Urgent:FEMA Trailer Death E-mails

URGENT: DEATH OF AN APPLICANT

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicsasusual/2007/07/urgent-death-of.html

July 19, 2007 11:41 AM

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Jennifer Parker

–>It is Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 at 12:47:25 and Fema official Michelle McQueeney, sends the following e-mail MARKED URGENT to several colleagues at the agency:

Gil, Jim, Darryl:

A FEMA applicant was found dead in his trailer in St. Tammany earlier today.  We do not have autopsy results yet, but he had apparently told his neighbor in the past that he was afraid to use his A/C because he thought it would make the formaldehyde worse.  It may not have anything to do with formaldehyde, but I agree with Mark that we need to DEAL WITH THIS HEAD ON.

Misczak (Mark Misczak, another Fema official) says that OGC (office of general counsel) has NOT WANTED FEMA to test to determine if formaldehyde levels are in fact unsafe.  HQ Recovery (Souza and Garratt) are recommending that we mission assign EPA to do a full assessment and make recommendations.  I agree with this — want to ensure that you’re on board with this approach too.  Needs to be backed by Gulf Coast Recovery.

Regarding messaging — WE NEED TO DEVELOP A STATEMENT FOR THE MEDIA — would like Darryl (as soon as he arrives on site) to work with LA TRO public affairs and mark’s team to develop a statement, and also EASY TO UNDERSTAND MESSAGING that can be IMMEDIATELY PROVIDED TO ALL RESIDENTS LIVING IN FEMA TRAILERS.   HUD provides a formaldehyde message to everyone living in a MH — Mark’s team has that language and it could be used as a model.  Our messaging would essentially be the same as what we used in previous press on this issue — how to air out your trailer, use your A/C etc.

PLEASE ADVISE ASAP.  Gil — I left you a voicemail on this too.  Darryl — please come see me as soon as you get in.

thanks
Michelle

That e-mail from Michelle to Gil, Jim and Darryl was sent OVER A YEAR AGO.

YESTERDAY, JULY 18, 2007 at 3:09pm FEMA, aware they are about to get hammered at a Rep Henry Waxman hearing this morning at 10am, sends out a press release entitled “FEMA CONTINUES TO ADDRESS FORMALDEHYDE CONCERNS — asks CDC TO CONDUCT ASSESSMENT OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN TRAVEL TRAILERS.”

Lindsay Huckabee didn’t wait for FEMA to test her trailer.  After numerous visits to a doctor and coming home one afternoon to find her young daughter “COVERING HER NOSE; HER HANDS, ARMS and SHIRT COVERED IN BLOOD” Huckabee got an independent test which showed a FORMALDEHYDE LEVEL of 0.18ppm — “WELL above the 0.10ppm believed to be HARMFUL TO HUMANS.”  In her prepared statement she says when she called fema about the test results, “WE WERE MET WITH OPPOSITION.  FEMA REPRESENTATIVES WERE RUDE WHEN I CALLED THEM.”

Formaldehyde, a chemical which can be dangerous at elevated levels is widely used in building materials, often as a component of glue, adhesives, paint or coatings.

Whitehouse Informed Of Fatal FEMA trailers

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/fema-katrina-tr.html

Meet Pamela Lichele Lewis, a homeless 4.0 GPA student at Griffin Technical College that was displaced by Hurricane Katrina and is presently sleeping in a 95 Ford Explorer as a resident of Riverdale, Ga. without a source of income. The student, a Katrina survivor, was recently denied food-stamps by Clayton County-DFAS in Jonesboro, Ga. because she is not working at least 20-hours/wk while attending school. And to top things off, a FEMA representative informed the student that her case was closed because THEY did not meet their deadline on February 28, 2007. Therefore, the case was closed as if no further assistance is needed. Not only that, but the Katrina survivor was also denied assistance with housing because she was not on section 8, public housing or living in a HUD home prior to Hurricane Katrina. They are only helping them at this time.

Within the last two years, numerous letters were sent to David Scott, Congressman of Georgia District 13th. His administrator met the displaced victim only to give the victim a case of water and sent back out into the streets to live in an automobile.

When the Katrina survivor spoke to Mayor Phaedra Graham and the City Manager, Iris Jessie, at a mayor’s and councilman’s meeting that was open to the public, the victim was told that all Katrina victims are being referred to the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross informed Ms. Lewis that they had no more money for the Homeless survivors. This lead the Katrina survivor back to living in her truck.
The Whitehouse and the Speaker of the House also received numerous emails and letters in regards to this matter over the past two years. The Whitehouse informed Ms. Lewis that the Liaison Office will direct this matter to the appropriate agency to have this issue resolved. It has been over two years and Pamela L. Lewis, a Katrina survivor, is still homeless sleeping in her truck without a source of income.