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FEMA trailer debacle worsens amid chemical exposure and closures

By Jesse Muhammad
Staff Writer | Last updated: Jul 6, 2007 - 11:07:00 AM

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A FEMA representative looks on as New Orleans Police and FBI investigate the shooting death of a security officer at a FEMA trailer park in New Orleans, March 5. Photo: AP/World Wide Photos

(FinalCall.com) - A recent poll commissioned by the organizers of the 2007 National Hurricane Survival Initiative stated that nearly 90 percent of those who were interviewed along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts have not taken action to fortify their homes in preparation for the hurricane season. However, another threat is emerging from within the makeshift trailer homes supplied by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and occupied by hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina survivors: Exposure to formaldehyde gas.

Of the 120,000 travel trailers and mobile homes in the Gulf, FEMA has received 177 formaldehyde complaints as of May 23. The agency sent inspectors into the field and switched out new units for trailers that were already ventilated. FEMA distributed information to trailer occupants across the country explaining how persons sensitive to formaldehyde may be affected by its presence and laid out actions that should be taken to reduce exposure in the trailers. FEMA has replaced 47 units which included 20 in Louisiana, 17 in Mississippi, eight in Texas and two in Alabama. Some of the households complaining about formaldehyde, increased the ventilation in the unit or decided against FEMA’s offer to swap their unit, and others have identified more permanent housing solutions, resulting in unit deactivation.

Since 2006, people say they have been affected by symptoms of formaldehyde exposure, including eye, nose, and throat irritation, nausea and breathing difficulties. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), formaldehyde has been found to cause cancer in rats and may cause cancer in humans. Formaldehyde is found in new permanent press fabrics, new carpets, latex paint, fingernail polish, antiseptics, medicines, cosmetics, dish-washing liquids, fabric softeners, shoe-care agents, carpet cleaners, glues, adhesives, lacquers and plastics. In addition, formaldehyde is produced by cigarettes and other tobacco products and gas cookers.

FEMA has applied standards issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for formaldehyde emission levels for wood products used in the construction of manufactured homes (mobile homes), to both travel trailers and park models purchased by the agency. In a press statement, representatives of FEMA said that its study of air samples collected from travel trailers in the Gulf shows, that formaldehyde emission levels in the units can be significantly reduced through adequate ventilation.

According to GovernmentExecutive.com, this is not the only issue that citizens have had with FEMA trailers. According to an inspector general’s report on their website, FEMA awarded no-bid contacts to four industry giants to install, maintain and then deactivate the units. The contracts originally were for $400 million but increased to nearly $3.4 billion. While these contracts were being signed, thousands of the trailers have yet to be used and continues to sit idle at dozens of storage depots across the country. Among the waste of American tax dollars was a $900 million purchase of 26,300 mobile and modular homes that FEMA later discovered could not be used in flood zones, where nearly all Katrina victims lived.

That report was later requested by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) for examination. “The inspector general’s report suggests that taxpayers were victims and hurricane victims were victimized twice—once by Katrina and once by FEMA,” Sen. Dorgan said.

St. Bernard Parish to close trailer parks

The St. Bernard Parish Council has approved a controversial plan to begin closing FEMA trailer parks in August, which has residents screaming “We have nowhere to go!” The Parish Council voted 4-2 to close the first three parks by Aug. 15, with the remaining eight sites to be phased out by March of 2008.

“We’re trying to bring our parish back,” Councilman Mark Madary said. “The way you do that is to get back to normal, and FEMA trailer parks are not normal.”

Other council members said closing the trailer parks should stimulate the sluggish rental housing market and start moving residents into safer housing before the peak of the hurricane season. Parish officials vowed to help residents living in more than 600 trailers at the 11 sites, find alternate housing.

“The bottom line is that no one is going to be moved from a FEMA trailer to the street,” Councilman Craig Taffaro said. But many citizens say they have heard that song before and are not confident that their word will be kept. At a recent council meeting in Chalmette, residents jam-packed the room to voice their concerns.

“You wanted us to come back to St. Bernard after the hurricane, but now you want to take our homes away,” said Jacquelyn Vitale, who lives at a trailer site near C.F. Rowley Elementary School in Chalmette that is slated to close Oct. 30. “What are you going to do with us? The only reason we’re there is because we have no place else to go.”

Councilmembers Joey DiFatta and Lynn Dean voted in opposition to the ordinance, saying that trailer occupants needed more time to find new places to live.

“If we close the sites too quickly, people will just move to another trailer somewhere else,” Councilman DiFatta stated. “But if we give them more time, they might be able to find permanent housing.”

Initially the first round of closing was set to start July 15 with the last park slated to close on Dec 31. But Councilwoman Dean had argued that no closings should start at all until early next year. This ordinance does not include trailers located on residential property or in commercial trailer parks. The first three group sites targeted for closing will be in Chalmette for the Torres Park, Lynn Dean Park and the parking lot of the former Stage store.

Councilmember Judy Hoffmeister said “I sympathize with the soon-to-be-displaced residents and they are being treated like Third World citizens by the federal government. This whole situation is just heartbreaking, and we are trying our best to do something for you. But the reality is that FEMA trailers are coming to an end.”