What chemicals were in the chemical plant that burned?

I haven't seen the first news reporter ask this question. What other chemicals could have been leaked into the water in the path of Katrina?

is that it was a toxic chemical plant that burned to the ground. The whole of New Orleans is nothing more than a toxic pit to be avoided. The dead will rot, those still living ... MAY GOD HELP THEM!

:kick:

And also, what companies owned the chemical plants? This was quieted too quickly.

(whatever was burning) but I didn't put much credence in that... It was a chemical storage facility so I don't imagine there's a lot of incense or soy candles in there.

No one should be allowed into that city except various government workers from EPA to the National Guard/Army Corps of Engineers and local law enforcement.

That city is unfit for habitation.

and they better be damned sure they are wearing their HAZMAT suits and fuck the guns - they are useless! Absolutely useless!

of the lack of life in the Gulf of Mexico. Wow, isn't that a funny coincidence.

Air Products & Chemicals reported extensive damage to its hydrogen production facilities in New Orleans. “Right now, Air Products’ primary focus is on the safety and welfare of its employees in the area,” the firm said.

Responding to the regional distress, a number of firms announced aid contributions to help the residents of the area rebuild their lives. Dow Chemical pledged $3 million, of which $1 million in cash was going immediately to the American Red Cross. Another $1 million would be available to match employee donations to the Red Cross, and $1 million in products and technology donations would go to longer term reconstruction efforts.

In addition, DuPont pledged $1 million in cash to be followed with donations of products for disaster relief, recovery, and rebuilding. Koch Industries promised a total of $2.25 million, including $1 million in cash to the Red Cross, $1 million to match employee donations to the Red Cross, and $250,000 to the Salvation Army. Even W.R. Grace, now undergoing bankruptcy reorganization, pledged $100,000 to the Red Cross relief efforts.

LINK!:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/83/i36/8336disaster.html

AUG. 31 6:46 P.M. ET Air Products & Chemicals Inc. on Wednesday its New Orleans industrial gas complex has extensive damage due to Hurricane Katrina, and it was not known when it would come back online.

Initial assessments show damage will affect Air Products' ability to supply customers with hydrogen from the plant "for an extended period of time." In addition, the company said its Sarnia, Ontario-based liquid hydrogen production facility is undertaking a scheduled shutdown due to suspension of a supplier plant.

The company said it declared "force majeure" for liquid hydrogen at the two locations, which means it will be exempt from not fulfilling its contract obligations due to conditions out of its control. Air Products said it is working with customers to assist in supplies from other sources.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8CB36B00.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db

World
http://www.quepasa.com/english/news/world/343722.html

Chemical plants, a threat for millions in the U.S.
AFP

Washington, D.C., July 7, 2005 (AFP) - Terrorist attacks on US chemical facilities threaten millions of Americans who would be exposed to toxic material, a US lawmaker said, citing an analysis.

Twenty-three states, including Massachusetts, California and Texas, each have at least one chemical facility that could threaten more than one million people if it were attacked, said US Representative Edward Markey, who requested the analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

The analysis does not name the chemical facilities nor the cities that would be threatened.

The CRS used data submitted by the chemical industry to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's database includes facilities using large quantities of 140 of the most toxic and flammable chemicals, including chlorine, chemicals containing arsenic and propane, Markey's office said in a statement.

Markey called on President George W. Bush's administration to take steps to boost security at the facilities.

"While the Bush Administration has claimed to abandon its own earlier approach of allowing the chemical industry to regulate itself, it has refused to put its money where its mouth is and commit to any meaningful security upgrades," he said in a statement. AFP

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/chemical-plant-explosion-in-ne
This morning, pre-dawn hours in New Orleans glowed red, but it wasn’t the sunrise. An explosion at one of the city’s chemical storage facilities woke hurricane survivors, who were forced yet again to evacuate the area, this time due to the risk of toxic exposure. According to reports, a chain of railcar explosions soon followed, and the vibrations were felt as far away as downtown. A black cloud hovered over the plant as the result of a chemical fire. Officials claimed the cloud did not contain toxins, but warned residents and camera crews to immediately evacuate the vicinity nonetheless.

This latest incident of possible toxic exposure adds to the devastation already evident in New Orleans, and to the long-term risk to survivors of Katrina. It also adds to the urgent need to immediately rescue thousands of stranded people from New Orleans.

On August 30, Greenpeace submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the EPA asking for copies of EPA's plans to prevent contamination from petro-chemical plants and to test drinking water sources, soil and air in communities before they are re-occupied.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/03/sewage_in_floodwaters_carries_disease/

By John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer | September 3, 2005

WASHINGTON --Sewage and chemicals are mixed into a potentially toxic bathtub soaking New Orleans, posing the threat of disease for residents forced to wade in Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters.

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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts "Probably the more immediate health risk to the people is that whatever was in the sewer is in the water," said John Pardue, director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "Whatever bacterial or viral diseases that people put into the system before the flooding is now in the water."

Meanwhile, scientists say they're alarmed by how much of the region's environmental defenses against future hurricanes and other big storms have become seriously compromised.

Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey who flew over the Gulf Coast from Florida to Louisiana said Thursday that most of the Chandeleur chain of barrier islands -- the first line of storm defense for eastern Louisiana and western Mississippi -- appears to be gone. What is usually a continuous line of dunes is now just marshy outcrops, said Ann Tihansky, a hydrologist with the survey. "It's unbelievable," she said, after reviewing the results of an aerial video survey.

"It just makes the coastline more and more susceptible because more of that storm surge can move further inland," said Glenn Guntenspergen, a U.S. Geological Survey landscape ecologist who has studied the effect of hurricanes on Gulf Coast ecosystems.

With the loss of the islands and wetlands that buffer the region, he said, "It becomes less and less likely for the systems to be able to recover from these kinds of storms. The systems as a whole are rapidly losing their ability to recover."

Along with the sewage in the floodwater is a witches' brew of chemicals from a variety of sources, including leaking fuels and oils from gas stations and submerged cars, paints and solvents from small businesses and household cleaners and pesticides from peoples' homes.

But the biggest chemical plants and refineries to the south and east of the city were spared a direct hit by the hurricane. If that had happened, breaches in large tanks and other industrial facilities might have spewed heavy petroleum, hydrocarbons and chlorine gas.

"From the perspective of chemical or environmental contamination, it could have been much worse. One advantage is that we have so much water in the city and that dilutes out the chemicals," Pardue said. "People shouldn't have an irrational fear of chemicals in the water. I'm more concerned about the viral and bacterial things. There's going to be a lot of gastrointestinal and public health issues."

Besides the broken sewage systems polluting the floodwaters, breached drinking water systems are no longer functioning.

Sam Coleman, a regional director for EPA's Superfund toxic waste division in Dallas, said he could not predict how long it would take to clean, disinfect and then test the hundreds of small community drinking water systems that no longer work because of the loss of power.

"Personally, I've never seen anything like this," he said. "No one has quite seen it this bad."