MEDIA ALERT:
October 10, 2005

CONTACT:
Eric Antebi 415-977-5747 (w) 415-279-0748 (cell)
Becky Gillette 228-872-3457 (cell)


            BUSH VISIT ELEVATES SAFETY CONCERNS IN DELISLE (MS)

    President to Speak at Elementary School Near Flooded Chemical Plant

Tomorrow President Bush will be speaking at the DeLisle (MS) Elementary School as part of his latest swing through the Gulf Coast.  The school is adjacent to the DuPont DeLisle chemical plant, where dioxin pollution has been a long-time source of concern for local residents.   Those concerns became much worse after Katrina flooded DuPont's waste pits into the surrounding community.

Frustrated by the insufficient environmental testing and reporting since
the flood by both the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency, local residents last week took matters into their own hands and enlisted the help of award-winning chemist Wilma Subra to evaluate the health and safety in their community.  Said Subra, "The flooding of the DuPont DeLisle chemical plant created a serious cause for concern over the safety of the residences and schools surrounding the area.  Officials should have been the ones conducted testing in these areas."  (For more information on the local testing effort, visit:
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2005-10-07a.asp )

These fears have also been exacerbated by the fact that some in Congress and the Bush administration have proposed suspending safety requirements during the recovery effort.  Next week, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Congressman David Vitter (R-LA) will be holding hearings on their proposals to allow EPA to waive environmental and health laws for up to 18 months.

The following people can provide local insight into contamination and other Katrina-related safety concerns along the Mississippi Gulf Coast:

* Louie Miller, Sierra Club's Regional Representative in Mississippi.

* Paul Stewart, concerned resident who lives across the bay from the DuPont DeLisle chemical plant.

* Wilma Subra, chemist and winner of the prestigious McCarthur Fellowship providing technical assistance to the Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA), a private organization founded in 1969 to aid distressed rural communities.  Wilma has been doing independent testing not only in DeLisle but also in New Orleans as well.

If you would like to speak to any of the experts mentioned above, please contact the following people:

Becky Gillette  228-872-3457 (cell)

Eric Antebi 415-977-5747 (w) 415-279-0748 (cell)


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