Democracy Now! is reporting that FEMA suppressed warnings of toxic gases [formaldehyde] in trailers issued for the use of persons evacuated from the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Katrina. From the Headlines page for 20 July 2007:
FEMA Suppressed Warnings on Toxic Gas in Evacuee Trailers
[…] documents show top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have suppressed internal warnings about dangerous levels of toxic chemicals in trailers inhabited by Hurricane Katrina evacuees […] FEMA field workers warned the evacuees were living amidst levels of potentially cancerous formaldehyde gas […] seventy-five times the recommended maximum […] Hundreds have complained of health effects […] emails show FEMA officials were only concerned with avoiding any legal liability … a FEMA official wrote [that] agency lawyers had advised against carrying out tests because doing so: “would imply FEMA’s ownership of this issue.” […] FEMA lawyer Patrick Preston wrote: “Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK … Once you get results […] the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.” Eleven days later, an evacuee who had complained about the chemicals was found dead in his trailer. […] FEMA attorneys rejected calls for an independent investigation into his death […].
It is interesting to note that as of 08:21 EST Saturday 21 July 2007 [the time of this writing] the GSA auction site at http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/ where these trailers are being auctioned is unavailable, returning an HTTP 503 "503 Retry request – Service will be available shortly. Please retry request" error for repeated retries.
This sort of incident brings forcefully to mind the actions of the European settlers to North America in giving blankets contaminated with smallpox to the native tribes residing in the territory upon which the Europeans wished to settle. I.E. There have been repeated allegations amongst the Katrina survivor community to the effect that the Federal government planned to use the disastrous events surrounding the hurricane to depopulate New Orleans in order that the city might be turned over to corporate interests.
The story in the Washington Post titled FEMA Announces Trailer Air Testing Plans, also dated 20 July, mentions several other FEMA-trailer-related deaths and lawsuits which have been filed.
A point which is mentioned in the Washington post article is that at least one of the lawsuits which has been filed, and which is attempting to gain class action status, is against the trailer manufacturer.
- Why is/was FEMA concerned with liability when in fact the manufacturers who produced trailers purchased by FEMA are the ones who ultimately bear liability for their unsafe product?
- These trailers purchased and distributed by FEMA are brandname, commercially available "Recreational Vehicles" (RVs) – if the formaldehyde levels in them are sufficient to kill the occupants – even if the occupants killed are "infirm" or suffer from respiratory problems – how is it that the manufactures are allowed to sell these deathtraps to the public?
- If private individuals purchase these trailers and resell them, will they be responsible for "cleanup" of the toxic materials in them, and if so, what sort of toxic materials handling and disposal certifications will be required of them?
[note that the GSA auction site is back online as of 09:24 EST today, 21 July 2007 - no explanation of the outage provided on the GSA page]
