Oil and Water Might Not Mix...

But there's a lot of both, and god knows what else, still in and around NOLA. Jeffrey posted a link to this article:

Hurricane Katrina is rapidly becoming the worst environmental calamity in U.S. history, with oil spills rivaling the Exxon Valdez, hundreds of toxic sites still uncontrolled, and waterborne poisons soaking 160,000 homes.

New Orleans' flooded neighborhoods are awash with dangerous levels of bacteria and lead, and with lower but still potentially harmful amounts of mercury, pesticides and other chemicals. Much will wind up in the soil as the water drains, or in Lake Pontchartrain, hammering its already battered ecosystem.

The total does not count the gasoline from gas stations and the more than 300,000 flooded cars, which was likely to add another 1 million to 2 million gallons. Nor does it count the oil from hundreds of smaller or undiscovered spills. Altogether, 396 calls had come in to the Coast Guard's national oil-spill hotline by Wednesday afternoon.

More than three-quarters of the oil from the Katrina spills had not been recovered by Wednesday, the Coast Guard said.

The magnitude of the oil spills came into focus with word that laboratories trying to test sediment from newly drained areas were having a problem: There was so much petroleum in the dirt that they couldn't test for anything else.

The Exxon Valdez became the benchmark for U.S. oil spills by leaking North Slope crude into Alaska's cold isolation. This time, the danger includes untreated sewage, cancer-causing compounds, nameless black gunk from rail yards, chemicals used to kill plants or insects, substances that are poisonous even in the tiniest amounts, and decomposing remains.

Combined with the Agricultrural Street Landfill, we're talking about serious toxic soup.

And, if/when they do clean this up, where will it go?

Finally, given the water levels around not only NOLA, but also points south, how will this affect the fishing industry? Already, the infrastructure was literally blown out of the water--if/when they can rebuild, will there be any fish to catch?

Something tells me fish that live in sludge aren't exactly what you want to serve for dinner.