Posted on 05/18/2007 10:23:54 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
KENNER, La. - A Louisiana congressman is calling for hearings on the government's response to formaldehyde fumes in trailers provided to storm victims by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier this month, the agency dismissed findings by environmentalists that the trailers pose serious health risks from the known carcinogen. The agency said the fumes could be reduced by opening vents and windows, a strategy deemed unacceptable by Rep. Bobby Jindal (news, bio, voting record) in light of the region's heat and humidity.
Jindal, a Republican widely expected to run for governor in the fall, sent a letter to House leadership Thursday calling for hearings, saying he was "astonished" by reports of dangerous levels of formaldehyde in the trailers.
"Further, case studies show that even if residents followed FEMA's guidelines on appropriate ventilation of trailers, high levels of formaldehyde can remain," Jindal said.
The formaldehyde is mostly contained in particleboard used in the trailers, from walls to cabinets.
FEMA has said that its trailers conform to industry standards and that the agency has found no reason to question their safety. A review of air samples from 96 new trailers by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry shows that formaldehyde levels were noticeable, as with many other new products, but that the levels fall within safe levels in days if a trailer is ventilated, FEMA said.
However, FEMA has not conducted similar tests on trailers where people have been living for months since being displaced from their homes. The agency said there are 75,652 trailers still in use by victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama. The hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast within a month of each other in 2005.
This wouldn’t be an issue of they weren’t using these trailers as PERMANANT HOMES.
They should have been evicted and the trailers auctioned after one year.
F-ing squatters!
I had the chance to be inside one of these for about 20 minutes. There were warnings all over the interior for people with COPD and Asthma.
I for one would rather sleep in my car.
Another scheme thwarted...
First they caught on that we blew the levees...
Then we dispersed them into red states...
Now they’re wise to the poison trailer plan....
Won’t be long before they have them back in $300 a day hotels.
Why wasn’t this a problem for all the folks in Florida that lived in them?
Then, because it is all a major hustle on the American people, when a call goes out for emergency trailers, the substandard ones are sold to the gummint for three times more than what they're worth even if properly constructed with approved materials.
Finally, When the substandard trailers fall apart, go up in flames or become a liability to the hustle, hold the gummint responsable and get even more money and legislation to escalate and expand the operation.
Stash cash in freezer and get the NG to transport it to safe haven.
You mean to sit there and tell me that deadbeats from New Orleans are going notice and/or be affected by formaldehyde? Puh-leeze!!
In this otherwise unrelentingly dismal day, you have provided my only laugh, and I thank you.
That’s all right. There’s no way they can withstand the final plan. We’ll legalize millions of illegals, send them to New Orleans, and overwealm the natives. Thousands of them have already been infiltrated into the area in phase one of the plan.
This is a state issue, not a federal issue.
If the trailers aren't suiting the long term needs of the state of Louisiana, the state of Louisiana is free to do something about it.
The only thing that might be worth doing at the federal level is barring lawsuits against the federal government for having provided these people with help.
Local paper had a report stating that DEQ of Mississippi tested the trailers and found no harmful chemicals. Methinks this is more BDS!
LLS
I’m more interested in hearings that investigate why so much was spent on N.O. with their one hurricane and so little on Port St. Lucie Florida that had three hurricanes in two years.
Don’t worry Mayor Naggin & Whinin will surely request some federal funding. Then he can hire some contractors to come down to New Owlinns and crank the windows open every morning. And crank them closed every night. Then he will go on record for creating two shifts of new jobs. Mind you they wont get anyone from New Owlinns to do the job because they are impossible to train in new skills like window cranking. Then about one year later he will start complaining that the residents were discriminated against due to their race. A win win for Mayor Naggin & Whinin.
Best post on ANY thread I have read today.
I'm guessing by your FReeper name that you're in a hurricane region.
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