EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will meet with environmental justice orgranizations and community groups in New Orleans on Saturday, May 1st. At this meeting, AEHR seeks responses from the administrator on the following questions:
- According to the 2000 governmental-industry study, Deep Spill Joint Industry Project, the burning of an oil slick may be largely ineffective due to the emulsification and thining of an oil slick through the process of the oil moving through the water column from a significant depth and remaining on the surface for periods of 5 hours or longer. I s EPA making any assessment of the emulsification and thickness of the oil to determine whether burning would be effective?
- What are the results of the EPA control burn that took place on Wednesday? Please provide the results including all raw data.
- Given that EPA has set up air monitors to collect data from any burning, will EPA make the monitoring and emission data available to the public with regular updates?
- What are EPA’s preparations to avoid potential public health threats of the burning?
- Will EPA establish emergency technical assistance grants to Gulf Coast community organizations to conduct their own environmental damage assessments and analyses of related impacts on public health, marine life, etc.?
- Will EPA rely on damage assessment data provided by BP as the US Coast Guard did? If not, will EPA independently verify data and information produced by BP?
- Given that Hurricane season begins June 1st and the projected cleanup will require several months, what are EPA’s preparations for the BP oil disaster in the event of a hurricane?
