Devil's Swamp and the Information Quality Act

Superfund Clean-Up Delayed by IQA

The hazards have been known for some time, but action has been inexcusably slow. Fish tissue samples taken almost 20 years ago by Louisiana state agencies revealed levels of certain toxics more than 6,000 percent above standards. In March 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency belatedly moved to place the site on the Superfund cleanup list. But industry has fought the effort hammer and tong. Their latest ploy is a baseless Information Quality Act Challenge, filed with the transparent purpose of delaying action still further.

In January 2005, CPR Scholars Robert Verchick, Rena Steinzor, and Sidney Shapiro, joined by CPR Policy Analyst Margaret Clune, called on EPA to take a series of steps to protect the health of East Baton Rouge-area residents whose food supply has been poisoned by pollution in the Devil's Swamp Lake. In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and OMB-OIRA Administrator John Graham, they called on EPA to immediately finalize the listing of Devil's Swamp Lake on the Superfund National Priorities List; and to issue an Order requiring the companies responsible for polluting the Devil's Swamp to provide groceries to the surrounding communities, as a substitute for their contaminated food source. Finally, the letter called on OMB to end such irresponsible use of the Information Quality Act by issuing immediate guidance barring the application of the Act to rulemakings.

Simultaneously, CPR called on the polluting companies to stop obstructing cleanup of the site and to voluntarily provide groceries to the affected families until the threat had been abated, sending letters to  Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil Corporation, and Shell Chemical.

Read a New Orleans Times Picayune story on the Devil’s Swamp Lake battle.