Posted on 09/27/2005 4:57:47 AM PDT by gridlock
NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Rita rattled even more debris out of New Orleans yesterday, as federal officials began bracing for another possible wave of oil, chemical, and hazardous waste spills.
Federal emergency officials launched helicopters yesterday afternoon, as soon it was safe to inspect fragile containments and clean-up machinery at dozens of sites where hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil spilled during Katrina. Concerns were high that other tanks, pipelines, or drums that had been weakened during Katrina may have sprung leaks
Meanwhile, the putrid soup of chemicals and bacteria that had settled into a thick sludge was sloshing again yesterday in the Ninth Ward. ''There is always that worry" that the pollution could spread, said Lieutenant Commander Glynn Smith of the Coast Guard. ''But we have no way of knowing until we look."
New Orleans and its outlying areas suffered severe environmental damage during Katrina, harm that officials have not finished calculating. ''We're starting to look now," Smith said. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
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