hatch, peggy LA
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Peggy M. Hatch, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality</b></font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b></b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>9/14</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality has released a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, raising objections to EPA's proposed rules to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The letter from DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch was released Friday. It says EPA is exceeding its authority with the rules and that it made errors and omissions in the data used to calculate Louisiana's carbon emission reduction goals.</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The EPA rules announced in June set a goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent nationwide from 2005 levels. The goal's deadline is 2030.</span><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="line-height: 19.9125003814697px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has long said that strong carbon standards are needed. She has emphasized that states will have flexibility in developing plans to reduce carbon output.</span></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bs</font></div><div><p style="line-height: 15.9499998092651px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Peggy Hatch most recently served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Compliance in the Department of Environment Quality. Hatch was appointed as Assistant Secretary in 2008, where she oversaw surveillance, emergency response, radiological services and enforcement activities in the department.</font></p><p style="line-height: 15.9499998092651px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Hatch has worked for the state of Louisiana since 1985 and with DEQ since 1990 in a number of technical and management capacities including her time as</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Enforcement Division Administrator from 2002 through 2007</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Prior to joining the department, she was employed in several hospital laboratories</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Hatch received her bachelors of science in medical technology </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">from Louisiana State University. </span>
</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When government fails to work on your behalf, the consequences are all too real. And for many years, the main governmental agency tasked with protecting the fragile environment here in the Bayou State — the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ — has been the epitome of government failure. The other day, I told you about DEQ’s inadequate or in some cases </span><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">non-existent response to significant chemical spills in Louisiana, a state that has a higher concentration of oil and chemical plants than virtually anywhere else in the world.</span><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> I endorsed a proposal by a praiseworthy group of citizens who call themselves the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, who want the federal Environmental Protection Agency to acknowledge the crisis-like condition in the state and take over the DEQ’s responsibilities. Otherwise, the potential impact of such a toothless tiger regulating the environment — an agency that too often resides deeply in the back pocket of the industries that it regulates — can be very severe for the everyday citizens of Louisiana</span><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. - </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See more at: http://www.stuarthsmith.com/louisianas-toothless-tiger-the-deq-once-again-fails-a-battered-waterfront-community/#sthash.a5qfQckZ.dpuf</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.stuarthsmith.com/louisianas-toothless-tiger-the-deq-once-again-fails-a-battered-waterfront-community/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div class="posttitle" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 19.4559993743897px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 style="padding: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0px; letter-spacing: 1px; font-weight: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">If you think Chance McNeely’s appointment to head DEQ compliance was an insult, just get a handle on his salary</font></h2><p class="post-info" style="padding: 0px 0px 12px; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-image: url(https://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/pub/mistylook/img/underline1.jpg); background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">January 13, 2015 by <a href="http://louisianavoice.com/author/tomaswell/" title="Posts by tomaswell" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none;">tomaswell</a></font></p></div><div class="entry" style="padding: 0px 1em 0px 0px; margin: 1em 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 19.4559993743897px;"><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">It took a while but we have an update on Chance McNeely, the 26-year-old who recently made the quantum leap from a policy analyst for the governor’s office to Assistant Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Office of Environmental Compliance.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Before we get to that, however, let’s review a couple of items.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">What’s it been, five years now that state classified employees have gone without a pay raise?</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And didn’t the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) recently raise premiums and reduce benefits, all because Gov. Bobby Jindal manipulated premiums to help cover gaping holes in his state budget, thereby reducing the OGB reserve fund from more than $500 million to something like half that amount?</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And hasn’t Jindal issued two expenditure freezes and two hiring freezes within the past 12 months, even specifying that no agency could “use employee transfers, promotions, reallocations or the creation of new positions” in order to circumvent the freezes?