11 wastewater treatment plants in LA County produce half a million tons of treated sewage sludge from human waste per year. Sludge is sent to a lnadfill in Kern County, the Westlake Facility, and some to Arizona
water pollution from sewage sludge
air pollution from sewage sludge and from trucks hauling the sludge to the farm - 55 trucks per day/20,000 per year at full capacity
LA County: "It's an important investment in long-term, reliable infrastructure that is critical to our ability to provide vital wastewater treatment services"
Westlake Farms: receiving less than they bargained for
Local farmers: it's a way to dispose of green waste (like wood chips)
Environmental groups and residents: concerned about air and water pollution, sued the project but settled after LA agreed to use clean-fuel trucks to haul waste. “It seemed like another deal where the Central Valley gets shafted by Southern California,” she said. “We send them good water to drink, and they send us back their poo. … I can’t say I’ll be really upset if they’re not operating at 100%.”
LA County: bought 14,500 acres of a farm for $27.4 million, used 2,500 acres to construct the $130 million composting plant, leased the remaining land back to the farm. The plant processes less than a 10th of what it was supposed to process, providing the farm with much less fertilizer than they expected.
Westlake Farms: sold the land to LA County, sued to have the sale undone after the plant produced much less fertilizer than expecte
Kings County and other nearby counties: banned application of biosolids (human waste) directly onto land, forcing LA to build a composting plant
WHAT (& WHAT FOR): Lead is a metal often found in pipes, and in old paint (before it was banned in paint in the late 1970s). Before 1996, lead also found in vehicle fuel resulting in soil contamination in many communities from both paint dust and vehicle pollution.
HEALTH IMPACT: Lead is a neurotoxin and is known to have no safe blood lead level in children.
Has been linked to:
Brain swelling, anemia, seizures, renal failure, reduced IQ, and ADHD
Damages brain development in children
Connected to behavioral problems like aggression and bullying, and internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety
LOCAL IMPACT: Recent research in Santa Ana has shown that there is a disproportionately impact of solid lead contamination crisis on lower income, people of color communities.
POSSIBLE RESPONSES: There are many ways to respond to lead contamination:
Providing special health care for children with high blood lead levels, and investigating possible sources of lead exposure in homes, daycares and school, playground, etc.
Implement strict housing policies where landlord and city housing officials are required to have lead inspections of homes for lead paint hazards (especially in low income, people of color communities)
Requiring a minimum reduction standard for lead paint in older homes
Requiring blood lead level test as part of the routine check up for children (extremely important for children in low-income housing)
"Hurricane Irene marches north, leaving at least 8 people dead and close to 2 million without power in the states it has already hit. Tonight it bore down on millions more from the Delmarva peninsula to the Jersey Shore and the New York metropolitan area."
"More than a million residents and visitors of the Jersey Shore have been evacuated, though a stubborn 600 people, many of them senior citizens, remain in high rise buildings on a barrier island in Atlantic City, according to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Even before the core of the hurricane reached the area Sunday, Christie said winds could reach up to 75 mph at the upper floors of some of the buildings."
"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson Valley area to help with the storm. Troops will help staff shelters, control evacuation routes, monitor flood threats at the World Trade Center site and work with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to secure railways and train tunnels."
"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for 6,500 active duty troops from all the services to support hurricane relief efforts if necessary."
The author of the article took several quotes from government officials to depict the severity of the situation: mainly taking quotes from governors and even the president to illustrate how the hurricane affected the surrounding communities and mentalities of those living in such towns. In addition, the author added statistics of the support relief and the number of deceased due to the storm. The author also discussed the background of many of the public transportation work shifts, such as airlfight and train systems: they were down becuase of the storm.
The main point of this article was to illustrate the severity of the super storm Irene. It shows the stressed and frantic thought process and procedures before the storm. In addition, it shows the aftereffects of the storm and how many different places and people were affected greatly thoughout the East coast. These points are supported by quotes, statistics and overall analysis of the super storm itself.
Several public officials were named in this article: Robert McDonnell, governor of Virginia, Jack Markell, governor of Delaware, Patty McQuillan, a member of North Carolina's emergency management agency, Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, Mike Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, Tom Corbett, governor of Pennsylvania, Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia, Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary, and President Obama.
In the article, it expalins the various attempts of securing the area and preventing further damage from the storm. There were several plans of evacuation, shelters opened up to those in need, protection of federal troops were deployed and many towns offered relief help after the storm had passed.