White House's Hurricane Response Task Force Excludes EPA

The White House has convened a Cabinet-level task force in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that does not include EPA, prompting a number government watchdog groups to raise concerns that the exclusion may reflect an effort to downplay the extent of environmental contamination in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast region. Also, the president's decision earlier this week to declare the hurricane a federal disaster grants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), rather than EPA, prime authority over cleanup and other relief...