Buzzflash/AAR:Government.media Coverup of Dangerous Toxins in New Orleans

[papau]

First we had a report of a superfund site in NO under 3 feet of water and expected to leach deadly toxins into all the water covering NO - and that never made network news. Now we have EPA reports of oil and chemical companies storage tanks thatare flooded or impacted and who have reported to the EPA - but the reports are being buried by the EPA - and again no network news.

I do love our US media.


Buzzflash/AAR:Government Coverup of Dangerous Toxins in New Orleans

9-13-05 Transcript from HUGH KAUFFMAN interview
with MARC MARON and MARK RILEY
2 minutes long

MARC: Is the government being honest with the people about the safety of the air and water in New Orleans right now?

HUGH: No, they’re not. All of the oil and chemical companies that own storage tanks, facilities in that area that were flooded or impacted are required to publish with our regional office in Dallas instantly—whenever there’s a release; whenever there’s a breakage from pipelines, from storage tanks, refineries. The regional office, under orders, is not releasing that information to the public, and the Society of Environmental Journalists has sued EPA and the Federal Government to try and get that information released, so the public will see the full magnitude of how much toxic material they are being exposed to in that region of the country.

MARC: So, Hugh Kauffman, Senior Policy Analyst from the EPA, you’re telling me they have that information. The EPA office in Louisiana has that information, and you are absolutely sure that that information is horrendous, but they are keeping it under lock and key, because they don’t want the people to know the truth of what’s really going on down there on a toxic level?

HUGH: That’s correct. And that’s why the Society of Environmental Journalists are suing under the Freedom of Information act to try and get that information.

MARC: So the government is actively lying to the people about what’s going on there, and that is their policy now.

HUGH: That’s the policy as of last night at eleven o’clock when I went to sleep.

MARC: And that is the policy that happened in Nine Eleven as well, isn’t it, Hugh Kauffman?

HUGH: Same policy in Nine Eleven. That’s correct. The heroes went in to try to help—were working for months in there—no respirators, no protective clothing, and now, four years later, over 75 % of those responding heroes are sick as dogs and they’re starting to die off, and I’m worried that that’s going to happen down the line down there. That’s why there are billions of dollars of law suites as a result of Nine Eleven, because of the government cover-up.
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/09/mp3/Hugh_Kauffman_Morning_Sedition_9_13_05.mp3

[stellanoir]

1. thanks for posting

Every time I think of that toxic sludge being pumped into the Lake and the Gulf, I literally feel nauseous.

I'm no civil engineer or anything but I've wondered for days if we had an environmentally conscious leadership whether that crap could have been pumped into decommissioned oil tankers for containment until decontamination facilities could have been established.

But instead this idiocy could potentially transform the Gulf into one giant dead zone for years to come.

[papau]

2. It scares me - given the 75% of 911 worker desease rate, it looks

like Bush, as usual, is making the very wrong decision re allocation of assets - namely to the wrong "Gulf War".

There will be a lot of sick folks and dead environment as Bush's legacy.

[stellanoir]

3. Yup and just consider the

disastrous implications for all the Mexicans, Central Americans and Island dwellers who make their living off the Gulf.