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A first-hand account from the Gulf Coast

Good God. Read this first-hand account of the Gulf Coast rescue and cleanup operations from a contractor who works with the EPA. Here's a tidbit:

This contractor has been organizing reverse osmosis (RO) water purification units from all over the country since last Tuesday. He has over 100 units of various sizes available to move into the region, but no one will give the go ahead. No one will sign their name to a piece of paper for fear of recriminations later. He says that over 80 million pint bottles of water have been purchased at $0.75 each. The RO units can produce a gallon of water from contaminated water for $0.01 and they can produce thousands of gallons a day. Two are staged near the zone and these alone can produce 250,000 gallons per day. The Army has RO units, but every functional one, and every operator trained to use them, is in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Interview with Treehugger’s Graham Hill

Via TriplePundit, a short interview with Graham Hill, founder and proprietor of Treehugger.

Stuck in the Middle With Fruit

New “sustainable” label may compete with pricey organic label Tired of paying a premium for organic fruits and veggies? A coalition of farmers, environmentalists, and public officials is promoting an alternative that they say will be less costly: a “sustainable” certification system and label. The system sets standards for water quality, soil management, and wildlife […]

U Can’t Touch This

EPA warns against skin contact with toxic New Orleans floodwaters The floodwaters swamping New Orleans have become a filthy, toxic stew, testing at least 10 times over the U.S. EPA’s limits for sewage-related contaminants like E. coli, viruses, and cholera-like bacteria. The EPA has warned that skin contact with floodwater could be almost as risky […]

In which your author finally breaks down

This (via Tapped) nails, like nothing else I've read, why I take Bush's reaction to Katrina personally.

And it's not just Bush, it's Brown, Chertoff, any number of politicians, a substantial portion of the commentariat. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) said that those who stayed (got stuck) behind in New Orleans should be punished:

There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.

I don't really consider myself a bleeding heart, but for god's sake, thousands of our fellow citizens are sitting in their own filth, old people and babies, dying of sickness, dehydration, illness, suicide ... Why isn't everyone, at every level of government, in a fucking panic about this? Where's the humanity? How can I be a part of the same species as these people? I just don't get it.

Time for me to take a valium and stop reading the news.

Quotes on Katrina

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:

"Unfortunately, [the death toll]'s going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN. "I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," he said.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security:

Some people chose not to obey [the evacuation order]. That was a mistake on their part.

Bill O'Reilly, conservative talkshow host on FOX News:

Moral of the story: People were warned to get out. Those who stayed paid a price for that decision. If you rely on the government, you're likely to be disappointed. No government can protect you or provide for you. You have to do it yourself.

Barack Obama, Senator from Illinois:

And so I hope that out of this crisis we all begin to reflect - Democrat and Republican - on not only our individual responsibilities to ourselves and our families, but to our mutual responsibilities to our fellow Americans. I hope we realize that the people of New Orleans weren't just abandoned during the Hurricane. They were abandoned long ago - to murder and mayhem in their streets; to substandard schools; to dilapidated housing; to inadequate health care; to a pervasive sense of hopelessness.

That is the deeper shame of this past week - that it has taken a crisis like this one to awaken us to the great divide that continues to fester in our midst. That's what all Americans are truly ashamed about, and the fact that we're ashamed about it is a good sign. The fact that all of us - black, white, rich, poor, Republican, Democrat - don't like to see such a reflection of this country we love, tells me that the American people have better instincts and a broader heart than our current politics would indicate.

(first three via American Progress)

Green group makes early entry into 2006 election fight

And they're off! The League of Conservation Voters has made its first endorsement for the 2006 election, 14 months ahead of time, throwing its green weight behind Washington state's junior senator, Maria Cantwell, and promising to mount "an aggressive campaign" to reelect the Democrat.

Cantwell will need all the help she can get; she's likely in for a tough fight. She won by a teensy margin in 2000, against Slade Gorton, and then proceeded to piss off much of her liberal base in 2002 by voting in favor of the Iraq war resolution. Republicans have determined that hers is one of the five most vulnerable Democratic seats in the Senate and will be pumping resources into the campaign to defeat her. It's not clear who she'll be up against -- state Republican Party Chair Chris Vance and former Rep. Rick White are two prominent potential contenders -- but whoever it is, they'll be well-funded.

LCV says Cantwell was one of only two senators to get a 100 percent rating on the group's 2004 National Environmental Scorecard. Among her eco-achievements as touted by LCV: leading the effort to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, pushing for creation of the Wild Sky Wilderness Area in Washington, fighting to hold polluters responsible for their Superfund messes, and battling Enron on behalf of bilked ratepayers. They should have listed her notable though unsuccessful effort to attach to the energy bill a provision requiring the feds to reduce imports of foreign oil by 40 percent in 20 years.

In Louisiana, oil and water do mix

The so-called "toxic gumbo" in the streets of New Orleans is earning more media attention. An article on CNN.com today quotes Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Mike McDaniel: "Everywhere we look there's [an oil] spill ... there's almost a solid sheen over the area right now." The story also describes destroyed sewage plants, natural gas leaks, and oozing vehicles of all shapes and sizes. It is, as McDaniel says, "almost unimaginable." Almost.

We'll have much more on this in the days (and weeks, months, probably years) to come. For the moment, an interesting question comes to mind. How will a southern state not generally known for its high regard for the environment, or for its interest in outside meddling, respond to this crisis?

Stay tuned.

New blog

The Environmental and Urban Economics blog (found via MoJo) has a series of extremely thought-provoking posts on Katrina, local investment, and risk assessment.

Good looting and bad looting

I can't put it any better than Think Progress.