Shelters Clinton Foundation donated to Haiti are Shoddy Built & have Formaldehyde/ (The Nation)

[KoKo]

The Shelters That Clinton Built
Isabel Macdonald and Isabeau Doucet
Editor's Note: This article was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, with additional support from the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting.
==============
 
When Demosthene Lubert heard that Bill Clinton's foundation was going to rebuild his collapsed school at the epicenter of Haiti's January 12, 2010, earthquake, in the coastal city of Léogâne, the academic director thought he was "in paradise."

The project was announced by Clinton as his foundation's first contribution to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which the former president co-chairs. The foundation described the project as "hurricane-proof...emergency shelters that can also serve as schools...to ensure the safety of vulnerable populations in high risk areas during the hurricane season," while also providing Haitian schoolchildren "a decent place to learn" and creating local jobs. The facilities, according to the foundation, would be equipped with power generators, restrooms, water and sanitary storage. They became one of the IHRC's first projects.

However, when Nation reporters visited the "hurricane-proof" shelters in June, six to eight months after they'd been installed, we found them to consist of twenty imported prefab trailers beset by a host of problems, from mold to sweltering heat to shoddy construction. Most disturbing, they were manufactured by the same company, Clayton Homes, that is being sued in the United States for providing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with formaldehyde-laced trailers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Air samples collected from twelve Haiti trailers detected worrying levels of this carcinogen in one, according to laboratory results obtained as part of a joint investigation by The Nation and The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund.

Clayton Homes is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company run by Warren Buffett , one of the "notable" private-sector members of the Clinton Global Initiative, according to the initiative's website. ("Members" are typically required to pay $20,000 a year to the charity, but foundation officials would not disclose whether Buffett had made such a donation.) Buffett was also a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter during the 2008 presidential race, and he co-hosted a fundraiser that brought in at least $1 million for her campaign.

MORE of INVESTIGATIVE REPORT at............

The Shelters That Clinton Built
Isabel Macdonald and Isabeau Doucet



Editor's Note: This article was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, with additional support from the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting.
 
When Demosthene Lubert heard that Bill Clinton's foundation was going to rebuild his collapsed school at the epicenter of Haiti's January 12, 2010, earthquake, in the coastal city of Léogâne, the academic director thought he was "in paradise."

The project was announced by Clinton as his foundation's first contribution to the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which the former president co-chairs. The foundation described the project as "hurricane-proof...emergency shelters that can also serve as schools...to ensure the safety of vulnerable populations in high risk areas during the hurricane season," while also providing Haitian schoolchildren "a decent place to learn" and creating local jobs. The facilities, according to the foundation, would be equipped with power generators, restrooms, water and sanitary storage. They became one of the IHRC's first projects.

However, when Nation reporters visited the "hurricane-proof" shelters in June, six to eight months after they'd been installed, we found them to consist of twenty imported prefab trailers beset by a host of problems, from mold to sweltering heat to shoddy construction. Most disturbing, they were manufactured by the same company, Clayton Homes, that is being sued in the United States for providing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with formaldehyde-laced trailers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Air samples collected from twelve Haiti trailers detected worrying levels of this carcinogen in one, according to laboratory results obtained as part of a joint investigation by The Nation and The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund.

Clayton Homes is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company run by Warren Buffett , one of the "notable" private-sector members of the Clinton Global Initiative, according to the initiative's website. ("Members" are typically required to pay $20,000 a year to the charity, but foundation officials would not disclose whether Buffett had made such a donation.) Buffett was also a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter during the 2008 presidential race, and he co-hosted a fundraiser that brought in at least $1 million for her campaign.

MORE OF NATION INSTITUTE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT AT:

http://www.thenation.com/article/161908/shelters-clinton-built?page=full

[NYC_SKP]

1. Most trailers are shoddy and exude formaldehyde. I'm not surprised.

We have a firm in my home town, however, making quality LEED certified FEMA trailers that expand but are the size of a shipping container, collapsed.

http://www.greenhorizonmfg.com/green-horizon-company-info.htm

:hi:

[KoKo]

4. I live in the South of the US...I drive from NC down to GA...I see Trailors all the time!

We follow these "Trailors manufactured in the South for MILES AND MILES....and we see so many of them..and in a Rain Storm..we are even more cautious following them because they become like "ghosts in the headlights" and we PRAY we won't crash into one of them...on this road..."I-95" between Canada and Florida on the Great HiWay..."I-95!"

