Saturday, August 11, 2007
Toxic FEMA Trailers
Things are getting ugly. In looking at different news articles, here is what I can glean so far.
The companies had to build them in a hurry. They couldn't get enough of low toxicity materials to build the trailers with in the time they had to deliver, including the adhesives needed to put them together, and the low emission particleboard.
What company or companies built them? Was it a no bid contract? Let's see...
Fourteen companies that supplied FEMA with trailers are named as defendants in the suits. Who can name the companies, so that consumers can know which companies more... were involved?
Forest River Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., was mentioned in one article.
Gulf Stream Coach of Nappanee, Ind., which won two FEMA contracts worth nearly $540 million less than two weeks after Katrina hit in the summer of 2005, did not return calls requesting comment.
Ohio-based Thor Industries, another major supplier of travel trailers to FEMA, would not comment.
Jeff Tryka, spokesman for Elkhart, Ind.-based Coachman Industries, also would not comment.
Starcraft RV Inc., also of Elkhart, Ind., Fleetwood Enterprises of Riverside, Calif., and others named in the suit did not return phone calls.
FEMA bought 13 different kinds of travel trailers for hurricane evacuees.
The Louisiana Recovery Authority, St. Bernard Parish and the Mississippi governor's office are all lobbying FEMA to replace the temporary travel trailers it is using to house displaced storm victims with the "Katrina Cottage," a 400- to 750-square-foot prefabricated home that sleeps four, can be erected in days, and could eventually be expanded into a full-size permanent home.
By the way, at gsaauctions.gov, FEMA travel trailer sales are still temporarily suspended. The agency also has temporarily suspended the sale and deployment of trailers while federal authorities probe allegations that formaldehyde fumes in trailers are responsible for occupants' illnesses.
As of August 10 2007, FEMA last week announced it would stop selling surplus trailers - those vacated by storm victims who found better housing - through the General Services Administration, which serves as the federal government's supplier. But FEMA did not tell the public it has decided to buy back surplus trailers, which were sold at a rate of about 1,200 a week. ¶ 11:12 AM
The companies had to build them in a hurry. They couldn't get enough of low toxicity materials to build the trailers with in the time they had to deliver, including the adhesives needed to put them together, and the low emission particleboard.
What company or companies built them? Was it a no bid contract? Let's see...
Fourteen companies that supplied FEMA with trailers are named as defendants in the suits. Who can name the companies, so that consumers can know which companies more... were involved?
Forest River Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., was mentioned in one article.
Gulf Stream Coach of Nappanee, Ind., which won two FEMA contracts worth nearly $540 million less than two weeks after Katrina hit in the summer of 2005, did not return calls requesting comment.
Ohio-based Thor Industries, another major supplier of travel trailers to FEMA, would not comment.
Jeff Tryka, spokesman for Elkhart, Ind.-based Coachman Industries, also would not comment.
Starcraft RV Inc., also of Elkhart, Ind., Fleetwood Enterprises of Riverside, Calif., and others named in the suit did not return phone calls.
FEMA bought 13 different kinds of travel trailers for hurricane evacuees.
The Louisiana Recovery Authority, St. Bernard Parish and the Mississippi governor's office are all lobbying FEMA to replace the temporary travel trailers it is using to house displaced storm victims with the "Katrina Cottage," a 400- to 750-square-foot prefabricated home that sleeps four, can be erected in days, and could eventually be expanded into a full-size permanent home.
By the way, at gsaauctions.gov, FEMA travel trailer sales are still temporarily suspended. The agency also has temporarily suspended the sale and deployment of trailers while federal authorities probe allegations that formaldehyde fumes in trailers are responsible for occupants' illnesses.
As of August 10 2007, FEMA last week announced it would stop selling surplus trailers - those vacated by storm victims who found better housing - through the General Services Administration, which serves as the federal government's supplier. But FEMA did not tell the public it has decided to buy back surplus trailers, which were sold at a rate of about 1,200 a week. ¶ 11:12 AM
