Hurricanes Katrina and Rita inundated New Orleans with floodwaters carrying a mixture of soil, sewage and industrial contaminants. When the waters receded (some homes sat half-submerged for nearly a month), they left behind a layer of sediment -- in some places up to four inches thick -- that still covers the ground and even coats the interiors of peoples' homes. Testing by NRDC and the Environmental Protection Agency shows that this sediment is contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, industrial chemicals and cancer-causing chemicals from oil and soot.

The floodwaters of hurricanes Katrina and Rita left sediments and toxic mold throughout New Orleans, contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, industrial chemicals and cancer-causing chemicals. These citizens have the right to return to safe and healthy communities, and our colleagues at the People's Hurricane Relief Fund and Physicians for Social Responsibility tell us it can be done:

"The demand is very achievable," Melissa Burch of Physicians for Social Responsibility told us. "In many neighborhoods, debris crews could simply scoop up contaminated sediment. Other neighborhoods will require more extensive clean up. But we believe it’s essential and doable—all that’s missing is the political will to protect residents’ health."

Both sediment contamination and mold present serious health concerns for residents returning to their homes, as well as for the workers helping to clean up and rebuild these communities. The EPA has both a legal and a moral obligation to ensure the safety of these Americans by cleaning up the harmful sediments in the streets and yards and by giving people the information that they need to protect themselves from dangerous levels of mold. Without decisive action by the EPA, the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita will remain in harm's way as they struggle to put their lives and their communities back together.

1. initiate action, with full public input and involvement, to remove toxic sediment and contaminated soil from the yards and streets of New Orleans and other affected Gulf Coast communities;

2. assess the full scope of the mold hazard in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Gulf Coast area;

3. fully inform people in the region of the precise scope and nature of the environmental health threats, including from sediments and mold and other microbes, and provide detailed information about what precautions citizens should take to protect themselves and their families from these hazards; and

4. assist FEMA and other federal, state and local agencies to assure an environmentally safe, just and "green" rebuilding of the Gulf States with full public involvement.