</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">So how is it that <b>Chance McNeely, with a degree in agricultural business and all of four years’ experience (three of those as a legislative assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives</b>. And just what does a legislative assistant do in Washington?), is deemed to be qualified to oversee something as critical as environmental compliance?</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As this is being written, there is a federal trial ongoing in Baton Rouge over leaks of toxic chemicals at a DuPont chemical plant in Ascension Parish. But it’s a whistleblower suit, not one initiated by any regulatory agency. And does anyone remember the 1978 death of a truck driver at Bayou Sorrel? That happened when the driver exited his truck and was overcome by lethal chemical fumes.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Most of the state’s environmental issues are situated in South Louisiana, primarily along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans—the corridor that has been dubbed, deservedly so, as <b>Cancer Alley.</b></font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But North Louisiana is not immune. The most controversial issue in the state right now is that proposed open tray burn of 15 million pounds of M6 artillery shell propellant at Camp Minden. Experts say cancer-causing emissions could be spread from Shreveport to Monroe.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">We don’t know Chance McNeely, but it is the position of <em style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">LouisianaVoice</em> that given our track record in protecting Louisiana’s air and water, the job of environmental compliance should be entrusted to (a) someone with an environmental background and (b) someone with vastly more experience.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And the position most certainly should not have been handed to someone who purportedly is planning to walk away come next September in favor of entering law school.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But, adding insult to injury, McNeely’s salary, according to State Civil Service records, just increased by a whopping 57 percent—<strong style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">from $65,000 per year to $102,000.</strong></font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This for someone who has worked in the governor’s office as a policy analyst (we don’t know what that entails, either) for all of nine months when there are thousands of state employees who have been working for decades for much less than half that.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">And DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch can stand on top of the State Capitol and proclaim (as she already has, but not from atop the Capitol) that McNeely was her first choice for the job, but we aren’t buying it for one nano-second. <b>She hired McNeely at Jindal’s specific instructions and was given her talking points as well.</b></font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">If, as she claims, it was her idea to recruit someone with no experience for a position as important as environmental compliance for the entire State of Louisiana, then we contend she is no more qualified for her position than he.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But again, we know whose decision it was to make this horribly ill-advised move. And if the citizens of Louisiana were not already aware of how Jindal has turned his back on this state in favor of his own self-promotion, then this move should underscore it.</font></p><p style="padding: 0px; margin: 0.7em 0px; line-height: 1.6em;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">It’s the biggest slap in the face of the state’s four million citizens since, well, since 1996 when Gov. Mike Foster appointed a 24-year-old named Bobby Jindal as head of the Department of Health and Hospitals.</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">16, Peggy <b>Hatch</b> became the secretary for the Department of Environmental Quality. In early December</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="path" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2978/Default.aspx</span><span style="line-height: 16.5px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p align="left" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/linkclick.aspx?fileticket=JoqdVQgw8uw%3d&tabid=36" class="title" target="self" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-image: url(http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/DesktopModules/XSSearchResults/images/xsArrowR.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">enewsletter_FEB 2010.pdf </a><span class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px;"> relevance: 48</span></p><div class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Number: 5 WWW.DEQ.LOUISIANA.GOV NEW SECRETARY AND CHANGES AT DEQ O n January 16, Peggy <b>Hatch</b>... the possibility of running for office. <b>Hatch</b> most recently served as Assistant Secretary... activities in the department. <b>Hatch</b> has worked for the state of Louisiana since 1985 and with DEQ since</div><span class="path" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/linkclick.aspx?fileticket=JoqdVQg...</span><span style="line-height: 16.5px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p align="left" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2245/Default.aspx" class="title" target="self" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-image: url(http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/DesktopModules/XSSearchResults/images/xsArrowR.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Hurricane Information </a><span class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px;"> relevance: 15</span></p><div class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Hatch</b> at (225) 219-3715 or send an e-mail to peggy.hatch@la.gov. DEQ Responds to Emergency Situations</div><span class="path" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2245/Default.aspx</span><span style="line-height: 16.5px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p align="left" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2223/Default.aspx" class="title" target="self" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-image: url(http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/DesktopModules/XSSearchResults/images/xsArrowR.