DEQ chooses to ignore polluted water

Published: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 at 11:00 p.m.

Ordinarily, the announcement that some bodies of water were being taken off the cleanup priority list would be cause for celebration.

That's because in a reasonable world, cleanup would be complete; the lake or river would no longer be polluted.

But we live in Louisiana where money - or lack of it - drives decisions, not common sense.

The public has learned that the Department of Environmental Quality is taking some bodies of water off the cleanup priority list because of a lack of money for the state's water quality program. Not because they're clean.

So because the state doesn't have enough money to clean up the polluted bodies of water, it will simply ignore the problem.

Being included on a cleanup list doesn't mean cleanup will be conducted. Obviously, that takes money. And DEQ has sustained staffing losses and budget cuts, so theoretically, it doesn't have enough people to keep track of these polluted areas - much less do something about cleaning them up. But then, DEQ has been lax about several of its duties. Maybe since it hasn't had the staffing to collect penalties and fees (as previously reported), those fees shouldn't exist, either.

Maybe those companies aren't really polluting. Maybe the hazy atmosphere near some plants is just an illusion.

So could maintaining the cleanup list cause any harm? No. Rather, it could lead to development of regulations to keep the water quality from deteriorating further. And at some point, cleanup could possibly be funded.

Simply declaring the water bodies clean dashes any hope that improvement - or even maintenance of the status quo -- of the situation.

The public has 30 days in which to review and comment upon the plan. If closing our eyes to problems is the right way to handle them, then the public should ignore this comment period.

But if reason and common sense prevail, the public will not ignore this proposal. Write letters expressing your opinion on this subject to the Office of Environmental Compliance, Attention Cheryl Nolan, P.O. Box 82215, Baton Rouge, La. 70884-2215.


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