oil into the surrounding wetlands and Gulf, said Kelly.

“Those are the numbers we have today, but they could change tomorrow,” she said.

There are likely other spills of oil, gasoline, diesel and chemicals throughout the region, but until all the floodwaters are gone, it is impossible to know for certain.

“There’s so much oil and gasoline in the water we can’t know where it’s coming from,” Kelly said.

At least 525 sewage plants in Louisiana were also damaged, many of them flooded. More than 1,200 drinking water plants have been knocked out in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Health and environmental officials are sampling floodwaters throughout the region but have only released results from New Orleans at this point. About 60 percent of New Orleans remains underwater, and those waters are highly contaminated by bacteria from human and other wastes. At least four people have died resulting from infections related to the dirty water.

Leaves have turned brown on many trees in city and it is not known if they will recover. There have also been media reports of birds falling dead out of the sky. However, the EPA says that its air quality testing has not found any hazardous levels of pollutants or airborne toxins despite numerous fires and natural gas leaks.

As for other toxins in the floodwaters, only high levels of lead have been found in preliminary testing, Kelly said.

“We haven’t found high levels of pesticides, heavy metals, PCBs or other toxic materials,” she told IPS.

That contradicts earlier reports from other DEQ officials.

And it is somewhat surprising given that fuel from thousands of fuel tanks at gasoline stations and leaking gasoline from flooded cars and boats has given the water an oily sheen. In addition, there are flooded industrial areas and 160,000 households with their cans of paints, solvents, fertilisers and pesticides stewing in flooded garages and basements. Rust will ensure that those cans that have not leaked eventually will.

Despite all the contamination, New Orleans’ filthy floodwaters are being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain with the full knowledge it will damage marine life and the ecology for years to come. Lake Pontchartrain is actually a huge estuary that opens directly into the Gulf of Mexico and has some unique and rare species, including the endangered manatee.

“We’re hoping that by the time the contaminated water gets into the Gulf they will be diluted enough to not have any impact,” Kelly said.

Not surprisingly, state and federal environmental laws have been temporarily suspended.

Randy Lanctot, executive director of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, an environmental group, agrees with the suspension.

“We don’t have any choice, at least until all the water is pumped out,” Lanctot told IPS.

“I hope environmental officials are staying on top of what’s in the water,” he added, with a view to the eventual final cleanup of contaminated shorelines and sediments on the lake bottom.

Once dry, New Orleans itself will require disposal of an estimated 60 million tonnes of debris and extensive decontamination that may take years and billions of dollars.

A major restoration effort will also be needed for the natural environment, Lanctot said. No one knows how much at this point because the full extent of the damage is unknown.

And finding out is not a priority, he said.

“I honestly can’t say when we’ll be able to assess the impact on the environment,” said Kelly. “We’re still trying to save lives here.”