HURRICANE UNIFIED COMMAND
St. Martin Parish


PRO"**
LOUISIANA
fune 2006
Acadia
Lafayette st. Martin Parish
Iberia
Assumption
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
AT A GLANCE
Wastewater Facility
Assessments
Industiy Damage
Assessments
School Lab
Assessments
Vermilion
Completion Report
Far Left EPA inspecting a
permitted facility.
Left: EPA assessing a lab for
hurricane damage.
Since September 2005, the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana
Department of Environ
mental Quality (LDEQ) have
worked together to address
environmental hazards from
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to
help St. Martin Parish recover.
One of EPA and LDEQ's first
priorities was to ensure resi-
dents returning to all the cities
affected by the hurricanes had
safe water. In St. Martin Par-
ish, 18 wastewater treatment
plants were
assessed
for damage.
Next, EPA
and LDEQ
turned to
hazardous
waste stor-
age, trans-
fer or
disposal
facilities.
Throughout
southern
Louisiana
facilities
were addressed, including 2 facilities in St. Martin Parish. The
agencies conducted interviews and site visits to establish that em-
ployees could return to work at facilities operating in accordance
with federal and state regulations.
Because of concerns that damaged chemicals in school biology and
chemistry laboratories could cause a health hazard, EPA and LDEQ
conducted assessments of 14 schools in St. Martin Parish. Of the
14 schools assessed 3 were found to have laboratories. The three
laboratories housed chemical containers that were damaged by the
hurricanes, flood waters and/or heat exposure. EPA and LDEQ, in
coordination with the Louisiana State Police and local fire depart-
ments, removed the dangerous chemicals from two schools. At the

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