Love Canal-type landfill submerged in New Orleans floodwaters

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: September 8, 2005 4:37:55 PM EDT
To: Dave <dave () farber net>
Subject: Love Canal-type landfill submerged in New Orleans floodwaters


http://www.solidwastemag.com/article.asp?id=47051&issue=09012005


Love Canal-type landfill submerged in New Orleans floodwaters
9/1/2005


A Solid Waste & Recycling magazine exclusive

Overlooked in many news reports about the unfolding storm disaster in  
the
southern United States, especially in the City of New Orleans, in the
aftermath of hurricane Katrina, is a potentially dramatic pollution  
issue
related to a toxic landfill that sits under the flood waters right in  
the
city's downtown, according to map overlays of the flooded area. The
situation could exacerbate the already dire threat to human health and
the environment from the flood waters.

The Agriculture Street Landfill (ASL) is situated on a 95-acre site in
New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The ASL is a federally  
registered
Superfund site, and is on the National Priorities List of highly
contaminated sites requiring cleanup and containment. A few years ago  
the
site, which sits underneath and beside houses and a school, was fenced
and covered with clean soil. However, three feet or more of flood waters
could potentially cause the landfill's toxic contents  the result of
decades of municipal and industrial waste dumping  to leach out.

Houses and buildings that were constructed in later years directly atop
parts of the landfill. Residents report unusual cancers and health
problems and have lobbied for years to be relocated away from the old
contaminated site, which contains not only municipal garbage, but buried
industrial wastes such as what would be produced by service stations and
dry cleaners, manufacturers or burning. The site was routinely sprayed
with DDT in the 1940s and 50s and, in 1962, 300,000 cubic yards of  
excess
fill were removed from ASL because of ongoing subsurface fires. (The  
site
was nicknamed "Dante's Inferno" because of the fires.)

The ASL can be thought of a sort of Love Canal for New Orleans - and now
it sits under water.

The ASL site is three miles south of Lake Pontchartrain and about 2.5
north-northeast of the city's central business district (roughly halfway
between the old French Quarter and the shore of Lake Pontchartrain).

Disturbingly, the site is also very close to the Industrial Canal Levee,
a section of which collapsed and allowed flood waters to pour in, almost
directly in the direction of the ASL site.

Government reports describe ASL as being "bounded on the north by  
Higgins
Boulevard and south and west by Southern Railroads right-of-ways. The
eastern boundary of the landfill extends from the cul-de-sac at the
southern end of Clouet Street, near the railroad tracks to Higgins
Boulevard between Press and Montegut Streets."

Locate that site on a map (see websites below), and then overlay
published maps of New Orleans flooding, and one finds the old toxic
landfill is situated right in the middle of a huge area of three-foot
flooding. That industrial area is almost continuously connected with
water to the downtown and northern areas of the city. It's not  
outlandish
to consider the possibility that toxic waste from the landfill may mix
with floodwaters and spread far beyond the old landfill site.

Although the humanitarian rescue operation must take precedence at the
current time, authorities and the public must not overlook this  
pollution
situation, which in both the near and long-term may be dangerous to  
human
health and the environment. We must hope that emergency responders will
investigate this site as soon as possible and take steps to mitigate
potential off-site migration of hazardous materials. It may be that
sandbag walls are required here, as well as on the broken levees.

This magazine will update the situation as more information becomes
available.

Story prepared by Guy Crittenden, editor. Contact 705-445-0361 or
gcrittenden () solidwastemag com (See useful websites below.)

Useful websites:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/agriculturestreet/asl_p3.html

This website offers the Appendix to the government Public Health
Assessment and further technical details about the site, plus a small  
map
at the end.

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/agstreet.htm

Environmental Justice Case Study website offers a detailed  
description of
the Agriculture Street Landfill, and the history of pollution problems
and residents seeking to relocate:

http://www.nbc17.com/hurricanes/4887230/detail.html

NBC-17.com website offers interactive map of New Orleans flooded areas.
(Look near top of blue sidebar at right beside main story for
"Interactive: New Orleans' Damage.")

http://maps.google.com

Google map of New Orleans can be pulled up at this website. Enter
"Higgins Blvd., New Orleans" to get the approximate location of the
landfill, then compare this with the NBC-17 map. (Note: you can zoom in
and out, and toggle around this Google map, and also hit "satellite" in
the upper right to switch from map view to a satellite view of the
terrain.)


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a follower of Jesus Christ, unashamedly says so and applies his faith in
his day-to-day operations." -- Rev. Jerry Falwell, on C-SPAN's  
"Washington Journal"




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