September 13, 2005
Dear Members of Congress:
We are writing to urge the protection of Americans from both
natural and man-made disasters. As life-long residents of New
Orleans, our hearts ache for friends and neighbors who may not have
survived Hurricane Katrina. As public interest attorneys who serve
African American communities located in the shadows of hazardous
industrial facilities and in flood-prone neighborhoods, we are
outraged by the failure of our government to ensure a healthy and
safe environment for people who need it the most.
The mission of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
("AEHR"), nonprofit public interest law firm, is to defend and
advance the human right to a healthy environment. AEHR provides a
broad range of litigation and public advocacy services to
communities, where the fundamental human rights to life, health,
and racial equality are systematically violated by governmental
laws, policies, and practices that facilitate and perpetuate severe
environmental degradation.
The convergence of the fourth year anniversary of the September
11th terrorist attacks and the ongoing recovery efforts taking
place in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is a deafening wakeup call
for change. For both of these disastrous events, Americans awoke
on the morning of September 11th and the morning of August 28th to
see citizens dying and suffering. How many more tragic mornings
are needed before Congress takes action to protect the lives of all
citizens?
Swift action is needed now more than ever to shape an
America that guarantees the basic human rights to life and health.
Such rights are not achieved by federal policies that subject
people of color and the poor to an unhealthy environment, increase
the dangerous impacts of climate change, and neglect the need for
safe and sustainable technologies that can avoid the potential for
catastrophic disasters occurring at oil and petrochemical
facilities and their transport systems.
Hurricane Katrina brings to light the confluence of these
policies on the lives of American citizens in New Orleans and Gulf
Coast communities. For several years prior to Hurricane Katrina,
our government has failed to take action on the warnings by
climatologists of the destructive potential of hurricanes as a
result of climate change. Our government has not acted to
ensure environmental justice in the neighborhoods where African
Americans and poor people live in the midst of hazardous industrial
and waste facilities. These facilities have significantly
contributed to the highly toxic floodwater that has inundated New
Orleans and surrounding areas. The toxins in this floodwater now
threaten the health of hurricane survivors and rescue workers who
swam and waded in this water. The draining of the toxic floodwater
into other water bodies will have damaging effects on people, who
are dependent on the fish shell fish inhabiting the receiving
waters. Nor has our government effectively worked to secure the
storage, transportation, and manufacturing of toxic chemicals.
In the days following Hurricane Katrina, there were reports of
explosions on railcars transporting hazardous substances and a
fiery blaze at a chemical storage facility that engulfed the area
in black smoke. Clearly, a significant part of the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina is a growing chemical disaster that could have
been avoided, but will now require costly and extensive
environmental remediation.
According to public records there are approximately 150
Louisiana chemical facilities in the path this storm. Many of
these plants have reported worst-case chemical disaster scenarios
to the EPA that each show more than 10,000 people at risk.
The recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans and Gulf Coast
communities require Congress to think and act broadly to ensure a
sustainable and healthy environment. Beyond reinforcing flood
protection infrastructure and improving emergency response,
Congress must work on avoiding chemical disasters that result from
natural and man-made causes.
As you consider legislation to secure inherently dangerous
chemical facilities from terrorist attacks and accidents we urge
you to enact legislation that requires industrial facilities to
substitute harmful materials with safer alternatives, replace
polluting technologies with those that eliminate toxic threats to
workers and surrounding communities. In addition, we urge you to
prohibit the siting of polluting facilities near residential
neighborhoods, schools and other sensitive areas. Anything less is
a failure of our government to meet its first priority: protecting
human lives.
Further, we urge Congress to take immediate action to protect
people of color and poor populations, who bear a disproportionate
burden of the hazards of polluting industry in their communities.
Moreover, we urge you to ensure that the EPA implements the safe
removal and remediation of toxic contamination that is now present
in the water and land of New Orleans and Gulf Coast
communities.
Very truly yours,
Monique Harden Nathalie Walker
Co-Director & Attorney Co-Director & Attorney
1050 South Jefferson Davis Parkway, Suite 333, New Orleans, LA
70125