"Entire GNP not enough to clean up NOLA" -- EPA

[Windy]

Lifted this from another message board. This is from this WAPO article.

"..By that time, a lot of people won't care because they will have taken the insurance money and moved away -- forever..."This is the worst case," Hugh B. Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency, said of the toxic stew that contaminates New Orleans. "There is not enough money in the gross national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in the area."

"The EPA's Kaufman, a designer of the Superfund legislation to clean up toxic waste, said New Orleans and the Gulf Coast face "an absolute catastrophic situation" that will take years to abate....

Once the water is gone, environmental officials will likely undertake a "grid survey," sampling the formerly flooded areas to get soil profiles and determine how safe it is for residents to move back or rebuild....

The survey is likely to take six months. "If it were me, I wouldn't go back until there was a solid assessment of contamination of the land," Kaufman said. And even then, he added, authorities will be monitoring levels of water toxicity along the coastline for years: "There is no magic chemical that you can put in the Gulf to make heavy metals or benzene go away. You're stuck with it."

[crazycajuncane]

Don't things just continue to get better?

[birdwomn]

This is a disaster of epic proportions...so very sad....

[Cookiely]

I believe in my heart they won't be able to rebuild in New Orleans. I think they will gradually impart information to the public on the reasons. They won't do it now because of the emotions of the people who are hoping to return home soon. One of the FEMA people hinted at it yesterday when he said "and may never be able to return".

[sertorius]

I have posted about this a couple of times-the flooding is catostrophic in itslef-the toxic aftermath is just incomprehensible-I know we have the ingenuity to clean the water but do we have the patience??? That is a tough question and one that is easy for someone like me to ponder but I don't have my whole life in NOLA-for them, patience is really hard to preach and rightly so. That being said-if you just pump that water back into the lake and eventually the gulf and the river, you are inviting an ecological disaster that would be on the level of what is occuring right now.
There are no easy answers-this is not a sci fi movie-in the comming days, we will really get a test of how far we have advanced as a society.

[thunderchief]

I would think that the longer the floodwaters sit, the more waterlogged and unstable all the other levees become, and the higher perecentage of homes which become total losses.

[NC George]

Uncork the Atchafalaya river, Mother Nature won. Welcome the new port city of Lafayette, La. It's a shorter trip, anyway.

[BroncoChuck]

I would think that the longer the floodwaters sit, the more waterlogged and unstable all the other levees become, and the higher perecentage of homes which become total losses.

These homes sitting under 5-20 feet of water are total loses. 40,000+ homes total loses. Once water is drained and the air gets to the wet wood and building material it becomes a biologicial nitemare due to the amount of mold that will grow in the next 36-72hrs. and keep growing. Wont be able to work around it would out resporators (sp)

Just from having 4 feet of water in my house from Ivan we had mold growing on the walls THICKLY within 3 days....! Whole house was gutted and relined with sheet rock.

NO will be even worse and will have to level EVERYTHING that has been completely flooded..

just my .02

[gtalum]

This "the entire GDP isn't enough" talk is just hype. I'm willing to bet that once the flooding is eliminated, things will start to improve in New Orleans at a pace that will shock all of us.

[SunnyThoughts]

If and when find a solution to pumping the water out of New orleans.as toxic as it is...where do they pump it to?..what do they do with all those homes that are flooded and unstable never to be lived in again? Bull doze them down? What do they do with all that debris? So many questions...and thats just a few of the problems that face this once great city. First things first I suppose, as there are still thousands of people in the City that have to be evacuated... Its a horrible situation, that seems to be getting worse by the day. Heartbreaking for me, as New Orleans is/was my favorite City in the entire world. Lived in Houma and Slidell at one time in my life. Unbearable to the psyche.

[BroncoChuck]

What will prob happen is they will demolish ALL FLOODED HOMES AND BUSINESSES no other real option nothing would be salvable anyways...

Then things will be shredded/ground up and trucked away/barged away or just burned in place....

Not much else you can do. Gulf it to shallow to take out to the middle and DUMP all the debris and all the damn hippys will freak if thats even brought up. ...

[blueeyes_austin]

I predict a massive rubbish pile somewhere in the 9th Ward.

[otowntiger]

This "the entire GDP isn't enough" talk is just hype. I'm willing to bet that once the flooding is eliminated, things will start to improve in New Orleans at a pace that will shock all of us.

I like your attitude. That was a refreshing comment. We can only hope and pray you are right!

[kevin]

Our entire GNP can do anything in the world. This is flat out wrong. What is our GNP? Trillions and trillions of dollars. Enough to pay for all the fighting on all sides of WWII nine times I believe (don't want to do research because quite frankly it doesn't matter I have complete confidence with 1 trillion dollars anything can be done).

[djtil]

This "the entire GDP isn't enough" talk is just hype. I'm willing to bet that once the flooding is eliminated, things will start to improve in New Orleans at a pace that will shock all of us.

bravo.

they hype is getting out of control. the nola cant be rebuilt crowd is getting tiresome.

[jasons2k]

Our entire GNP can do anything in the world. This is flat out wrong. What is our GNP? Trillions and trillions of dollars. Enough to pay for all the fighting on all sides of WWII nine times I believe (don't want to do research because quite frankly it doesn't matter I have complete confidence with 1 trillion dollars anything can be done).

Just b/c we have it doesn't mean it's wise to spend it.

To the 'uncork the river.......mother nauture won't comment; sad but true. That's just the harsh reality and people need to come to grips with that.

[beenthru6]

It all comes down to the question of whether or not rebuilding NO in such a precarious spot is the prudent thing to do. If it happened once, it can happen again (and eventually will happen again). Resources aren't unlimited, and they need to be spent wisely. Your heart says yes, rebuild it for all of those people, but your head has to ask is it the smart thing to do?

[kevin]

Our entire GNP can do anything in the world. This is flat out wrong. What is our GNP? Trillions and trillions of dollars. Enough to pay for all the fighting on all sides of WWII nine times I believe (don't want to do research because quite frankly it doesn't matter I have complete confidence with 1 trillion dollars anything can be done).

Just b/c we have it doesn't mean it's wise to spend it.

To the 'uncork the river.......mother nauture won't comment; sad but true. That's just the harsh reality and people need to come to grips with that.

Oh of course thats a different question. Our economy can do nearly anything. Whether its prudent or not is a policy decision. I was just saying its inane to think we couldn't do it if all resources were directed there.

[Kelarie]

Our entire GNP can do anything in the world. This is flat out wrong. What is our GNP? Trillions and trillions of dollars. Enough to pay for all the fighting on all sides of WWII nine times I believe (don't want to do research because quite frankly it doesn't matter I have complete confidence with 1 trillion dollars anything can be done).

But is it the right thing to do? Even tho we throw trillions of dollars at the situation, it can happen again. This area is not situated for development. I believed it should be abandoned and instead of throwing money away at a lost cause, but it towards building something safe.

My two cents.

[jasons2k]

This "the entire GDP isn't enough" talk is just hype. I'm willing to bet that once the flooding is eliminated, things will start to improve in New Orleans at a pace that will shock all of us.

Care to REALLY put a wager on that?