Hurricane Katrina: August 28, 2005

Transcription

1 Hurricane Katrina: August 28, 2005

2 Hurricane Katrina: August 28, 2005

3 Hurricane Katrina

4 Hurricane Rita: September 24, 2005

5 Hurricane Rita: September 24, 2005

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39 House in the middle of the road

40

41 Used to be waterfront houses.

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61 An Environmental Unified Command, pursuant to Emergency Support Function #10-Oil and Hazardous Materials Response, for the State of Louisiana was formed to conduct a response and recovery operation in impacted parishes. Hurricanes Katrina & Rita As of December 2005, more than 4,000 EPA personnel and contractors have been involved in response efforts.

62 Environmental Unified Command Members for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality State of Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator s Office U.S. Coast Guard U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

63 Legal Authorities: Stafford Act The President may issue a major disaster declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of The Stafford Act authorizes the President to direct federal agencies to provide essential assistance including cleanup and disposal of waste and debris. Through executive orders, the President has delegated responsibility for administering the major provisions of the Stafford Act to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

64 Legal Authorities: National Response Plan and Emergency Support Function #10 FEMA coordinates disaster assistance provided by 27 federal agencies by implementing the National Response Plan. The NRP is organized by 15 ESFs. Under these ESFs, federal departments and agencies (and the American Red Cross) are grouped according to their capabilities and are assigned various tasks. ESF #10-Oil and Hazardous Materials Response addresses environmental cleanup activities for major disasters and emergencies. The primary focus of ESF #10 is oil and hazardous materials (chemical, biological, radiological, etc.) response, other environmental safety issues and cleanup. EPA is the designated coordinator, as well as a designated primary agency for ESF #10. The USCG is the other federal entity responsible for ESF #10 missions.

65 National Response Plan ESF #1 - Transportation ESF #2 Communications ESF #3 - Public Works and Engineering ESF #4 - Firefighting ESF #5 - Emergency Management ESF #6 - Mass Care, Housing and Human Services ESF #7 - Resource Support ESF #8 - Public Health and Medical Service ESF #9 - Urban Search and Rescue ESF #10 - Oil and Hazardous Materials Response Oil and hazardous materials (chemical, biological, radiological, etc.) response Environmental safety and cleanup ESF #11 - Agriculture and Natural Resources ESF #12 - Energy ESF #13 - Public Safety and Security ESF #14 - Long-Term Community Recovery and Mitigation ESF #15 - External Affairs Emergency public information, Media and community relations Congressional and international affairs Tribal and insular affairs

66 Legal Authorities: Federal Environmental Emergency Response Authority CERCLA and Section 311(f)(5) of the CWA, provide EPA and the USCG broad statutory authority to support state and local response efforts to address releases of hazardous materials, contaminants or pollutants. EPA developed the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, pursuant to its authority under CERCLA to coordinate responses to environmental releases of hazardous substances, pollutants and contaminants. Primary responsibility for administering the NCP falls to EPA for most land-based discharges and releases of oil and hazardous materials, and to USCG for most coastal and marine discharges and releases of oil and hazardous materials. When the President declares a major disaster or emergency and FEMA activates ESF #10 under the NRP, the NCP continues to operate, although it is subsumed within the broader NRP structure.

67 Legal Authorities: State of Louisiana Environmental Emergency Response Authority Louisiana has its own environmental emergency response authority that is conducted by the LDEQ. The Louisiana Environmental Control Act provides for the immediate response to any environmental emergency incident which threatens human health or the environment. The Emergency Response Section, under the Office of Environmental Compliance, is tasked to implement this state law.

68 FEMA Mission Assignments 1. Search and Rescue: provide search and rescue support and critical air, ground and water transportation. 2. Reconnaissance Radiation Sources: survey known radiation source locations to verify their integrity and security. 3. Reconnaissance of State and Federally Regulated Facilities: survey regulated facilities to verify their integrity and security. 4. Reconnaissance of School Labs: survey public and parochial schools to verify their integrity and security. Conduct removals, as necessary. 5. Hazardous Materials Releases and Oil Spills: conduct response and removal activities to mitigate hazardous materials releases and oil spills.

