Just heard a comment on Larry King about a National Geographic article

[randr]

discribing a chemical disaster if NO is hit by a storm of Katrinas size.
Chem. and oil facilities spilling was the word.
Anyone know of this?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. There are several chemical plants around NO.

[MissB]

2. Here is one link

though it isn't the National Geographic one. But it does discuss the scenario or a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans and the resulting destruction, including chemical spills.

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_neworleans.html

[MissB]

3. This may be it.

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/

[riverwalker]

9. amazing article

The 2004 article describing exactly what is happening now, with dire prediction.

[MissB]

10. Chilling, isn't it?

[datasuspect]

4. the region from houston to nola

and all out in the gulf is a center of petrochemical industry.

this includes oil, gas, polymers, olefins, etc. etc. etc.

[randr]

5. Things will be far worse than we can imagine I am afraid.

[NashVegas]

6. "Cancer Alley"

Is a 100 mile stretch that runs from Baton Rouge - New Orleans. All kinds of fun chemicals spilling around.

[Botany]

7. but the Chemical Manufactures Assoc said that they have everything .....

..... under control.

[SpiralHawk]

8. The Dead Zone in the Gulf has been bigger than usual this summer

Off to find a link,

Here's one - lots of news stories on this ominous phenomenon:

http://outside.away.com/outside/news/20050803_1.html


Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico Much Larger Than Expected

By Sara Blask

August 3, 2005 A new study indicates that the size of the dead zone found off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, a low-oxygen zone also known as hypoxia, is currently 4,564 square miles, or roughly the size of Connecticut, and much larger than federal researchers had predicted.

Scientists fear the area, which forms each spring and summer as fresh water from the Mississippi River enters the Gulf of Mexico, could grow significantly larger—up to 6,200 square miles—if storms do not stir up the Gulf of Mexico in coming months. If the coastal weather remains calm, organisms living in the mud will continue to die from oxygen deprivation, impacting the shrimp population crucial to commercial fisheries.

“When the oxygen levels fall below two parts per million, animals will swim and leave the area,” said Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. “If someone’s trolling, they can’t catch any shrimp.”

(snip)