WP: FEMA food went to waste

[genealogynut]

(It would have been much quicker and easier if I could have gotten the link to work)

More than $40 million worth of supplies tossed out, scavenged for re-use

By Spencer S. Hsu

The Washington Post

Updated 10:20 a.m.  CT April 13, 2007

Washington--As many as 6 million prepared meals stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space, according to agency officials.

In all, hundreds of truckloads of food worth more than $40 million are being thrown away or scavenged for unspoiled contents to be offered to domestic hunger-relief groups, FEMA officials said.    Most of the meals were commercial versions of the military Meals Ready to Eat, which were ruined despite being engineered to withstand the demands of desert and jungle climates.

Federal disaster management officials decided to position huge amounts of food, water and ice in the southeastern United States last year after they were condemned for failing to quickly deliver critical supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  But they stockpiled the supplies without regard for FEMA's strained storage network, creating a different kind of problem when no major hurricane made landfall.

FEMA's deputy director, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson, said the agency may have overreacted by storing so many supplies.

"We were so concerned over the failure of Katrina that we.....probably bought more commodities and had on hand more than what otherwise might be the most prudent business choice," Johnson said.  "Given the pressure to perform......we didn't want to run any chance of running out."

This year, FEMA will alter its strategy again, shipping fewer supplies to states ahead of time and relying more on military depots for storage.  The agency also is pressing forward with the use of new technology, expending a satellite-based tracking system likened to ones used by major shippers such as FedEx.

News of the latest problems at FEMA follows findings after Katrina that the agency awarded up to $1 billion in improper payments to individual, spent $900 million on 25,000 trailers that could not be used in flood zones and paid $1.8 billion for hotel rooms and cruise ship cabins that were more expensive than apartments.

"SENSELESS WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY"

The latest difficulties again raised fears that the agency is not moving fast enough to improve how it stocks, tracks and delivers vital goods before another hurricane season begins on June 1.

"I am angry about this senseless waste of taxpayer money and hopeful that the FEMA reorganization that our committee recommended......will put an end to screw-ups like this," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate homeland security committee.

Critics say FEMA remains troubled by some of its perennial problems, including high turnover and limited computer systems.  The agency has 700 unfilled positions as it races to comply with a reorganization ordered by Congress.

(Several paragraphs omitted)

After Katrina, FEMA could not meet Mississippi's requests for food and water for 10 days.  The agency also ordered 182 million pounds of ice delivered to the Gulf but ended up using less than half.  Trucks roamed the country for two weeks, winding up in Maine, Iowa and in one case, at an Arizona zoo, where after a 22-state journey the ice was used by polar bears and other animals, Senate investigators said.

Most of the supplies that expired were in Selma, Ala., where FEMA workers tracked the temperatures inside trailers as they topped 120 degrees, Johnson said. Plastic water bottles burst and food degraded in the heat.  Some of the food rotted, and the rest no longer met Army food-storage guiidelines, Johnson said.

Thousands of tons were still edible, however, and were donated to America's Second Harvest, which supplies food banks.

(Two paragraphs omitted)

In total, FEMA discarded 279 truckloads of food worth about $43 million, leaving it with 586 truckloads stored for the coming hurricane season.  The agency will eliminate all 2,055 loads of ice pending further review, and it has cut its overall inventory of food, water and ice.

This year, FEMA will expand its reliance on the military, which has supplies in huge cold-storage facilities in Albany, Ga., and Kansas City, Mo.  By doing so, it expects to cut by half the amount of food and by three-fourths the amount of water it will position in Gulf Coast states. In the event of a hurrican or other disaster, the agency said, it is better able than in 2005 to move supplies quickly to the Gulf in coordination with the military and private contractors.


Yessir--e-e-e, Bob!!!!!  Our taxpayer dollars are hard at work!!!!!!    Sure........yeah........right 

[MarineMom]

I heard about this on the news this weekend and I am trying to figure out how come MRE's will withstand the high temps in Iraq and Afghanistan and still be fit for our soldiers to eat but are not able to withstand the lower temps in the US and stay good enough for possible storm victims in the coming hurricane season? Are there higher standards of what is fit to eat for civilians than there are for Soldiers?

[Teresa]

Ta Ta got me going on illegal immigration.. but I am going to try to NOT get on another rampage on this topic..

But oh my ... how hard it is to keep my mouth zipped....

[Marty Hunter]

     I had a friend who went to New Orleans with a crew to help with the clean up.   He is still there the last I knew.   I saw him a few months ago and he told me that there is a lot of waste down there of government funds.   One thing that stuck in my mind is that there was literally a semi load of new microwave ovens stacked on the ground (uncovered) in the trailer park that his crew stays in.   He said he watched them unloaded, and then got to watch a skid steer throw them all into dumpsters several months later because of the rain damage.
     Look on the internet and you will see hundreds of FEMA trailers being sold at pennies on the dollar.   Most are damaged for whatever reason, but it would appear that the occupants did not take good care of them.   Why are these trailers not moved to a central site and renovated so they can be used in the next disaster that is sure to hit somewhere in the Southeast during hurricane season.   
     The American people (and other generous folks) gave billions to this relief effort.   It is too bad that so much of that money was wasted.
     As long as I am on my high horse, why in the world are they allowing reconstruction in the devastated areas?   The roofs of the houses are below the water level of the Mississippi River.   It is not a question of if they will be flooded again, but rather of when.   All structures built on mud will eventually fail, no matter what the best intents of the builders and the claims of the engineers.

[genealogynut]

That's a point, Marty, that Don and I just cannot comprehend----Is WHY would anyone build their home or city along the coast?  They know there are hurricanes, and the area is below sea level, so it's just plain stupidity!!!!!!!!!  All that money gone to waste almost makes me physically ill.  There are folks (US citizens) in this country, who really need help and they can't get it.........but there's plenty of it going to waste or to illegal immigrants.  Guess I'd best zip my lip before I get on my soap box AGAIN