Start with 24 superfund toxic waste sites. Stir in 8,000,000 gallons of spilled oil. Add in a few million tons of human waste and household chemicals, and finish with a pinch of toxic bacteria to give it a little extra kick. Then mix all of the ingredients together and bring to a boil under the hot Gulf Coast sun. Serve up a big heaping bowl full of poison stew and make Bush and his lot eat it.
More below.
Now, it is obvious that the environment is not a very big issue here for whatever reason, and today with all the talk of leaks going on, I don't expect this will be read let alone recommended. However, this is very important news to illustrate the total breakdown of leadership regarding Hurricane Katrina and the environment in general by those who have now shown their true colors. Especially with Hurricane Wilma churning its way towards Florida.
The statistics noted below courtesy of the Sierra Club, also paint a very dim picture regarding our environment. With ANWR under assault, The Endangered Species Act under assault, The Clean Air and Water Acts under assault, and with this country getting more polluted every day, at what point will we collectively as a people say enough?
When the last park is sold off to the highest bidder? When every tree has been cut down? When every other species is gone? When the air is so thick with pollution we can't see or breathe? When so many children are sick with respiratory diseases and other diseases caused by the mercury and other poisons being spewed into our atmosphere and water that our healthcare system becomes even more overwhelmed than it already is? When the storm of all storms hits that goes beyond even Katrina's wrath?
Yes, I now believe that is what will have to happen before we collectively as a people say enough. Unfortunately, we are already well on our way... What has happened in the Gulf is a crime against nature perpetrated by sheer arrogance and indifference to nature.
Here is a good example:
From the Sierra Club:
For the human side of the story, read more first-hand stories from Sierra Club folks in the Gulf Coast about their lives since the hurricanes. Particularly memorable: Sierra Club staffer Darryl Malek-Wiley, who lives in New Orleans, had the chance to ask Senator David Vitter (R-LA) this question:
"Senator Vitter, you've cosponsored Senate Bill 1711, which is going to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to basically waive all environmental health regulations. Why do you think that needs to happen? Why would we want this additional law, which will make Louisiana less protected?"
Watch Senator Vitter's response
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2005 CONTACT:
Annie E. Strickler (202) 675-2384
BY THE NUMBERS - HURRICANE KATRINA, GULF COAST WETLANDS AND POLLUTION
WETLANDS
16,000 - Acres per year of Louisiana's 3 million acres of wetlands lost between 1990 and 2000, one football field every 38 minutes [1]
60,000 - Acres of wetlands in the U.S. destroyed and developed each year. [2]
2 - Number of feet, on average, that the Mississippi Delta has sunk over the past 60 years. [3]
3.2 - Additional number of feet the area will have dropped by 2100. [4]
40 - Percentage of the total wetlands in the continental United States that are in Louisiana [5]
80 - Percentage of the wetlands losses in the continental United States that occur in Louisiana[6]
1 - Square mile of wetlands needed to reduce the height of a storm surge by one foot [7]
SUPERFUND SITES IN HURRICANE KATRINA'S PATH
15 - Number of Superfund toxic waste sites in the affected area of Louisiana
6 - Number of Superfund toxic waste sites in the affected area of Alabama
3 - Number of Superfund toxic waste sites in the affected area of Mississippi [8]
NEW ORLEANS WASTE
37,550 - Number of household hazardous waste containers that the EPA had collected in the affected area as of September 22. [9]
8,000,000 - Gallons of oil spilled in southeast Louisiana during and after Hurricane Katrina.[10]
22 million - Tons of hurricane debris in New Orleans.
3.5 million - Number of large dump trucks that would be required to haul hurricane debris from southeastern Louisiana. [11]
LEVEE BREACH
June 2002 - The New Orleans Times Picayune publishes story about study indicating high levels of flooding in New Orleans if "the big one" hit - category 4 or 5. One researcher said that one scenario is a levee breach. [12]
July 2004 - FEMA runs drill called "Hurricane Pam" - in this fictional hurricane, storm surges top the levees
September 1, 2005 - President Bush says, "I don't think anyone anticipated breach of the levees" on ABC's Good Morning America.
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Sources:
[1] http://www.americaswetland.com/custompage.cfm?pageid=2&cid=8 & http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/LAwetla...lawetlands.html
[2] USFWS. Report to Congress on the Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States 1986 to 1997. Dahl, 2000.
[3] http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/
[4] ibid
[5] http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/LAwetla...awetlands.html).
[6] ibid
[7] http://www.lacoast.gov/education/functions.htm
[8] U.S.EPA, Hurricane Rita Response, September 28, 2005
http://www.epa.gov/katrina/activities.html#sep28
[9] ibid
[10] http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8944
[11] Ellen Wulfhorst, "Storm Hit New Orleans Faces Mountains of Garbage," Reuters News Service, September 29, 2005
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cf...32725/story.htm
[12] http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/
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Press release
Sierra Club/Gulf Coast
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"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools."
- John Muir