Toxic Waste Sites Flooded, EPA Not On Scene
The title of this
video is "Toxic Waste Sites Flooded, EPA Not On
Scene".
While
there is much banter going on about reliable data and real science and whether
or not Hurricane Harvey was man-made or a natural disaster; one thing that
cannot be ignored is the Aftermath. For
months weeks and even years, these folks will be subjected to all manner
attacks on their health and well being. They have sheltered over 30 thousand
people but this catastrophe has hit Texans in the millions.
The Federal
Emergency Management Agency says 53,630
Texas residents displaced by Hurricane Harvey are currently staying in government-funded hotel
rooms.
Another 10,000
people take shelter in Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center.
U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on
Sunday challenged Congress to raise the government's debt limit in order to
free up relief spending for Hurricane
Harvey, a disaster that the governor of Texas
said could require up to $180 billion.
Harvey, which came ashore on August 25 as the most powerful
hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, has killed an estimated 50
people, displaced more than 1 million and damaged some 200,000 homes in a path
of destruction stretching for more than 300 miles (480 kms). http://fortune.com/2017/09/03/hurricane-harvey-damages-cost/
We will
look at some headlines affirming that 13 of the 41 Superfund sites are
completely flooded and are spewing toxic waste into the already infested water.
It's like a giant swimming pool where everyone, man, woman and child, have
jumped into it with all their clothes on, along with trash cans and garbage
cans being toppled over, oil and gas leakage from cars, trucks and boats, dogs
and cats and other animals releasing themselves in the water, trash piles along
with debris destroyed homes, cars, buses, trucks, factories, etc. All that is in the water.
I guess
I don't have to be to graphic here, so use your imagination if you had to go
swimming in a pool filled with all that stuff.
Water is
the universal solvent. But it also houses all kinds of microscopic organisms.
If water sits for long periods of time, those organism are nurtured and
multiply. We can see mold and slime as a result. People who are away from the
houses cannot clean out or clean up their homes so the mold will begin to grow.
And the black mold is quite toxic.
Water
will also weaken the wooden structures of homes and boats, etc. It will seep
through roofs and windows. And we certainly should not assume that these folks
had house that were in tip top shape. You know, roofs that did not leak,
plumbing that was not rusted or moldy, electrical installations in good shape,
refrigerators that worked, electronics that were in waterproof packaging. All of this stuff is floating around in that
water, and the EPA focuses on E Coli! Interesting, but you gotta love them for
telling folks after 911, that the air was safe to breathe.
 |
| Dwight Chandler |
So let's
look at some headlines.
AP EXCLUSIVE: Toxic waste sites flooded, EPA not on scene
This
article was heart breaking.
Harvey aftermath: Region begins long road to recovery
More
challenges
The
toxic waste sites are the latest environmental threat to emerge since Harvey
swept through the region.
Fires
broke out over two days at a flooded chemical plant near Houston.
People
living within 1.5 miles from the Arkema site in Crosby were evacuated days
before the explosions. The evacuation order was lifted early Monday morning
after local officials determined it was safe to let residents return home.
Officials
have been letting chemical containers catch fire and burn out rather than
endanger firefighters, the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality said in a joint statement.
The
Superfund sites and the Arkema plant represent just a snapshot of the
catastrophic storm's cascading effects.
As of
Saturday, 2,300 of the 4,500 drinking water systems potentially affected by
Harvey have been contacted, the EPA said. Of those, 1,514 systems are fully
operational, 166 have boil-water notices, and 50 are shut down. As for
wastewater and sewage, 1,656 of about 2,469 wastewater treatment plants are
fully operational in affected counties.
Sewage, Fecal Bacteria Spotted in Tropical Storm
Harvey Floodwaters
Coliform
and E. Coli
The
total coliform samples were “huge,” said Sevukan, compared to EPA standards.
Coliform bacteria is present in the feces of all warm-blooded animals and
humans.
