Waxman: FEMA Trailer Maker Knew Of Formaldehyde Danger

[babylonsister]

Lawmaker: FEMA trailer maker knew of formaldehyde

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY


Gulf Stream, the main supplier of travel trailers for displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina, knew of high levels of formaldehyde in some of the trailers, but did not tell anyone because it regarded the situation as a public relations and legal matter, not a public health issue, the Democratic chairman of a House oversight committee said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who convened hearings on the trailer issue, said internal documents from Gulf Stream, which provided the trailers to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, showed the company had found "pervasive formaldehyde in its trailers, and didn't tell anyone."

Gulf Stream received a $5 million contract from FEMA for 50,000 trailers for Gulf Coast residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Katrina victims now occupy 15,000 travel trailers in the region, a sharp drop from the more than 143,000 trailers that once housed displaced residents.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-09-trailers-fema_N.htm?csp=34

[robinlynne]

1. 100k per trailer. You shoudl ber able to build a safe trailer for 100k, shouldn't you?

[babylonsister]

2. You'd think; so is this company fit for suing by those who have

ruined their health through no fault of their own, when the dangers were known by this company? My guess is no.

[thecrow]

3. No, that would be suing Big Business.

We don't do that here.
We are just lowly citizens with no rights; no might.
And those Katrina people? Ha! They were less than citizens, left to die on their own.
Big Business saw the chance to pawn off the formaldehyde trailers onto FEMA for a profit
and then FEMA put those Katrina people into those trailers to, well, prematurely embalm them.
Wasn't that nice? Saves on funeral costs, you see. Win-win!
All hail the escapades of Dear Leader Smirky.
Heck ova job!

Do I really need a :sarcasm: thingie here?
I thought not.

[lonestarnot]

5. Hell of a job Brownie!

Wasn't that the chant! Fired from the horse show that freak. Yeah but the premature embalming sure is cutting down on costs. :banghead:

[petersjo02]

4. Iowa flooding

Thirty FEMA trailers left Hope, Arkansas, on Monday and have begun arriving in areas here where people lost their homes. The first 19 trailers were set up in West Branch (Iowa) Village MHC on Tuesday. A driver for the transport company said he didn't know where the other 11 were headed. The West Branch Times said in today's paper that "500 people in 108 homes were displaced by flooding in Cedar County." A week ago a FEMA guy said Cedar County hadn't requested any trailers. Nobody in the country seems to know when/if trailers were officially requested. Whatever. Nineteen families will have a roof over their heads in a nice, clean MHC. Maybe some of that formaldehyde has burned off by now.

[lonestarnot]

6. Well if not, should cut down their funeral expenses.