I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4139 
To minimize harm to populations impacted by the release of environmental 
contaminants, hazardous materials or infectious materials in the after-
math of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by providing for a Comprehensive 
Environmental Sampling and Toxicity Assessment Plan (CESTAP) to 
assess and monitor air, water, soil and human populations, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 25, 2005 
Ms. MCKINNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, the Budget, and Education and the 
Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To minimize harm to populations impacted by the release 
of environmental contaminants, hazardous materials or 
infectious materials in the aftermath of Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita by providing for a Comprehensive En-
vironmental Sampling and Toxicity Assessment Plan 
(CESTAP) to assess and monitor air, water, soil and 
human populations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
Sec. 1. Table of contents. 
TITLE I—EMERGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
Sec. 101. Short title. 
Sec. 102. Findings. 
Sec. 103. Purposes. 
Sec. 104. Environmental assessment, cleanup, and right-to-know requirements. 
Sec. 105. Definitions. 
Sec. 106. Comprehensive plan. 
Sec. 107. Notification of public and professionals. 
Sec. 108. Training for responders and clean-up workers. 
Sec. 109. Public health assessment and monitoring. 
Sec. 110. Independent advisory and review board. 
Sec. 111. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 112. Expiration. 
TITLE II—BUILDING HABITABILITY 
Sec. 201. Short title. 
Sec. 202. Findings. 
Sec. 203. Purposes. 
Sec. 204. Definitions. 
Sec. 205. Abatement and inspection grants. 
Sec. 206. Threshold limit values. 
Sec. 207. Guidance for evaluation and abatement of mold. 
Sec. 208. Contractor training and certification. 
Sec. 209. Treatment. 
Sec. 210. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE III—FUNDING 
Sec. 301. Funding. 
TITLE I—EMERGENCY 
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Gulf Coast Hurricane 
Emergency Environmental Protection Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 102. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) Hurricane Katrina, which struck the coasts 
of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on August 
29, 2005—
(A) was the first event to be declared an 
‘‘Incident of National Significance’’ by the Di-
rector of Homeland Security, as empowered to 
do so under the National Response Plan and 
under the National Response Plan, the first pri-
ority listed in the event of an Incident of Na-
tional Significance is ‘‘to save lives and protect 
the health and safety of the public, resources 
and recovery workers’’; 
(B) struck 466 facilities handling large 
quantities of dangerous chemicals, 31 haz-
ardous waste sites along the Gulf Coast, and 16 
superfund toxic waste sites, 3 of which were 
flooded, being in the environs of the City of 
New Orleans; and 
(C) initially destroyed or compromised 170 
drinking water facilities and 47 public owned 
wastewater treatment works along the affected 
Gulf Coast region. 
(2) In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina— 
(A) a mandatory evacuation was declared 
for the City of New Orleans in the aftermath of 
Hurricane Katrina as a response to the threat 
to public health from contaminants and chem-
ical spills mixing with the floodwaters;
(B) among the known contaminants and 
toxins that mixed with the floodwaters in New 
Orleans, are: oil, gasoline, hexavalent chro-
mium, mercury, arsenic, chloroacetic acid, fecal 
bacteria including E. coli, household hazardous 
wastes, pesticides and unattended corpses of the 
dead; 
(C) the United States Coast Guard re-
ported more than 7 million gallons of oil and 
between 1 and 2 million gallons of gasoline 
from plants and depots in southeast Louisiana 
were spilled as a result of the hurricane; 
(D) spills of oil and other toxic chemicals 
pose a particularly serious public health threat 
when they dry and become airborne as invisible, 
breathable particulates; 
(E) the flooded Superfund sites in Lou-
isiana and Mississippi contained contaminants 
that include heavy metals associated with devel-
opmental problems and increased risk of cancer, 
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are 
known carcinogens; 
(F) independent researchers have reported 
environmental contaminants such as arsenic, 
benzo(a)pyrene and petroleum hydrocarbons ex-
ceeding Environmental Protection Agency and 
Louisiana Department of Environmental Qual-
ity Standards present in a one eighth inch layer 
of visibly distinct sediment covering most 
ground surfaces after the removal of flood-
waters from New Orleans and environs. 
(3) Hurricane Rita, which struck the coasts of 
Texas and Louisiana on September 24th, 2005— 
(A) did little damage to cities or oil refin-
eries, but devastated many rural communities; 
(B) caused significant flooding in rural 
areas and in some areas exacerbated rural 
flooding initially resulting from Hurricane 
Katrina; and 
(C) caused significant damage to hospitals. 
(4) New Orleans hosts several Level-3 biolabs, 
including a bioweapons research lab at Tulane Uni-
versity, which pose a major public health risk should 
any research pathogens escaped into the environ-
ment as a result of the hurricane and resultant 
flooding and power outages, posing the risk of 
breach of container seals, escape of test subject ani-
mals or distribution of drowned test subject animals 
by floodwaters. 
(5) The Mississippi delta—
(A) is America’s tropical region and has 
historically played host to a long list of infec-
tious microbial diseases that are rare to develop 
in other parts of the United States. 
(B) was the point of entry for several mas-
sive Yellow Fever epidemics that swept the 
Americas in the nineteenth century. 
(6) The centers for disease control— 
(A) warned prior to the hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita of the dangers of vibrio cholerae, 
vibrio vulnificus and other gastrointestinal orga-
nisms living in algal blooms or carried by fish 
or shellfish; and 
(B) reported five deaths from vibrio 
vulnificus in the first week after Hurricane 
Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. 
(7) The Environmental Protection Agency has 
yet to publicly issue a broad strategic plan for deal-
ing with the post-hurricane environmental clean-up 
and public safety, detailing goals and methods of 
achieving them. 
(8) Residents of New Orleans and the affected 
Gulf Coast areas have demonstrated their desire and 
determination to return to their homes.
(9) Hundreds of thousands of disaster respond-
ers and returning residents are being allowed into 
damaged areas without receiving sufficient warnings 
or information about levels of contamination, health 
risks or necessary precautions. 
(10) Residents in affected areas have yet to be 
provided protective gear to prevent harmful expo-
sures, and the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency has declined requests to fund local initiatives 
to do so 
(11) Returning residents and responders are al-
ready reporting widespread cases of respiratory 
problems, asthmas and skin rashes. 
(12) Thousands of workers involved in the 
clean-up in the aftermath of the collapse of the 
World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, 
hundreds of whom are now disabled as a result of 
those exposures, might have been spared from harm 
had responsible government agencies issued suffi-
cient health and safety warnings regarding the po-
tential toxicity of airborne debris. 
(13) With sufficient government testing, warn-
ing and support, the people of the Gulf Coast region 
could be protected from similar dangers arising from