Substantial New Resources Committed To Expedite Search And Collection Effort For Columbia Material
New Guidelines Allow Trained First Responders to Assist with Collection Effort
Release Date: February 5, 2003
Release Number: HQ-03-036
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Lufkin, TX -- Federal and state officials today released guidelines for local government and other agency officials to allow trained first responders to assist with picking up non-hazardous Columbia shuttle material.
The guidelines were provided to local officials in impacted areas in a conference call organized by the Texas Department of Public Safety Tuesday morning. Among those authorized to now pick up non-hazardous parts of Columbia are: local, state and federal law enforcement agents; fire, medical or emergency services personnel; U.S. Forest Service or Texas Forest Service personnel; and agents of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); NASA and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Importantly, these guidelines do not authorize private citizens to pick up shuttle material.
"While there remain hazardous pieces of Columbia material that only qualified teams should handle, a large portion is non-hazardous. Local officials have assisted greatly in the effort to identity and guard the materials" said NASA official Dwayne Brown.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has designated the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the lead agency for the collection and removal of hazardous Space Shuttle Columbia material.
The EPA has more than 60 teams of highly trained response experts available to collect and remove potentially hazardous material that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has identified in the area.
These EPA teams have removed thousands of items from hundreds of locations across 23 counties during the past several days, and are continuing to respond to calls for hazardous materials handling.
The EPA urged local authorities to use caution when determining if material is hazardous. The EPA continues to remind the public to contact local authorities to assess and remove material.
Attached is a FACT SHEET explaining the new guidelines.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 03-Jun-2003 11:43:52