Fast Response for Hurricane Halliburton

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A letter to the editor September 21, 2005

Dear Editor: Looks like the federal government really can respond fast to a national disaster after all.

Someone at a high level in Washington gave a contract for cleanup to Halliburton about as fast as they got troops to New Orleans.

Are there no federal bidding processes? No contractors in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast who'd like work cleaning up their own home territory? No displaced skilled workers who'd love a chance to rebuild their community?

At least in the days after Katrina, Dick Cheney was likely to be found - dealing out contracts to his buddies in his former company to pad their pockets.

Sara Williams, Madison, WI

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[rj45mis]

Good response!

[kemathen7]

These idiots.

I work for one of the engineering firms involved in the gulf cleanup. We are one of five, yes FIVE, firms selected to help with the clean up. There was a bid process (which was literally hours in some cases, depending on the RFP), so no, Halliburton (and really, KBR) isn't going to be the big winner in this situation.

But I have a feeling that if I try to explain this to them, it will fall on deaf ears.

[sandbar]

That is why these people make me ill. The stupid editor prints a stupid letter from a stupid person. Haliburton has a STANDING contract just for that reason. There are few companies who can handle the jobs Haliburton can. Do you know how many people do not know that Haliburton is not an oil company?? I have argued with people who claim that Bush went to war so Haliburton could get the oil. What? Haliburton handles the food service, clean up, tents, etc... Same reason they are GREAT at disaster relief.

I had a guy say, "well, didn't take long for Bush's friends to make money off Katrina". I asked if that was what Clinton was doing after Hurricane Andrew when Haliburton was used (BECAUSE THEY HAVE A CONTRACT WITH THE US GOVERNMENT BECAUSE THEY DID DID DID WIN THE BID), make George Bush's friend money?

[The Right Stuff]

My own unofficial survey shows that many of these editorial letter writers are women. Women and wussy liberal girly men.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

As part of the company’s competitively bid Construction Capabilities (CONCAP) contract with the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR is providing power distribution restoration, emergency roof repair and debris removal at three Mississippi Naval facilities that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, KBR has begun performing damage assessments on other Naval facilities in New Orleans.

Further, under the CONCAP contract, KBR has been tasked to mobilize engineers and support personnel to New Orleans in an effort to assess pumps and infrastructure in the city. With this work, KBR also will construct a facility to support recovery efforts. KBR also has been assigned de-watering activities in New Orleans’ Plaquemines Parish, East and West basins. This work will provide for immediate disaster recovery response to repair pumps and restore utilities to efficiently and rapidly remove the water in this area.

The U.S. Navy uses the CONCAP contract to support immediate needs associated with regional emergencies caused by natural disasters, military-led or military-supported humanitarian assistance or military conflicts. For more information on this contract, which was awarded in July 2004 following a competitive bidding process, please see the company’s press release here.

Under CONCAP and other contracts, KBR has provided extensive relief services for major disasters in the U.S. and abroad for more than 15 years. Following Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tasked KBR with providing planning assistance, damage surveys, expedient debris removal, engineering assessments, repairs to public and private buildings and utilities, and the construction, operation and maintenance of temporary trailer camps for displaced residents. KBR also performed emergency repairs to schools in the region and installed temporary, modular school buildings where necessary. The company began providing disaster relief services to the Navy two days after Hurricane Ivan struck Florida in 1994, and assisted after Hurricane Marilyn in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1995 and Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina in 1990. In addition, under the previous CONCAP contract KBR provided emergency repairs in Guam following Super Typhoon Ponsonga from 2002-2004.

KBR also has been contracted by Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, to establish and support a 1,000-person camp which will house electrical workers re-establishing the power grid in Mississippi.

Further, KBR is providing life support facilities for approximately 500 Department of Homeland Security personnel in New Orleans through a competitively-won contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). KBR's contract with ICE was awarded in June 2000 following a competitive bidding process. ICE is one component that completes Border and Transportation Security, which is underneath the Department of Homeland Security.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Report from District of Columbia Army Natioinal Gaurdsman deployed to New Orleans Kellogg, Brown & Root, better known as Halliburton, is doing amazing stuff at Naval Air Station New Orleans. Just like in Kosovo, Baghdad, Khandahar and everywhere else our soldiers deploy to harsh conditions, KBR (as we call them in the military) has rushed in and set up huge dining facilities, brought in comforts and standard-of-living improvements, and made life on base in New Orleans far more better than it otherwise would be with the huge arrivals. One facility they set up is "like hundreds of tents long, huge!" She said they have good food and a lot of variety. They have also set up and facilitated the arrival and assembly of many many other things that are improving conditions there for the soldiers.

[Right Cal Gal]

IIRC, it was the Army Corps of Engineers who gave them the contracts. Silly moonbats - there are only two companies that have the capacity for massive rebuilding - Halliburton and a French company, whose name I can't remember.

If the moonbats want to form a company specializing in massive rebuilding, they should do so and bid. Oh, wait. That would require actual WORK.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Seabees bring in mold killers

work on the mold was taken up by Kellog, Brown & Root, which does most of their work.

