NYT/AP: New Orleans Air Found Not Overly Polluted

[DeepModem Mom]

New Orleans Air Found Not Overly Polluted
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 14, 2005
Filed at 7:34 p.m. ET


NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The putrid air rising from New Orleans' slowly receding floodwaters was found Wednesday not to be overly polluted, encouraging news for a mayor weighing the reopening of the French Quarter and other dry parts of the city.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin had said a clean bill of health for the air would allow the tourist-friendly French Quarter and central business district to open as early as Monday. And while the Environmental Protection Agency still found the floodwaters contained dangerous levels of sewage-related bacteria, the air pollutants were found to be at acceptable levels.

''We're bringing New Orleans back,'' Nagin promised earlier. ''We're bringing this culture back. We're bringing this music back. I'm tired of hearing these helicopters. I want to hear some jazz.''

About 40 to 50 percent of the city was still flooded, down from 80 percent after Katrina hit, as 53 permanent and temporary pumps worked to siphon off 8 billion gallons a day.

On the hard-hit east side, block after block of once-flooded neighborhoods gave way to a slimy, putrid muck, ruined cars, snapped utility poles and collapsed houses....


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Hurricane-Katrina.html

[Cocoa]

1. it could be a lie

like the Ground Zero pollution lie.

[lumpy]

3. What about the black mold

that will exist in those 'ideal' conditions ?

[bullimiami]

2. and fema just declared the water to be mmmmm delicious!

[MidwestTransplant]

4. Compared to Houston maybe.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. As I recall it was the water that was the concern

But the MSM always looks on the bright side when it comes to Chimpy.

[Olney Blue]

6. "overly" is not a scientific term...

:shrug:

[Cornjob]

7. The silt and mud may be a far different story.

The limited chemical testing of the water samples showed lead to be a problem in a number of samples. I suspect that the mud will contain much higher levels of very nasty substances.

It would seem very likely that all of the hydrocarbons and volatiles now floating will be incorporated into the muck as water levels recede.

My best guess is that * will suspend all environmental rules and allow all of that muck to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.

Whaddya think?

[catzies]

8. I'm with you. The sludge on the ground is more hazardous than the air

and both of those are tragedies.

There were dead zones in the Gulf by Florida earlier this year; will they grow if all that New Orleans sludge is just scraped into the Gulf?

God save us all. :cry:

[kestrel91316]

9. I would think the air WOULD be a lot less polluted than before the flood

because NOBODY IS DRIVING AROUND NOLA ANYMORE. Minimal car exhaust. No bus/truck exhaust.

And a flood is not going to pollute the air, except in the minds of certain worrywarts who fear their own shadows.

The mold is a problem, but that's not air pollution in my mind. Wear those dust masks, people, and rip that sheetrock and carpeting our posthaste!

[Xipe Totec]

10. Bingo!

Typical Repug misdirection; Ignore the obvious, point out the irrelevant.