Assessment of Damage to Industrial Facilities and the Resultant Environmental Contamination in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast

飓风卡特里娜袭击了美国石化行业的中心，导致8家炼油厂、数百个石油钻井平台和许多其他工业设施关闭。这项研究涉及飓风的两个连锁反应：对工业设施的结构性破坏，以及受损设施释放有害物质。本项目中要完成的工作所采用的方法包括：访问工业设施，以第一手观察损害和释放现场；使用非破坏性测试设备寻找进一步的损害迹象；就化学品释放和反应与工业设施管理人员、反应人员和/或环境监管人员进行面谈；以及数据分析，包括绘图、制定量化解释关系以及危险物质释放和反应的案例研究。此外，这些数据将被用来帮助设计一项环境正义研究，并对受损的结构设施进行实地实况卫星成像。这项研究中探讨的问题在墨西哥湾沿岸尤为重要，那里飓风频繁，工业设施众多，很大一部分人口相对贫穷，在灾难威胁时几乎没有资源可供依靠。然而，解决这些问题的重要性并不仅限于墨西哥湾沿岸--其他具有大型工业基础和弱势人口的灾害多发地区，如加利福尼亚州南部，也同样受到威胁，可以从卡特里娜飓风过后墨西哥湾沿岸的工业经验中吸取教训。通过提供对卡特里娜飓风造成的工业设施的破坏和危险物质释放的分析，该项目成果将提供关于如何保护工业设施在主要飓风期间免受结构破坏和危险材料泄漏的宝贵知识。采取有效的保护和应对措施将减少对这些设施的破坏，并降低危险物质泄漏的可能性和/或严重程度。它还将有助于在缓解和应对措施方面确定资源的优先次序。对卫星图像的分析将有助于提高这些数据在未来灾害中的效用，该项目的环境正义部分将有助于解决有关美国灾害影响的社会经济分布问题。

Hurricane Katrina hit the center of the American petrochemical industry, shutting down eight refineries, hundreds of oil-drilling platforms, and numerous other industrial facilities. This study is concerned with two ripple effects from the hurricane: structural damage to industrial facilities, and releases of hazardous materials from compromised facilities. The approach used for the work to be accomplished in this project includes: visits to industrial facilities to observe damage and release sites first hand; use of non-destructive testing equipment to look for further signs of damage; interviews with industrial facility managers, response personnel, and/or environmental regulators regarding chemical releases and response to them; and data analysis including mapping, development of quantitative explanatory relationships, and case studies of hazmat releases and response. In addition, the data will be used to help design an environmental justice study and to ground-truth satellite imagery of the damaged structural facilities.The issues explored in this study are particularly important on the Gulf Coast, where hurricanes are frequent, industrial facilities are numerous, and a large portion of the population is relatively poor with few resources to fall back upon when catastrophe threatens. However, the importance of addressing these issues is not limited solely to the Gulf Coast - other hazard-prone areas with large industrial bases and vulnerable populations, such as southern California, are similarly threatened and can profit from the lessons learned from the industrial experiences along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. By providing analyses of damage and hazmat releases at industrial facilities as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the project results will provide valuable knowledge about how to protect industrial facilities from structural damage and hazardous material releases during major hurricanes. The adoption of efficacious protection and response measures will result in less damage to these facilities, and a reduction in the likelihood and/or severity of hazmat releases. It will also help to prioritize resources in terms of mitigation and response measures. The analysis of satellite imagery will help to improve the utility of these data in future disasters, and the environmental justice component of the project will help to address issues regarding the socio-economic distribution of disaster impacts in the United States.