Local Environmental Issue

Discuss an environmental problem that you feel is significant in your town or city.

Almost 3 years since Hurricane Katrina came through Mississippi and we are still dealing with the effects. There was a lot of damage left in her wake. From polluted air to oil spills. The hurricane-battered Gulf Coast region still has many environmental problems to tackle. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator (Stephen Johnson), the region is dealing with mounds of debris, mold, and contamination from oil spills, broken infrastructure and reports of poor air quality in Mississippi.

In Mississippi, air sampling between Oct. 7 and 19 at the Stennis Space Center in Pascagoula, found dangerous chemicals. High levels of formaldehyde, or methanol, were found on three days near the county health department in Pascagoula. The chemical compound, which takes form as a pungent gas, often comes about with combustion, for example from forest fires or automobile exhaust. Preliminary results from newer samples show that the formaldehyde levels are coming down but that doesn’t mean they don’t still exist.

State and federal environmental agencies have been criticized for downplaying the dangers caused by the hurricane. Gary Miller, a chemical engineer and air expert with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said state and federal agencies have done a good job. He said the long-term health and environmental effects are still playing out. “This is an ongoing experiment,” he said, “and unfortunately the humans are the guinea pigs here.”

These pollutants are not a cause of human values. I believe it could be cleaned up a little quicker then it has been. There are still many broken frames and piles of debris of what used to be buildings. A lot of them haven’t been touched except by