By Brentin Mock – staff writer – A federal program to weatherize homes of low-income families had been a fairly low-budget, low-profile affair in Louisiana. Then the stimulus program came along.
Category: Environment
Posted inEnvironment
State and city not making weatherization goals
The national shortcomings of the federal stimulus act’s weatherization program were detailed in a Sunday Associated Press story, and a fresh look at local numbers show an equally dismal level of success. The long-running federal weatherization assistance program, financed by the U.S. Department of Energy, pays for low-income households to get home improvements to keep […]
Posted inEnvironment
The toxic numbers game
In my recent article about the slow release of money from the state for a program to address lead contamination across New Orleans, I wrote about arsenic levels in soil that are supposed to trigger a clean-up under state Department of Environmental Quality policy. In a document sent to me from DEQ entitled “Arsenic sampling […]
Posted inEnvironment
Toxic-soil cleanup slowed by dense bureaucracy
A student at McDonogh No. 42 Elementary School school passes by toys and the playground, which was found to have arsenic levels nearly three times higher than those that should trigger a cleanup under rules established by the state Department of Environmental Quality. Even before Hurricane Katrina, scientists had established that the soil across New […]
Posted inEnvironment
The politics of affordable housing: are solutions a problem?
With a new Mayor and City Council on the way, is anyone out there taking the affordable housing issue seriously? Save for housing advocates like mayoral candidate James Perry, former executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center, few other candidates have released a cursory statement acknowledging the report. The affordable housing crisis […]
Posted inEnvironment
Nearly $2 million sent to Louisiana for Water Cleanup
The Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 announced today an award of $932,000 to Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, which is to be used for providing “alternative water supplies and relocation of residents at sites where underground storage tank releases occurred and the responsible party is unknown, unwilling or unable to respond.” This announcement comes on […]
Posted inEnvironment
The Federal Flood
I remember clearly the day we filled out our claim forms in the suit against the Army Corps of Engineers. I live not far from the Army Corps office buildings on Leake Avenue, and the cars were lined up, bumper to bumper. Each car had a driver, holding paper in hand. While it didn’t feel […]
Posted inEnvironment
EPA Chief Lisa Jackson Addresses Brownfields
In what has been billed as a first official visit to New Orleans, Environmental Protection Agency chief administrator Lisa Jackson today addressed the National Brownfields Conference 2009 at the Morial Convention Center. Jackson called herself a “daughter of the city” (she grew up and attended school through college in New Orleans) but gave an otherwise general […]
Posted inEnvironment, Schools
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