Impact_of_Hurricane_Katrina

Impact of Hurricane Katrina SCI\275 November 6, 2010 In June of 2011 I will get the privilege to travel to New Orleans Louisiana for the first time in my life. I am looking forward to traveling there and experiencing the rich culture, great cuisine, fantastic night live, and beautiful waterfront. However, over the past six years the Louisiana has suffered two major environmental disasters. Hurricane Katrina On August 23, 2005 Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coast of Louisiana causing massive destruction. It was estimated that nearly 1800 people lost their life to Hurricane Katrina, but the devastation on the environment will last for years. According to EPA (n.d.), “The storm brought heavy winds and rain to Southeast Louisiana, breaching several levees and flooding up to 80% of New Orleans and large areas of Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes.” Much of the sediment contained various chemicals and fecal matter, according to EPA (n.d.),“Each sample was tested for fecal coli form bacteria and about 200 different chemicals including volatile organic compounds (VOC), semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), metals, pesticides, herbicides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH).” “The majority of chemicals detected were below levels of health concern. However, there were some localized areas with levels of arsenic, PAHs and diesel and oil range organics that exceeded both LDEQ Risk Evaluation/Corrective Action Program (RECAP) and USEPA's risk criteria (e.g., range of 1 in 1,000,000 to 1 in 10,000 risk of an individual developing cancer over a lifetime) based on long-term (30 years) residential exposure assumptions. The levels of fecal coli form bacteria and petroleum hydrocarbons in the sediments also exceeded health-screening values. However, these levels are expected to naturally decrease over time.” Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill On April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded off of the coast of Louisiana causing one of the worst oil spill disasters in American history. The spill was finally stopped on July 15, 2010 after spilling an estimated 185 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. According to Wikipedia (2010), “The spill has caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Skimmer ships, floating containment booms, anchored barriers, and sand-filled barricades along shorelines were used in an attempt to protect hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands and estuaries from the spreading oil.” Human Impact During Hurricane Katrina the only human impact that could be contributed to the environmental disaster would be the levees failing. If the levees had be designed or re-engineered to with stand a category four or above hurricane then most of the issues would have been averted. However, in the Deepwater oil spill, human impact played a greater part in the disaster. BP ignored warning signs of an issue with the pipeline as well as cut corners on safety measures. However, the biggest human impact was the fact that BP was there in the first place. BP chose to drill in that location, they chose to build a man made structure and drill for oil. The greatest human impact on both disasters is not in the disaster itself, but in the clean up of the disasters and their environment impacts. BP has mobilized over 45,000 people, 941 boats, 15 planes, and 3,231,417 feet of cumulative boom deployed to help clean up the beaches, wetlands, inner coastal ways, and skim the Gulf of Mexico (BP, 1999 - 2010). According to BP (1999 - 2010), there has been “827,046 barrels of oily liquid skimmed and 265,450 barrels in controlled surface burns.” Jim Cowan a research scientist with Louisiana State University is concerned about the lasting effect on the wet lands, according to Nijhuis (2010), Though humans have dramatically accelerated Louisiana's wetlands loss, soil erosion and seawater intrusion, these are still natural phenomena, a part of the workings of any river delta. "The spill is completely foreign," Cowan says. "We're adding a toxic chemical to a natural system." Support In the Hurricane Katrina disaster the government stepped in to help the citizens of Louisiana with $8.9 Billion in FEMA support. This money will go toward rebuilding the infrastructure of Louisiana (FEMA, n.d.). This money does not include the money being spent on rebuilding and shoring up the existing levees. The American people also stepped up with support raising over $200 million. Support for the oil spill is being tallied, as the clean up efforts continue. So far, BP has contributed over one million dollars to the clean up efforts (Sunday Times (London, England) Jun 13, 2010, p1). References BP. (1999 - 2010). Making it right - highlights. Retrieved from http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do'categoryId=9034427&contentId=7063885 EPA. (n.d.). Response to 2005 Hurricanes. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/katrina/testresults/katrina_env_assessment_summary.htm Wikipedia. (2010). Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill FEMA. (n.d.). Louisiana Recovery Office. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/hazard/hurricane/2005katrina/index.shtm Nijhuis, M. (2010, September ). Crude Awakening. , 41(5), (n.d). BP offers Obama billions to fund oil disaster clean-up.(Business). Sunday Times (London, England), 1. Retrieved from Gale: Academic OneFile (PowerSearch) database.