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">News Releases </a><span class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px;"> relevance: 11</span></p><div class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Secretary Peggy <b>Hatch's</b> promotion to the Secretary position, an </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">opportunity for cost savings </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">became</span></div><span class="path" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/tabid/2223/Default.aspx</span><span style="line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p align="left" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/apps/pubNotice/default.asp" class="title" target="self" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-image: url(http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/DesktopModules/XSSearchResults/images/xsArrowR.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Public Notice </a><span class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px;"> relevance: 11</span></p><div class="sample" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HAZARDOUS WASTE OPERATING PERMIT RENEWAL 6/21/2010 5/3/2010 DIMENSION ENERGY, L.L.C / LAKE <b>HATCH</b></div><span class="path" style="margin-left: 10px; line-height: 16.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/apps/pubNotice/default.asp</span></span></span></span></span></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mainstream environmental groups are not the only ones to benefit from EPA grants. The</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Obama EPA gives grants to regional and less-well-known extreme groups, especially those</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">operating within the environmental network described in this report. For example, the<b> Louisiana</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Bucket Brigade (LABB</b>) is an environmental activist group not only connected to the</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">environmental network, but also has close ties to the EPA. Formerly a project of the Tides</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Foundation, LABB received over $400,000 in funding from the Marisla Foundation between</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2011 and 2012.189 Further, LABB received significant funding from EPA under former</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Administrator<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Lisa Jackson. </span>Jackson grew up in a New Orleans, Louisiana neighborhood and</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">has close ties to the state.190</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Most of LABB’s efforts focus on attacking oil and petrochemical refineries through</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“citizen science” efforts primarily funded by the EPA.<b> The Louisiana Department of</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Environmental Quality brought a series of concerns to EPA headquarters and Region 6, detailing</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>how LABB’s activities are not based on “sound science and legally defensible facts.”191 </b>Even</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">so, EPA continued to award LABB grants. From 2010 to 2012, EPA awarded LABB $194,500</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">in grants.192 For fiscal year 2011, EPA’s $100,000 grant on June 11, 2012, constituted more than</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">80% of LABB’s government funding and almost half of the group’s one-third public funding</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">requirement.193</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">186 Karen Kerrigan, Fact of the Day: EPA and Lung Association: Time for Transparency, The Center for Regulatory</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Solutions (June 5, 2014).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">187 COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS MINORITY STAFF, EPA’S PLAYBOOK UNVEILED: A</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">STORY OF FRAUD, DECEIT, AND SECRET SCIENCE (March 19, 2014), available at</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=b90f742e-b797-4a82-a0a3-</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">e6848467832a (last accessed July 25, 2014).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">188 James T. Bennett, Pandering for Profit: The Transformation of Health Charities to Lobbyists, GEO. MASON</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">DEPT. OF ECON., Paper No. 11-54, p. 20. 189 Ron Arnold, Meet the little nobody from Texas with big power at EPA, THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER, June</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">13, 2013, http://washingtonexaminer.com/ron-arnold-meet-the-little-nobody-from-texas-with-big-power-atepa/article/2531854.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">190 Administrator Lisa Jackson Biography, ENV’T PROT. AGENCY, http://blog.epa.gov/administrator/bio (last visited</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">July 24, 2014).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">191 Letter from Peggy M. Hatch, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, to Lisa Jackson,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency (Oct. 26, 2012).