Katrina also impacted environmental rules

By Cain Burdeau

updated 9:30 a.m. ET Dec. 15, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - From the moment New Orleans’ filthy floodwaters were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, regulators said environmental rules had to be set aside to save the Gulf Coast from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Federal and state agencies waived environmental laws regulating open burning. They waived the laws regulating asbestos removal. They waived rules for landfills, gasoline and diesel fuel standards, and water and air pollution — all in the name of recovery and rebuilding.

Meanwhile, Louisiana’s U.S. senators pushed for long-term waivers of environmental laws in hurricane-hit states to quicken rebuilding, tacking the proposal onto a stalled $250 billion rebuilding plan presented to Congress.

Mostly, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the waivers were harmless. But some say they went too far, padding the pockets of oil companies and creating long-term environmental hazards.

“What these waivers represent is the government waiving protections of the public’s health,” said Adam Babich, director of Tulane University’s Environmental Law Clinic. “A lot of this seems to be happening under the radar without any public participation.”

In Louisiana, the waivers and variances to permits came fast and furious after Katrina hit Aug. 29, DEQ documents show. More exceptions were issued a month later after Hurricane Rita.

Some waivers, like the one that allows the burning of dead animal carcasses, appeared harmless. But many others have raised questions.

Refineries and emissions
Records show the oil industry was quick to seek and receive waivers and exceptions from state and federal agencies. EPA said it would use “discretion” in its enforcement of emissions at refineries because of the gasoline shortage throughout the nation.

Hugh Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at EPA and longtime whistleblower within the agency, said EPA’s move to allow refineries to take longer to report emissions and not comply with environmental rules helped the companies make the record profits.

“The bottom line is everyone is taking major hits across the country except for one sector that’s become a profit center, and that’s not right, that’s not American,” Kaufman said.

Darrin Mann, a DEQ spokesman, said the permits did not allow the refineries “to go hog wild” and emit large amounts of pollutants. Instead, DEQ says the waivers were needed so the refineries could work through kinks their systems when they were shut down by the storms.

EPA and DEQ officials have said that air monitors have shown no problems with air quality at the refineries. But Anne Rolfes, a Louisiana activist, insists that EPA tests after Katrina showed high levels of benzene near oil refineries.

“We’re asking the neighbors of these refineries to put up with a lot of increased risk, increased fears and increased noise from these refineries so that we can enjoy the benefits of cheaper gasoline,” Babich said.

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