News

Why has Louisiana been designated the Ebola waste destination?

by Patrick Flanagan

Ashes of the Dallas Ebola victim's belongings are headed for a Louisiana landfill, but AG Buddy Caldwell says legal measures will be taken Monday to prevent their arrival.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) - The ashes of items taken from the Dallas apartment where a man became ill with the Ebola virus will be taken to a Louisiana hazardous waste landfill for burial.

The linen, bedding and carpet taken from the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan first got sick were taken to the Veolia Environmental Services incinerator in Port Arthur, where they were destroyed Friday. A company spokesman tells the Beaumont Enterprise that the ash will be analyzed for two days for any remaining contamination before it is sent to Louisiana.

State officials say Duncan's body was cremated but aren't giving further details.

Beaumont-Port Arthur officials say they're upset that Veolia didn't advise them that potentially contaminated material was being shipped into the area for destruction. In a letter to the management of the Port Arthur incinerator, state Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, asked the incinerator's general manager for a briefing on how the company came to be in contact with the state about taking on the job.

Deshotel said his aim is to "ensure our constituents the process went smoothly without any complications."

In an interview with the Port Arthur News, Deshotel said local elected leaders were placed in an awkward position with constituents by not having any information.

"A lot of the elected officials are getting calls and don't know what to say," he said. "People have a lot of fear of this disease, a lot of misinformation, and as a result of that elected officials should be able to answer questions just to provide basic information."

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell says he will take legal action to stop the incinerated personal belongings of the Dallas Ebola victim from being disposed of in a landfill in Calcasieu Parish.

Caldwell said in a news release late Sunday night that he plans to ask for a temporary restraining order on Monday preventing any of the wastes from entering Louisiana.

Caldwell says the health and safety of Louisiana citizens is his top priority.

Caldwell says the waste will not consist of the belongings themselves, but rather the incinerated remains of six truckloads of items that could have been contaminated by Duncan when he fell sick.

Duncan died Wednesday at a Dallas hospital.