</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Letter I delivered to Mathy Stanislaus, EPA Deputy Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Posted on September 28, 2012<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>by Louisiana Bucket Brigade</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Anna Hrybyk, LABB Program Manager</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">September 20, 2012</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Arthur Elkins</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Office of Inspector General</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Environmental Protection Agency</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mail Code 2410T</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Lisa Jackson</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Administrator</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Environmental Protection Agency</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mail Code 1101A</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ariel Rios Building</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Washington, D.C. 20460</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Re: LDEQ’s Rapid Response to Chemical Emergencies Poses Serious Dangers to the Public</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Dear Mr. Elkins and Ms. Jackson:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We write to you today to alert you to the great frequency of life threatening petrochemical accidents in South Louisiana</span>. We are requesting two action items that require your immediate attention:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Risk Management Plan inspections be conducted for all chemical plants and refineries in the path of Hurricane Isaac,</b> particularly Stolthaven Chemical Plant Braithwaite, Phillips 66 Refinery Belle Chasse, Chalmette Refining, Shell Chemical and Motiva Refinery Norco,<b> Valero </b>Meraux and Valero Norco to ensure that they are prepared to prevent future risks.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4">Revoke the authority of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to administer the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Emergency Response programs.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>So far in 2012, we have seen 14 major chemical emergencies in Southeast Louisiana:</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">March 22, 2012 & May 10, 2012 – On March 22, 2012 at Westlake Chemical, Geismar a tank exploded releasing <b>vinyl choride,</b> chlorine and many other chlorinated chemicals. Even though the tank exploded at 8:30am, EPA does not start air monitoring until that afternoon. The Geismar community is required to shelter in place even though the wind direction put the Modeste community across the river in Ascension Parish at greater risk. Modeste is not even notified that they may be in danger. On May 10, 2012 Westlake Chemical suffers a power outage in the same unit releasing more vinyl chloride and sending three workers to the hospital for inhalation injuries.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 8, 2012 – <b>Shell </b>Chemical in Norco is struck by lightening and flares for over 24 hours releasing benzene, butadiene, carbon monoxide, ethylene, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen oxide, propylene, sulfur dioxide, xylene, and other volatile organic compounds. LDEQ air monitors arrive on the scene over 12 hours later, and the agency states in the press that the release poses no danger to the public.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">May 15, 2012 – <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Honeywell </span>in Baton Rouge leaked hydrofluoric acid, a highly toxic substance. There is no LDEQ presence at the scene even though the LDEQ Headquarters are less than two miles from the plant.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">June 14, 2012 – <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ExxonMobil</span> in Baton Rouge reported to the NRC only 10 pounds of <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Benzene</span> released but by June 18 they had revised their estimate to upwards of 28,686 pounds of Benzene after workers alerted LABB to the real amount. No one in the community was notified of the ongoing release even though 400 workers were being monitored for exposure. LDEQ was on-scene the morning of June 14th but did not enter the plant, did not test for low levels of Benzene on the perimeter and publicly stated that the release did not leave the plant. EPA Region 6 was in the neighborhood on June 14th and smelled the strong VOC odors but did nothing.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">June 15 – 27, 2012 – Shell/Motiva Norco began flaring nitrous oxide, volatile organic compounds and other chemicals for 12 straight days. Nothing by the company has been reported to the NRC or to LDEQ regarding the cause and exact amount of pollution release during this flaring marathon. Reports to LABB’s iWitness Pollution Map say the flare fluctuated between 20 to 100 feet in height. Photos posted to the map show a large ground flare with black smoke.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">August 3, 2012 – A 422-foot-deep, 372-foot-diameter sinkhole emerged close to Texas Brine salt domes containing oil waste, diesel and natural gas. Residents were reporting roiling bubbles and odors for months to the LDEQ, but no one listened. Almost one month later, residents are still reporting strong hydrocarbon odors coming from the site. LDEQ has dispatched their MultiRae air monitor but has not picked up anything and has been seen riding around with it held out the window, potentially compromising the samples due to wind speed. Since August 3rd, the sinkhole has expanded by over 200’.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">August 17, 2012 – Sun Drilling in Belle Chasse released a vapor cloud of divinyl<b>benzene</b> affecting hundreds of residents living within 2 miles of the facility. LDEQ towed the company line and insisted the cloud was only nitrogen used to cool the expanding tank. LABB surveyed 160 residents who claimed that the cloud smelled like benzene, spraypaint and burning oil. Nitrogen has no smell. Surveyed residents also reported health impacts from breathing in the cloud such as headaches, eye irritation, skin irritation and respiratory health problems. Nitrogen would not cause this.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">August 29, 2012– Hurricane Isaac was a Category 1 hurricane. It’s storm surge, rain and winds inundated Southeast Louisiana. Two refineries, Phillips 66 in Belle Chasse and Chalmette Refining, shut down operations quickly reportedly causing over 550,000 pounds of pollution in the process.