Kansas-based EPA worker Eric Nold saw the impact of the September 11 attacks, the heartache of the space shuttle Columbia crash and the fear of the anthrax scare on Capitol Hill. None of that prepared him for Hurricane Katrina.

Nold is tasked with responding to some of the nation's biggest environmental emergencies. He found himself in the middle of the New Orleans rescue operation on September First. Nold's an on-scene coordinator for emergency environmental response work.

He said hazardous contamination cases he's responded to involve people who have somewhere to go, usually for a short period. But Katrina victims had to walk away from everything for a long time, maybe forever.

Nold said the experience heightened his awareness of the difficult work other emergency workers are so often faced with.