69 FEMA Mission Assignments 6. Orphan Drum and Container Removal: locate and remove orphan drums and containers identified by state and parish officials, or through reconnaissance activities. 7. Household Hazardous Waste: collect and transport HHW, segregate and dispose of HHW and recycle white goods after capturing refrigerants. 8. Drinking Water Assessment: conduct assessment of water treatment facilities and provide technical assistance to return these facilities to operational status. 9. Waste Water Assessment: conduct assessments of waste water facilities and provide technical assistance to return these facilities to operational status. 10. Environmental Sampling: conduct multi-media sampling in and around communities and regulated facilities in affected parishes to determine the extent of potential hazardous materials released.

70 SEARCH AND RESCUE EPA and USCG were initially deployed to conduct sampling and assessment activities. The immediate need, however, was for EPA and USCG to conduct search and rescue missions.

71 EPA and USCG personnel and contractors manned 65 boats, rescued 900 people and provided food and water to 400 people who opted to shelter in place. EPA and USCG conducted search and rescue operations from August 31, 2005 to September 8, 2005.

72 Oil Rig Escape Capsule: Survivors Found Inside

73 Water quality testing on tank trucks of potable water before distributing to impacted parishes.

74 Reconnaissance Prioritization of reconnaissance based on current data. The Unified Command conducted evaluations of data bases which identified hazardous waste, oil facilities and radiation sources.

75 Reconnaissance of Transportation and Energy Facilities Aerial and/or field teams were sent out to inspect and evaluate these facilities. EPA and USCG conducted aerial and ground reconnaissance through December Results helped focus ground activities on orphan drums, containers and oil spills.

76 Bass Oil Spill Bass Oil is the largest oil spill resulting from Hurricane Katrina where 4 million gallons of oil were released. Approximately 8-9 million gallons of oil were released due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. USCG is the lead for cleanup activities. Exxon Valdez released approximately million gallons.

77 Murphy Oil Spill 1 million gallons of oil released into St. Bernard Parish impacting about 10,000 residents.

78

79

80

81

82

83 Murphy Oil Spill: Oil in Homes

84

85 Murphy Oil Spill: Spraying Exterior of Homes

86 EPA Mobilized Specialized Air Monitoring Equipment Aerial monitoring system Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology Mobile air monitoring lab

87 Stationary air monitoring equipment sampling for volatile organic compounds, metals and asbestos.

88 Flood Water and Sediment Sampling Over 300 water samples were obtained from flood water and pumping stations. Over 340 sediment samples were taken from the dewatered areas that flooded New Orleans.

89 Soil Sampling

90 EPA conducted removals of storm-impacted chemicals from high school chemistry laboratories. EPA was tasked to conduct reconnaissance of all chemistry labs in high schools in the highly impacted parishes in Louisiana.

91

92 Medical Waste Reconnaissance and Disposal

93 Medical Waste

94 Household Hazardous Waste Collection EPA has been and continues to set up HHW collection in the affected areas. EPA information outreach to over 1.4 million people. As of December 2005, over 1,000,000 pieces of household hazardous waste were collected.

95

96

97 Recovery of White Goods

98 White Goods EPA is working with the Army Corps of Engineers on recycling white goods. Refrigerators must have the refrigerants drained prior to recycling. Mold, maggots and foul odors exacerbate challenges.

99

100 White goods are brought to a designated collection center where refrigerants are drained, food waste is separated and the scrap metal stripped and sent to a recycling center.

101

102

103 Recovery of Orphan Drums

104

105

106 Orphan Drum and Container Recovery

107

108

109 Searching for Orphan Drums and Containers

110

111

112

113

114 Orphan drum reconnaissance and identification by using GPS enabled cameras to mark the coordinates. Image taken during USCG aerial surveillance.

115 White goods, orphan drums and containers must be separated. Materials in the orphan drums must be sampled before disposing of the waste. White goods, orphan drums and containers are brought to a central location where the materials are separated according to type of waste.

116

117

118

119 Separating, Sampling and Labeling Drums

120 Debris Management Grinding debris and placing it in an approved landfill. 42 years of waste created as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana.

121

122 Boats and Cars 60,000 boats were damaged or destroyed and will require proper disposal. 360,000 cars need to be drained of fuel and oil, and the batteries removed before they can be recycled.

123

124

125