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Shell, Motiva and Valero refineries in Norco and Meraux did NOT shut down even though the parish was under a mandatory evacuation order. According to a worker at Shell Chemical Norco, the plant manager should have shut down because they could not get the flare to light because the ignition boxes were dislodged in the wind, all of the furnaces tripped, motors went underwater, half of the pumps cavitated burning up all the pump seals and operators were ordered to go out in hurricane force winds to tie things down and drain blocked canals all while sheets of metal were flying through the air.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stolthaven Chemical in located in Braithwaite was inundated with 12 feet of storm surge that caused storage tanks to collapse or move off their foundations and rail cars to overturn. Overflight photos and citizen reports from right after the hurricane show offsite contamination. Stolthaven’s report to LDEQ states that contamination “flowed offsite with storm surge,” yet LDEQ continued to make public assurances that there was no spill.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This list does not include the chronic petrochemical accidents that occur, according to the National Response Center, at a rate of approximately 10 per day all over the state. As hurricane season continues, this pattern is of great concern to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and our constituents.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Of even greater concern is the LDEQ’s propensity to declare to the public that none of these accidents pose any danger to human health or property. The Louisiana Bucket Brigade feels that these statements are inaccurate and place the public at greater risk because:</b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Monitoring has never been conducted exactly at the time of peak exposure or any time period even close to the peak exposure.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">LDEQ never shares with the public elevated levels of chemicals that were found in their sampling unless you submit a public records request.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It is not made transparent the exact times and locations of the peaks and valleys in the monitoring data, indicating communities most impacted by acute chemical exposure, unless you submit a public records request.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The LABB’s iWitness Pollution Map (www.labucketbrigade.org) is a real time crowd sourced map of citizen reports of petrochemical accidents and their effects on people’s health and their environment. These reports detailing symptoms of acute chemical exposure contradict the “no danger to the public” statements made by LDEQ and the companies. LABB conducts due diligence with these reports by sending them to all enforcement agencies, including the EPA, the US Coast Guard and LDEQ.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This lack of rapid response creates even more danger to the public because:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">People are exposed to highly toxic chemicals.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Evacuation/shelter in place orders are never called.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Health surveillance for symptoms of chemical exposure are never triggered.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Communities distrust the LDEQ because they never find a problem.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It increases the population at risk. If people believe the LDEQ statements that these accidents pose no danger to the public, they make decisions like buying a house next to a refinery or sending their kids to school near a chemical plant due to a (false) sense of safety.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">We have been tracking citizen complaints made to the LDEQ since 2005 on our Refinery Accident Database (http://www.labucketbrigade.org). <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In some cases it takes LDEQ over 20 days to get to the scene of reported air pollution.</span> Obviously, the monitor will not pick up anything 20 days later! With air releases, pollution can move within a matter of minutes so the quicker the response time the more accurate the readings.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Environmental Integrity Project are renewing our petition to the EPA to revoke the LDEQ’s authority to manage the Clean Air Act program due to the frequency of hazardous petrochemical accidents happening in our area. As of today, we still have not received a response from the Inspector General’s office on the petition filed on December 14, 2011.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">We look forward to your response no later than October 31st, 2012.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Sincerely,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Anna Hrybyk</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">LABB Program Manager</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CC:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Peggy Hatch, Secretary, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cheryl Nolan, Administrator of Enforcement, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Esteban Herrera, Chief of Air Toxics Enforcement, EPA Region VI</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Ron Curry, Regional Administrator, EPA Region VI</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Steve Mason, Emergency Response, EPA Region VI</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Mathy Stanislaus, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, EPA HQ</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cynthia Giles, Administrator Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, EPA HQ</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director, Environmental Integrity Project</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://labucketbrigade.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/letter-i-delivered-to-mathy-stanislaus-epa-deputy-administrator-for-solid-waste-and-emergency-response/</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div>