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Environmental Responders Distribute 2 Million Flyers to Southern Louisiana Residents

Release Date: 01/27/2006
Contact Information: Cynthia Fanning at 504-731-8680

01/27/06 - More than 2 million flyers with environmental information have been distributed to residents returning to southern Louisiana parishes impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Flyers provide useful information on potential hazards, helpful contacts, removal of household chemicals and damaged electronics, and other topics.

“More and more residents are returning to Louisiana every day. We are helping them receive useful information and contacts to assist them in coming home,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene. “We will continue our efforts, both in providing information and our response work, until the job is done.”

The flyers provide information on efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to remove household chemicals for proper disposal, collect freon from refrigerators and air conditioners, recycle damaged electronics, remove orphaned drums and large containers, and collect flood-damaged firearms and ammunition for disposal. Flyers addressing healthy drinking water, private water well testing and general hazards are also available. Many are available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

EPA has established a network of residents, local leaders, environmental groups, media, faith-based organizations, non-profit organizations and others interested in receiving information. Members of the network are helping the community by further sharing information. Individuals and organizations are invited to join our network. To be included, interested parties may send an e-mail to R6IMT_EPACommunityInformation.gov.

Flyers created by other federal and state response partners are also being shared by our volunteers and are available on EPA’s website. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals have created helpful information on addressing mold and locating qualified contractors. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Worker Education and Training Branch created a health and safety booklet to assist responders.

The EPA, Coast Guard and LDEQ are working together in a Unified Command to respond to hazardous materials and oil spills resulting from the hurricanes. The Unified Command is operating household hazardous waste and white goods collection programs in several parishes, removing orphaned drums and large containers along the coastline, collecting and compiling environmental data, and testing drinking water in some areas. Other programs such as flood-damaged electronics recycling and ammunition disposal are also being carried out by this Unified Command.

Current flyers are available at https://www.epa.gov/katrina/outreach/index.html. For more information about hurricane response efforts, please visit https://www.epa.gov/katrina/ or http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/.