[KEmom]

I believe the French Company is Schlumberger Ltd. Bechtel Group, Inc is also a Halliburton competitor - do not look for the left to mention this group, which is private (no transparency like a publicly-traded company like HAL) PLUS, anyone know where Bechtel did a big job.....can you say "BIG DIG"?

[Right Cal Gal]

".....can you say "BIG DIG"?"

..not with a straight face. Thanks for the info on the French Company. Now I remember why I can never remember it - sounds German.

[devolve]

Save Our Wetlands Save the Wetlands Save the Louisiana Wetlands! Save Our Crooked   Politicians

Save Our Wetlands, Inc. is a Louisiana non-profit 501(3)(c) corporation formed in 1974. Save Our Wetlands, Inc. offers educational workshops and seminars on environmental awareness topics. To schedule such, contact Save Our Wetlands at:                                      jambalaya@saveourwetbutts.org  Since their formation SOWL has been fighting for you to save our precious wetlands and to develop educational programs for environmental awareness and ecological improvement. FACT: While politicians talk, SOWL sues! SOWL has been involved in countless lawsuits involving Lake Ponchartrain on every subject....from the New Orleans Levee Board Airport Expansion Plan, Bucktown Marina Expansion Plan, New Orleans Mosquito Control Drainage schemes in wetlands of New Orleans East, Eden Isle Subdivision on the north shores of Lake Ponchartrain, Orlanda Subdivision, Corps of Engineers Hurricane Barrier Project, shell dredging in Lake Ponchartrain, Waterford Nuclear Plant...to the Marathon Oil Company canals in the wetlands of St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes.   1977 SOWL lawsuit webpage link FACT: SOWL SAVED LAKE PONCHARTRAIN - In 1977, SOWL obtained an injunction from U.S. District Judge Charles Schwartz enjoining the Corps of Engineers from building a billion dollar dam at the Chef Mentaur Rigolets Fort Pike Area, where the Gulf of Mexico enters into Lake Ponchartrain. Had SOWL not obtained this injunction, Lake Ponchartrain would be a stagnant body of water and over 28,000 acres of wetlands in New Orleans East would have been developed into the Orlanda Subdivision. FACT: SOWL filed two lawsuits against NASA's plan to test advanced solid rocket motor fuel in Gulfport, Mississippi. Each static test firing would have released 235,000 pounds of hydrogen chloride gas and 365,000 pounds of aluminum oxide gas falling greatly on the Honey Island Swamp and into Lake Ponchartrain. SOWL worked diligently with the Confederation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C. to stop congressional funding for the proposed ecological holocaust. FACT: SOWL filed suit against the proposed Formosa Chemical Plant - described as "environmental outlaws" by Texas authorities. This plant would have destroyed the last remaining green belt left in the New Orleans area known as "cancer corridor." Formosa withdrew its plan after the SOWL law suit was filed. FACT: SOWL has produced over a dozen thirty minute television programs shown on Cox Cable in New Orleans. SOWL is presently attempting to establish a SOWL environmental television network in New Orleans. The Honorable Marc Morial, Mayor of New Orleans, has issued a strong letter of support on this project. SOWL is the founder of ECOVISION. FACT: SOWL has filed suit against the New Orleans Levee Board's proposed $20 million hotel to be constructed on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain next to a gambling boat and proposed four-mile island. FACT: SOWL and three other environmental plaintiffs files suit to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers West Pearl River Dredging Project. This Corps project would have opened up the West Pearl to commercial barge traffic and destroyed one of America's remaining wild rivers. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Porteous issued an injunction against this Corps "Pork Barrel" Project. FACT: SOWL is presently fighting to save 2,900 wetland acres on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain. Through litigation and pressure, SOWL has been able to keep Eden Isles Subdivision from developing approximately 2,900 acres of a once vast wetland sanctuary in Slidell, Louisiana. SOWL is attempting to get this tract restored into a state or federal wetland sanctuary park. FACT: SOWL has always fought bitterly against the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Since 1974, SOWL has consistently put pressure and exposed the Corps, New Orleans Division, for blatant and reckless issuance of permits that are ecologically disastrous. In 1975, SOWL filed documents in the United States District Court requesting that a special Grand Jury be formed to investigate the Corps of Engineers participation in federal criminal laws for permitting and abetting the illegal diking and damning of navigable bodies of water in Lake Ponchartrain resulting in the Eden Isles Subdivision and the destruction of 5,300 acres of a once vast wetland sanctuary. FACT: SOWL has also filed a suit naming the same tract of land around Lake Pontchartrain in U. S. District Court, New Orleans, against the U. S. Corps of Engineers for issuing a permit to Tammany Holding Corporation to develop this tract without requiring an environmental impact study as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The legal department of SOWL was also actively involved in the Alaskan Valdez disaster and are avid supporters of SAVE THE DOLPHINS. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation you can email us at:                    saintsgomarchingin@saveourwetbutts.org

[doug from upland]

Whoops is right, Dianna. If people don't pay enough attention, they will think you wrote this. And, being from Wisconsin, they are going to think nutty Madison.

Here are your choices:

1. Put on flameproof underwear, or

2. Hit the abuse button and ask the Admin Moderator to put the link next to the title so you don't get blamed

[Eagle Eye]

LOL...and I was at a microbiolgy workshop today!!

[Grampa Dave]

Good now this is here saved for future use.