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Documents feed debate on FEMA trailers
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by René | March 12, 2008 at 08:05 pm
375 views | 15 Recommendations | 3 comments
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated PressNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal officials issued trailers to Hurricane Katrina
victims even though some workplace safety tests detected
high levels of formaldehyde at government staging areas for
the structures just weeks after the storm, a lawyer for
hundreds of occupants said Wednesday.Documents from the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration raise new questions about how much federal
officials knew about the units, which were sent to tens of
thousands of displaced residents, said attorney Anthony
Buzbee.Buzbee said he reviewed a 10-page summary of test results from air sampling at FEMA staging facilities in Mississippi that found formaldehyde levels exceeding maximums set for federal workplace safety. Buzbee said the documents show some tests were performed as early as Oct. 11, 2005, and as late as Jan. 17, 2006.
"This is astonishing," Buzbee said Wednesday in an interview. "How could they feign ignorance that this was an issue even before they sent these trailers to residents?"
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 20:24 on March 12th, 2008
René, I like this story. It's good stuff. I agree - what debate?
at 08:32 on March 13th, 2008
René, I like this story. It's good stuff. It's another example of the poor being given the short end of the stick -- again.
at 10:07 on March 13th, 2008
The Poor? Because they got their homes destroyed? You're missing the point here, Barbara. Everyone whose home was destroyed by Katrina and Rita and who ended up in a FEMA trailer is the victim, and many of them were not poor. And not just in New Orleans, all along the Gulf Coast. Hey they sent some of these trailers to tornado victims in Oklahoma too.