Richard Tafoya
Jan 18th, 2008, 05:05 PM
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011702965.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
Those trailers the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought to house Hurricane Katrina victims were at the center of the storm again yesterday -- and not in a way that's going to make folks at the beleaguered agency any happier.
FEMA (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/FEMA?tid=informline) hurriedly bought the 145,000 trailers and mobile homes via no-bid contracts just before and after Katrina hit the coast in August 2005. But the purchase quickly became problematic, with some communities refusing them for a variety of reasons.
FEMA was forced to put trailers on the market, selling them to anyone for 40 cents on the dollar.
Yesterday, however, the emergency agency offered to buy them back, for their original purchase price, because of concerns that the trailers are tainted with formaldehyde. The agency said it is making the offer because of concerns about "possible adverse health effects" associated with the trailers.
More than 10,800 trailers were sold to the public by the General Services Administration (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+General+Services+Administration?tid=informline) from July 2006 until the program was suspended in July 2007, FEMA officials said. All of the trailers bought directly from the GSA will be eligible for the full buybacks, although purchasers will be responsible for getting the trailers back to FEMA drop-off points.
The issue of formaldehyde in the trailers has been contentious since early in the shelter program. A common wood preservative used in construction materials, it can cause vision and respiratory problems, and long-term exposure has been linked to cancer, asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children.
Although the federal government sets acceptable workplace exposure limits for formaldehyde -- and FEMA has told employees not to enter unused trailers sitting in the sunshine -- there are no standards for the recreational vehicle industry. People housed in the trailers were told to ventilate them well, but the agency later acknowledged that it was slow in responding to the formaldehyde concerns.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011702965.html?nav=hcmoduletmv
Those trailers the Federal Emergency Management Agency bought to house Hurricane Katrina victims were at the center of the storm again yesterday -- and not in a way that's going to make folks at the beleaguered agency any happier.
FEMA (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/FEMA?tid=informline) hurriedly bought the 145,000 trailers and mobile homes via no-bid contracts just before and after Katrina hit the coast in August 2005. But the purchase quickly became problematic, with some communities refusing them for a variety of reasons.
FEMA was forced to put trailers on the market, selling them to anyone for 40 cents on the dollar.
Yesterday, however, the emergency agency offered to buy them back, for their original purchase price, because of concerns that the trailers are tainted with formaldehyde. The agency said it is making the offer because of concerns about "possible adverse health effects" associated with the trailers.
More than 10,800 trailers were sold to the public by the General Services Administration (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+General+Services+Administration?tid=informline) from July 2006 until the program was suspended in July 2007, FEMA officials said. All of the trailers bought directly from the GSA will be eligible for the full buybacks, although purchasers will be responsible for getting the trailers back to FEMA drop-off points.
The issue of formaldehyde in the trailers has been contentious since early in the shelter program. A common wood preservative used in construction materials, it can cause vision and respiratory problems, and long-term exposure has been linked to cancer, asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children.
Although the federal government sets acceptable workplace exposure limits for formaldehyde -- and FEMA has told employees not to enter unused trailers sitting in the sunshine -- there are no standards for the recreational vehicle industry. People housed in the trailers were told to ventilate them well, but the agency later acknowledged that it was slow in responding to the formaldehyde concerns.