Nine months after Katrina: much still needed to achieve environmental justice

by Jaydee Hanson

Note: The National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Conference was held in New Orleans June 1-4, 2006. Participants toured impacted areas, with a focus on environmental justice and learned from speakers, including Dr. Beverly Wright, Founder and Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.

Nine months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, much has changed along the Gulf Coast, but much still needs to be done. The press stories have focused mostly on the effects of this massive hurricane on the people of the Gulf Coast, but the changes to the environment have been profound. The lesson of the environmental justice movement is that the destruction of the environment and the destruction of poor people go hand in hand.

Wetland destruction made hurricane damage worse

The Gulf Coast of the United States is a beautiful place containing much of the nation's wetlands and fragile coastal and estuarine environments. Louisiana is especially blessed with an abundance of wetlands. Approximately 40 percent of the coastal wetlands of the lower 48 states is located in Louisiana. The wetlands not only provide habitat for swarms of living creatures and the animals that live off them, but also provided the rich fishing grounds of the Cajun peoples and the Houma Indians. They also buffer the storm surge of hurricanes. Years of wetland loss may have greatly increased the damage of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force notes that:

This fragile environment is disappearing at an alarming rate. Louisiana has lost up to 40 square miles of marsh a year for several decades - that's 80 percent of the nation's annual coastal wetland loss. If the current rate of loss is not slowed, by the year 2040 an additional 800,000 acres of wetlands will disappear, and the Louisiana shoreline will advance inland as much as 33 miles in some areas.

The damage from Hurricane Katrina accelerated this process. In short, the buffering wetlands are disappearing so quickly that New Orleans could soon be a coastal city instead of a city in the midst of a delta. See a map showing the extent of predicted wetland loss.

New Orleans and the Gulf Coast had ample warning of the prospect of a large damaging hurricane. The Times-Picayune in June of 2002 ran a five-part series detailing what would happen if a large hurricane hit. The newspaper's readers, including elected officials, were warned the when the "Big One" hit, levees would not hold and people would not be able to easily leave New Orleans and other areas prone to flooding. The paper even discussed a plan to help prevent the worst effects of the "Big One" by restoring the levees and the wetlands.

Poverty and politics

If the politicians in Louisiana and Washington D.C. knew that a major hurricane could be so devastating, why did they not take action earlier? There may be no answer other than that the people of New Orleans and other very poor places have not had the political power needed to fund the changes. Another answer may be that the formation of the plan to restore the wetlands and repair the levees was estimated to cost $14 billion at a time just after the 9-11-01 attacks on New York and the Pentagon. Moreover, the nation had already committed a large sum ($8 billion) to the Everglades Restoration Project in Florida. In any case, Louisiana did not get anywhere close to the funds needed, even for levee restoration, let alone wetlands restoration.

Rather than funding projects for restoration of wetlands and improvement of the levees surrounding New Orleans, funding was cut. The project most closely associated with preventing flooding in New Orleans was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Hurricane Protection Project, which was "designed to protect residents between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River levee from surges in Lake Pontchartrain," according to a May 23, 2005 fact sheet from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The multi-decade project involved building new levees, enlarging existing levees, and updating other protections like floodwalls. It was scheduled to be completed in 2015.

Instead of receiving the needed funding, the Corps received substantially less money than it requested for the Lake Pontchartrain project. Between 2001 and 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit, the amount of money spent on all Corps construction projects in the New Orleans district declined by 44 percent, according to the New Orleans CityBusiness newspaper, from $147 million in 2001 to $82 million in 2005. For fiscal year 2006 that began Oct. 1, 2005 the New Orleans district of the Corps was preparing for a $71.2 million reduction in overall funding. That would have been the largest single-year funding loss ever. They noted that money "was so tight" that "the New Orleans district, which employs 1,300 people, instituted a hiring freeze on all positions," which was "the first of its kind in about 10 years." According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' project fact sheet, seven new contracts were delayed due to lack funds. The fact sheet noted ominously: "In Orleans Parish, two major pump stations are threatened by hurricane storm surges. Major contracts need to be awarded to provide fronting protection for them. Also, several levees have settled and need to be raised to provide the design protection. The current funding shortfalls in fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2006 will prevent the Corps from addressing these pressing needs."

