Final EPA report deems New Orleans safe

Wrapping up the agency's 11-month effort to pinpoint chemical contamination of soil and water following Hurricane Katrina, Environmental Protection Agency officials Friday gave most of New Orleans and surrounding communities a final clean bill of health, while pledging to keep watch over a handful of toxic hot spots and the million-gallon Murphy Oil spill in St. Bernard Parish.

In the end, federal and state officials said the contamination they found was typical of many cities. They rebuffed calls by residents and environmental groups to scrape up the roughly 3 million cubic yards of mud left by the storm.

from the Times Picayune