Banned??? Deadly FEMA Trailers from Katrina now used to house women and children during oil disaster; BP Contractor says "perfectly good trailers

[link to www.floridaoilspilllaw.com]

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became a symbol of the government’s inept response to that disaster: the 120,000 or so trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people who had lost their homes.

The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being used for long-term housing again.

Some of the trailers, though, are getting a second life amid the latest disaster here — as living quarters for workers involved with the cleanup of the oil spill. …

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[F]ederal regulators have said the trailers are not to be used for housing because of formaldehyde’s health risks…

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[Ron Mason, owner of a disaster contracting firm, Alpha 1] said some of these workers had bought them so they could be together with their wives and children after work.

“These are perfectly good trailers,” Mr. Mason said…

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Not everyone agreed. “It stunk to high heaven,” said Thomas J. Sparks, a logistics coordinator for the Marine Spill Response Corporation…

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[T]he FEMA trailer was provided to him by a company working with his firm.

Mr. Sparks said the fumes in the trailer… were so strong that he had asked his employer to provide him with a non-FEMA trailer.

The trailers — which are being resold for $2,500 and up — started down their road to infamy after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, when FEMA officials ordered nearly $2.7 billion worth of trailers and mobile homes to house victims of the storm.

Within months, some of these residents began complaining about breathing problems and burning eyes, noses and throats. One man who had complained about fumes was found dead in his trailer in June 2006.

Last Edited by Sludge on 07/01/2010 06:26 PM