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Statement by Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
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
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
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