Ironically, an engineer who had directed the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration Study — a study of how to restore coastal wetlands areas in order to provide a buffer from hurricane storm surges — was sent to Iraq "to oversee the restoration of the 'Garden of Eden' wetlands at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers," for which the fiscal year 2005 budget gave $100 million. While the Tigris and Euphrates delta wetlands also need restoration, the transfer underscores how funding related to Iraq war and Iraq reconstruction funding took precedence during this period.

Hurricane Katrina changed the politics of the levee restoration. On May 4, 2006, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the emergency supplemental for FY 2006. The Senate bill gives the Army Corps of Engineers $2.2 billion to fix the levees around New Orleans. If the House of Representatives agrees to that total and the President signs the bill, advocates for the poor and the environment will still need to monitor the spending to assure that projects that benefit the poor, such as levee important to preventing flooding in their wards, are given priority by the Corps. Little funding is yet available for the long term task of wetlands restoration.

What would promote environmental justice in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina?

A group of 13 national environmental and environmental justice organizations identified 10 areas that must be addressed in the continued rebuilding of New Orleans and other areas damaged by last summer's hurricanes. Their points could also be a guide for church-related groups assisting in the rebuilding of the hurricane-damaged region.

Clean up toxic wastes spread by Hurricane Katrina so that residents in the most polluted areas can return home. Nine months after the hurricane, cleanup of toxic waste continues. The volume of toxic waste is the largest in the 36-year history of the EPA. The waste is both industrial and household waste. Ordinarily, household wastes are disposed of a little bit at a time, but in the New Orleans flooding paints, electronic components, fertilizers, pesticides, car batteries, propane tanks from grills, ammunition for guns, and household cleaning agents are all mixed together. So far, the EPA has collected 17.6 million tons of waste, most of which is shipped to the Old Gentilly Landfill in New Orleans.

The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice has developed a demonstration project that literally strips the contaminated soil from around residents' homes so that they can safely return home. The Center believes that its project should be the model for FEMA and the EPA as people return to the most polluted areas.

Provide personal protective equipment to residents returning to restore their properties.

Fully inform the public of toxic chemicals remaining in the land, air and water.

Conduct city and state legislative hearings to address toxic waste problems.

Apply green building principles. The Louisiana chapter of the Sierra Club developed a brochure explaining these principles, "Sustainable Rebuilding."

Ensure that schools are healthy places for children. The schools that re-open must be mold-free and toxic waste-free before children return to them.

Maintain and strengthen health care services. Residents must all have access to basic health care services and all residents exposed to toxic materials must be monitored as required by the nation's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

Respect the voting rights of residents. Assuring the voting rights of dislocated residents was a major problem in the most recent election. Many commentators noted that turnout from voters who could still not return to their homes was markedly lower than those from wards that were not flooded.

Restore wetlands. The coalition notes that wetlands restoration is key to the long-term survival of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes.

Improve levees and levee boards. The coalition wants to see that levees that actually protect populations from flooding, not industrial pork barrel projects are funded. The specifically cite the Industrial Canal and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet as unsustainable projects and urge that engineers and citizens without conflicts of interest decide upon the needed projects.

What can I do?

Understand the connections between climate change and stronger hurricanes. As your congregation helps people in the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, please work to help volunteers understand the environmental causes and problems of the hurricanes. Many scientists believe that stronger hurricanes will continue in the Gulf Coast for several years. Read "Global Warming: Are we at a tipping point?" for more background on the contribution climate change may be making to stronger hurricanes.

Work to understand the connections between poverty and environmental destruction. A good source of information on the global links between poverty and the environment is the Environment and Poverty Times, published by the United Nations Environment Program.

Educate your congregation and Presbytery about the links between poverty and the environment. Use every opportunity you get to help others make connections. Virtually every national and international disaster relief program has an environmental component. Certainly, every hurricane has environmental connections. Earth Day is an excellent time to make these connections, too. The National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group released a statement on rebuilding after the hurricanes. Other materials on the NCC Web site include many on climate and water. The World Council of Churches also has many excellent resources on climate change, poverty and water policy.

Urge your members of Congress to provide adequate funding for the restoration of wetlands in the Gulf Region and a complete clean up of the polluted homes and schools of the region so that poor people can return home.