The
three water samples for total coliform bacteria were 57,000 CFUs, 43,000 CFUs
and 45,000 CFUs. (Colony-forming units, or CFUs, estimate the number of
bacteria or fungal cells that have the ability to multiply in a sample.)
Hearing
these numbers, Wilma Subra, president of the Subra Company, an environmental
consulting firm, audibly gasped.
“First
of all, the drinking water for coliform should be non-detect and here you have
these very, very elevated levels,” she said. “These levels indicate the
potential for sewer plant malfunction or sewer plant continuing to discharge
untreated or partially treated waste.”
Along
with the coliform analysis, Sevukan had three sample test results for E. coli,
which is part of the total coliform number: 8,600 CFUs, 3,700 CFUs and 6,300
CFUs. The EPA drinking water standard for E. coli is zero and, according to EPA
criteria published in 2012, the recreational water quality standard ranges from
100 to 410 CFUs.
“If
total coliform and E. coli is high, there’s a definite mixture of sewage in the
water,” said Sevukan. Neither bacteria is life-threatening.
The E.
coli numbers did not make Subra gasp, though she noted they were “very high
numbers” as well.
“E. coli
causes a lot of intestinal disruption, a lot of medical conditions,” she said.
When you’re in the floodwaters, she explained, it gets on your skin and then
you touch your face, it gets in your mouth, she said, “So you can actually be
inhaling and consuming it as well as skin contact.”
At Least 13 Toxic Waste Sites Flooded in Texas: EPA
More challenges
The
toxic waste sites are not the first environmental threat Texas has faced since
Harvey swept through the region.
Fires
broke out over two days at a flooded chemical
plant near Houston.
People
living within 1.5 miles from the Arkema site in Crosby were evacuated days
before the explosions and now officials are letting chemical containers catch
fire and burn out rather than endanger firefighters, the EPA and the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality said in a joint statement.
The
Superfund sites and the Arkema plant represent just a snapshot of the cascading
effects of the catastrophic storm.
Mayor: Houston open
for business
Houston
Mayor Sylvester Turner and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott both appeared Sunday on
morning talk shows.
The
city is 95% operational and most businesses will reopen Tuesday, Turner said on
CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“And
so if you have a conference, a convention, a concert, any of those things that
were planned, that you were planning to come to this city, we are still ready
to welcome you,” he said. “On Tuesday we are getting back on our feet, and I’m
expecting employees — employers to open, employees to go to work. And all city
employees, you are due back at work on Tuesday.”
But
Turner said residents are still struggling and first responders will go
door-to-door to check on the elderly, housing conditions and disabled people.
Abbott
said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that his state was going to need a massive
commitment from the federal government as it begins to recover from the storm.
The
recovery from Harvey would require even more money than the package Congress
appropriated for Hurricane Katrina relief, he said. The total population and
geographic range affected by Harvey could surpass both Hurricane Katrina and
Hurricane Sandy combined, he said.
“It’s
going to take years for us to be able to overcome this challenge,” Abbott said.
Hurricane Harvey Damages Could Cost up to $180 Billion
Here's how you can help the victims of Hurricane Harvey
By CNN Impact Your World Team
Updated 9:27 AM ET, Mon September 4, 2017
Hurricane
Katrina Survivor gives words of wisdom
FURTHER READING
At Least 13 Toxic Waste Sites Flooded in Texas: EPA
Sewage, Fecal Bacteria Spotted in Tropical Storm
Harvey Floodwaters
Harvey aftermath: Region begins long road to recovery
One Superfund site detailed by The Associated Press, the Highlands Acid Pit, is now totally
under water. The site was once the dumping ground for toxic sludge and
sulphuric acid from the oil and gas industry. According to the AP:
The Federal
Emergency Management Agency says 53,630 Texas residents
displaced by Hurricane
Harvey are currently staying in government-funded hotel rooms.
Hurricane Harvey Damages Could Cost up to $180 Billion
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