FEMA's Trailers: The Cheapest, The Most Toxic

The penultimate, if not the ultimate, shoe dropped in the FEMA trailer scandal in New Orleans this week, with the publication of a report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that pinpointed the reasons why so many New Orleanians inhaled such a high level of formaldehyde fumes for so long:

Berkeley researchers said they found "exceptionally large emissions of formaldehyde" in units tested and traced the chemical's presence to extensive use of cheap, light plywood and particleboard for walls, flooring and cabinet surfaces. At the same time, trailers "are not outfitted for adequate ventilation and are tighter than would be desired for housing with such small volume," they said.

The authors blamed "manufacturers' practices and weak federal regulation".

So, to review, the federal government, under both parties, allowed the Corps of Engineers to build a "system" of levees and floodwalls that one federal judge has now said the Corps knew was inadequate. Then, after FEMA's disaster response was notoriously slow and unresponsive, survivors were crammed into toxic cans by the same agency, which then slow-walked the Centers for Disease Control in its attempt to measure the indoor air in the trailers. All the while, the Feds knowingly allowed the cheapest materials to be used in an environment allowing for the least effective ventilation.

Heck of a job. Let the lawsuits begin.

Comments

[twofish]

Ssssh! Don't mention lawsuits! The Repugs will demand retroactive immunity for trailer makers, and the Dementocrats, after fulminating about it for as much as two news cycles, will slip it into a bill in the dead of night and pass it, after which Nancy Pelosi will bemoan the fact that she "didn't have the votes" to stop it.

[haleywins]

Unfortunately, this will be perceived as a New Orleans problem, a poor folks problem, and not something is dreadfully wrong with Washington, a real American problem.

[Sparty1]

It couldn't have been because they were poor and predominantly black. Could it? Nah! I wonder how they're treating the flood victims in the Midwest? Hopefully, alot better than the folks from New Orleans.

[wildflowermaven]

Well, taxpayers are always complaining about gov'ment paying too much for stuff, usually the lowest bidder gets the job. You get what you pay for.

[GuiltyByStander]

DOn't think for a moment that the government did not pay top dollar (and then some) for those trailers even though they were made of cheap materials.
Taxpayers complain mainly about the inflated prices the government pays for inferior goods and services often provided by no-bid contractors (often cronies of the regime).
That's called corruption.
Taxpayers really hate that.

[rssrai]

Yes, come on everybody let's usher in a third Bush term with McBush, McSame, McCain. We have to get Brownie back soon. LOL. Go Obama! Let's send McBush and Comapny back to their caves.

[JoeKing]

Makes ya want to puke, don't it?