By U.S. Senator John Kerry
It’s hard to imagine that anyone in Washington would exploit Hurricane
Katrina’s devastation in the Gulf Coast as an excuse to dismantle
environmental protections for all our people. But that’s exactly
what some ideologues are trying to do, and it will take public involvement
at its best to overcome politics at its worst.
The Bush Administration’s own experts agree. In a closed session
with Senators, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson made clear that environmental
laws are not hindering hurricane cleanup efforts. Despite his recommendation,
Republican leaders have proposed wholesale waivers of environmental laws
across most of the nation for as long as 18 months. Afterward, EPA officials
conveniently changed their position. As has become a pattern, science and
expertise were sacrificed for ideology and special interest.
Burning debris and pumping water out of New Orleans required that some
regulations be lifted. That was reasonable. Ignoring environmental protections
altogether is not. If anything, Katrina demands a national response especially
sensitive to everyone’s right to clean air and clean water.
Katrina caused an unprecedented environmental and public health crisis
in the Gulf Coast region. Not only did nine major oil spills occur, but
60 underground storage tanks, five Superfund sites, and numerous hazardous
waste facilities were hit. Over 1,000 drinking-water systems were disabled,
and lead and E. coli levels in the floodwaters have far passed the EPA’s
safe levels.
The victims of Katrina must not be victimized twice, first by a hurricane
then by Washington’s assault on clean air and clean water. It’s
wrong to talk one week about the poverty of the Gulf Coast then the next
week rollback basic safeguards that protect children in our most needy
communities from permanent health risks.
I’m working with Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Representatives
Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) to pass the Public Health
and Environmental Equality Act in Congress. This legislation would put
Congress on the record in support of public health and environmental laws
during this time when residents of the Gulf Coast need them most. This
legislation will insist that disasters will not be used to weaken, waive,
or rollback public health, environmental and environmental justice protections.
It will acknowledge that state, local, and regional authorities retain
their authority for compliance and permitting of industrial and other facilities
and their role in enforcing cleanup; and ensure that testing, monitoring,
cleanup and recovery in the Gulf Coast region is completed in a manner
designed to protect public health and the environment and ensure habitability
of the region. Most of all, it will make clear that federal rebuilding
of communities and the economy of the Gulf Coast region becomes a model
of the integrated, diverse and sustainable society that all Americans desire
and deserve.
Low-income and minority communities – those who have been hardest
hit by Katrina’s wrath – are also those most negatively affected
by pollution and poor environmental standards. Protecting clean air and
clean water is the right thing to do for these devastated communities,
and the right thing to do for the Gulf Coast.
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