Environmental Quality Management - Environmental Cleanup Response To Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Environmental Cleanup Response To Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

EQM provided environmental cleanup and waste management services in eight parishes in Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. The company was an integral part of the search and rescue operation.

Days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the neighboring Gulf Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) tasked EQM (through its U.S. EPA Region 6 Emergency & Rapid Response Services contract) to conduct a search and rescue mission, followed by debris removal and cleanup of hazardous waste in the hardest-hit areas.

The company immediately dispatched 120 people (employees and subcontractors) to assist with the effort. At the height of the rescue mission, the EQM team was working 15 to 18 hours a day and living in a tent city. Sixty boats were deployed continuously from New Orleans to various parishes in an effort to search for survivors and bring them to shore.

After the search and rescue effort was completed, the company turned its attention to removing debris and hazardous waste. The work involved identifying, labeling, packaging, and arranging transportation and disposal of massive amounts of household waste, manufacturing and refinery waste, and large appliances containing refrigerants.