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Mountains of debris may remain for years (Enviro-nazi meltdown in 3...2...1...)
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss. ^ | Fri, Sep. 09, 2005 | S. Heather Duncan

Posted on 09/09/2005 4:33:26 PM PDT by WestTexasWend

Sep. 9 - South Mississippi counties are scrambling to find space for the mountains of garbage left behind by Hurricane Katrina, some of it so compacted that wood can't be separated from asbestos, propane tanks, sewage, rotting meat and hazardous waste.

Rough estimates indicate the six hardest-hit counties may produce more than six times the solid waste generated in the entire state in a single year. Those piles of garbage will likely be around for years.

"It's more debris than all the debris companies in the world could handle," said Frank Reddish, manager of the bureau of recovery and mitigation for Miami-Dade County. "It's going to start to stink and rot and have rats."

Reddish was cleaning up debris piles a year after Hurricane Andrew, which affected only the southern half of Dade County. He estimated that it would take five years to remove all the garbage from Katrina.

"After Andrew, it looked like mountain ranges out there, 10 stories tall and going for miles," Reddish said.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, destroying entire neighborhoods, major bridges and businesses. Mark Williams, administrator of the Mississippi Solid Waste Division, said FEMA models indicate that Mississippi will have 35 million to 50 million cubic yards of debris.

Stacked in a football field, the debris would tower two and one-half to three and one-half miles high.

"But that may be low because I don't think FEMA models have ever seen anything like this," he said. "We're going to be allowing some things environmentally that we normally would not allow because we've just got to get this state back on its feet."

Generally hazardous materials like asbestos must be separated from other building materials, but Williams acknowledged that may not happen. And at least one city, Biloxi, has discouraged residents from using and flushing their toilets and encouraged them to place plastic bags in the toilet, then discard the bags in their garbage. Raw sewage is not usually allowed in a landfill.

"The reality is pathogens that end up in fecal matter often end up in a landfill anyway," said Dennis Truax, a civil engineering professor at Mississippi State University.

And Truax, who has helped design South Mississippi landfills, said modern landfill designs can handle "virtually anything."

Harrison County's landfill, on Menge Avenue near Pass Christian, has a liner, a system to catch liquids that seep out, and a methane gas collection system, Rockco said. It is permitted to expand 86 more acres, Williams said.

Officials say local county landfills probably have enough capacity within their boundaries to handle the mixed household waste. DEQ officials are finding new landfill sites for waste related to buildings and structures in hard-hit Hancock and Harrison counties, said Mark Williams, administrator of the Solid Waste Branch of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

It's so urgent to get rid of the teetering piles of rotting rubbish that the state won't be able to hold the usual public comment period for neighbors to voice their concerns about having a landfill nearby, Williams said.

So the state is trying to find existing "vegetative landfills," which accept yard waste and don't require liners, that can be upgraded to handle building and structural debris. Two were identified in the Kiln-Picayune Road area Thursday, adding about 60 acres of capacity in Hancock County, Williams said.

"If we have a site that becomes a problem for neighbors later, we can always shut it down," Williams said.

Several temporary staging areas will probably also be established in south Hancock County because that area is not good for a full landfill, Williams said; the water table is too high and the beachfront property too valuable.

Rockco said dirt pits in Harrison County are also being examined for suitability.

With more industry and slightly less damage, Jackson County may have enough landfill capacity now, Williams said.

The state has also set up a timber task force to look for ways to recover fallen timber for use in factories with boilers, Williams said.

Robbie Wilburn, communications director for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency has five or six employees in South Mississippi trying to deal with waste disposal, but they have other duties too.

The EPA is overseeing hazardous waste disposal, but David Ryan, EPA spokesman, said, "It's just too early to tell what's going to be done about debris. We're concerned about it, but we have limited resources. Our first priority is protecting the public health of people in New Orleans."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS: katrina; katrinadamage; katrinadebris; katrinarecovery
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1 posted on 09/09/2005 4:33:29 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
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To: WestTexasWend

I saw something yeseterday that part of New Orleans sits on a toxic dump, and that the flood may cause those chemicals to leach. The dump is covered by three feet of top soil.

It's going to be ugly there for a long time.


2 posted on 09/09/2005 4:35:31 PM PDT by va4me ("Government isn't the solution to the problem, it is the problem" - Ronald Reagan)
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To: WestTexasWend

Somehow Europe cleaned up after WWII.


