All but 8 of the air monitors are back on line with the EPA having temporary monitors at those 8.
Ten southeast Louisiana air pollution monitors that were knocked offline in Hurricane Ida’s lingering power outage are back in operation, but eight are still not operating, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Friday. At least 18 had been out at some point after Ida struck Aug. 29. Seven sites were not operating Friday due to continued power loss in Garyville, Hammond, Houma, LaPlace, Norco, St. Rose and Thibodaux. “As power is restored in these areas, the monitors will come back up,” agency spokesperson Greg Langley said. The eighth monitor, in the Irish Channel in New Orleans, has power but isn’t communicating its information to headquarters, Langley said.
nola.com
The State is working with the EPA to ensure some readings continue.
The state agency recently asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bring in a special airplane that collects air emissions data. It also asked for community monitoring sites in some of the areas where the state’s monitors were not operating, including at the Shell oil refinery in Norco and the Marathon refinery in Garyville. As power has been restored from Ida, industrial plants up and down the Mississippi River corridor have restarted, flaring off chemicals and prompting air pollution concerns. The state monitors that have gone back online since Aug. 31 are in Carville, Chalmette’s Vista neighborhood, New Orleans City Park, Convent, Dutchtown, French Settlement, along Interstate 610 at the I-10 split near the New Orleans-Metairie line, Kenner, Madisonville and Pride.
Power seems to be the big problem, as we can attest. As it comes back the original monitors will be back on line.