3 posted on 09/09/2005 4:37:06 PM PDT by You Dirty Rats
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To: WestTexasWend
Nonsense. One thing Mississippi definitely has is a bunch of topsoil.

They can dig a pit and fill and cover and fill and cover until they have a ski slope in southern Mississippi with enough methane to power a county.

4 posted on 09/09/2005 4:37:19 PM PDT by keithtoo (Howard Dean's Democratic Party: Traitors, Haters, and Vacillators)
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To: petitfour; Former Military Chick

MS ping, please.


5 posted on 09/09/2005 4:38:58 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
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To: WestTexasWend

Said Mayor Nagin: "Naw Awlans is an awful mess. I want FEMA to round up 500 workers and send their asses down to clean it up."


6 posted on 09/09/2005 4:43:02 PM PDT by Enterprise (When Rats govern they screw up and people die. Then, the Rats want to punch the President.)
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To: WestTexasWend

Big piles of petrochemical soaked trash burns real good

Considering how much BIO-Hazard is mixed in? It's the best option. It would still cause less pollution that China does in one day.

Did anyone see the interview with CDC? When asked if breathing the dust in the air is dangerous, he hemmed and hawde and changed the subject quickly.


7 posted on 09/09/2005 4:44:33 PM PDT by hombre_sincero (www.sigmaitsys.com)
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To: WestTexasWend
South Mississippi counties are scrambling to find space for the mountains of garbage left behind by Hurricane Katrina,

Its called New Orleans. Its already a bowl waiting to be filled up to be above sea level!

8 posted on 09/09/2005 4:45:18 PM PDT by Bommer
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To: WestTexasWend

It's evident New Orleans has now become a federally-protected wetland. How can they drain it without a Section 404 permit?


9 posted on 09/09/2005 4:46:04 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: Bommer

Its called a bomb-fire people. Its not that tough.


10 posted on 09/09/2005 4:46:14 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Pitchforks and Lanterns..with a smiley face!)
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To: WestTexasWend
Stacked in a football field, the debris would tower two and one-half to three and one-half miles high.

Ummm.... might I recommend against doing this?

*\;-)

11 posted on 09/09/2005 4:48:04 PM PDT by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† || (To Libs:) You are failing to celebrate MY diversity! || Iran Azadi)
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To: Bommer
"South Mississippi counties are scrambling to find space for the mountains of garbage left behind by Hurricane Katrina,"
It's called New Orleans. It's already a bowl waiting to be filled up to be above sea level!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner!

12 posted on 09/09/2005 4:49:11 PM PDT by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† || (To Libs:) You are failing to celebrate MY diversity! || Iran Azadi)
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To: WestTexasWend

Incinerators-r-us.


13 posted on 09/09/2005 4:50:46 PM PDT by JoeSixPack1
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To: WestTexasWend

Five gallons of diesel in a bug sprayer, a box of kitchen matches and the whole detritus problem goes away in 3 days.


Diesel, the rancher's friend.


14 posted on 09/09/2005 4:50:48 PM PDT by TexanToTheCore (Rock the pews, Baby)
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To: WestTexasWend

Solution: Burn it all.


15 posted on 09/09/2005 4:55:03 PM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("Si vis pacem para bellum")
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To: You Dirty Rats
Europe cleaned up what it could clean up after WWII. There are still places leftover from WWI that are pretty dangerous.

Downtown Dusseldorf has this beautiful park in the middle of town where all the streetcar lines come together. There are large trees there. I talked to an old Rad who told me about the work that went into blowing holes in the ground big enough to transplant a nice tree from somewhere.

The ground under the grass in the park is "hard" ~ and the old downtown ends rather abruptly just like something very nasty had happened in that park.

Let's say the Europeans pretty well "hide" WWII.

16 posted on 09/09/2005 4:57:34 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again?)
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To: va4me
"saw something yeseterday that part of New Orleans sits on a toxic dump, and that the flood may cause those chemicals to leach."

No more so than when it rains. The rain water is then pumped into Lake Pontchartrian.

17 posted on 09/09/2005 5:01:21 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

That sounds like a sane solution. They won't do it.

Why?

Will there be "fumes"?


18 posted on 09/09/2005 5:02:22 PM PDT by SE Mom (God Bless those who serve..)
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To: WestTexasWend

Sell it as soveniers, antiques, historical relics, on eBay.


19 posted on 09/09/2005 5:04:06 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: SE Mom
""fumes"?"

Asbestos particles, dioxins, an nasty aromatics to start the list.

20 posted on 09/09/2005 5:06:58 PM PDT by spunkets
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