What I see is manufactured in SC...which I'm sure must have shoddy construction along with Horrible Toxic Fumes...because I grew UP in that FUCKING STATE and LEFT IT LONG AGO! There's NOTHING that a SOUTHERN STATE wouldn't do to Pollute their Neighbors that would EVER SURPRISE ME.... They are the reason I left them so MANY YEARS AGO!

That Clinton or anyone would contract with any Trailor Manufacturer whether from SC or Minnesota or Kansas wouldn't surprise me. He Gave away USA..with NAFTA and his dalliances...and his commitment to the "New Way Forward for Democrats" better known as DLC.

Just so you know...I was a HUGE CLINTO SUPPORTER. I loved the man ...hoped and thought as a Southerner he would bring AMERICA BACK TO FDR's TIME! I worked for him...Voted for Him and defended him throughout the Lewinsky THINGY...and lost FRIENDS AND FAMILY because I was considred SO PARTISAN for CLINTON (defending him against STARR COMMISSION and Mellon-Scaife BOMBARDMENT that my "Friends & Family" thought I was CRAZY! I stood firm... And, I was Proved WRONG.. Clinton was not what I thought he was. My Friends and Family got it CORRECT...and "I DID NOT." :-(

BUT...it goes on and Clinton becomes even WORSE than I would have ever thought he could be!

[KoKo]

6. Did a Big Rant above...passed the "Edit Time" for DU ..shouldn't have

let loose like I did.......sorry.

[KoKo]

5. Sounds good ...I think most of the formaldehyde is from "pressed board lumber?"

It's fine in the colder climates of USA...but not in the Southern Belt of "Hot, Humidity States" which is most of the Sun Belt.

And, this SUMMER ...the hottest for SE in history (well I live here and that's that "our weather folks are saying..".. then the FUMES are going to be MUCH WORSE than if a Disaster occurs in Maine, Vermont or other Canadian Border States...where the heat is not so much that the "Gas Out" causes health problems?

What do you think about what I'm saying? :shrug:

[NYC_SKP]

7. Sorry it took a while to get back to you but, yes...

formaldehyde and VOCs and other things from:

pressed wood constituents, resins, glues

adhesives used with the vinyl pressed wood coverings on walls, ceilings, floors

outgassing from vinyl flooring and casework, also from carpet and upholstery fabrics and foam padding

solvents used in the plumbing connections

weatherproofing substances

and more!

The head must really bring them out!

But if building standards allow their use, I don't know that I want to dump it all at the feet of the Clintons.

:hi:

[KoKo]

10. Since Haiti had already rejected FEMA Trailers--why wouldn't they have thought to check, though.

This is a good article about the problems with FEMA trailers and Haiti rejecting them. It would seem that the trailers should have been checked and sent with the proper air-conditioning. The Nation is a Liberal Magazine, BTW...which you probably know. Clinton Foundation got a lot of donations. They surely could do better than this. :shrug:

------------------


Push to send FEMA trailers to Haiti stirs backlash--
Most reject use of potentially formaldehyde-laced structures

By CARLY EVERSON - Associated Press North County Times | Posted: Friday, January 29, 2010 8:10 pm | No Comments Posted



INDIANAPOLIS ---- The trailer industry and lawmakers are pressing the government to send Haiti thousands of potentially formaldehyde-laced trailers left over from Hurricane Katrina ---- an idea denounced by some as a crass and self-serving attempt to dump inferior American products on the poor.

"Just go ahead and sign their death certificate," said Paul Nelson of Coden, Ala., who contends his mother died because of formaldehyde fumes in a FEMA trailer.

The 100,000 trailers became a symbol of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's bungled response to Katrina. The government had bought the trailers to house victims of the 2005 storm, but after people began falling ill, high levels of formaldehyde, a chemical that is used in building materials and can cause breathing problems and perhaps cancer, were found inside. Many of the trailers have sat idle for years, and many are damaged.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which is coordinating American assistance in Haiti, has expressed no interest in sending the trailers to the earthquake-stricken country. FEMA spokesman Clark Stevens declined to comment on the idea and said it was not FEMA's decision to make.

Haitian Culture and Communications Minister Marie Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said Thursday she had not heard of the proposal but added: "I don't think we would use them. I don't think we would accept them."

In a Jan. 15 letter to FEMA, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the trailers could be used as temporary shelter or emergency clinics.

"While I continue to believe that these units should not be used for human habitation, I do believe that they could be of some benefit on a short-term, limited basis if the appropriate safeguards are provided," he wrote.

For the recreational-vehicle and trailer industry, which lost thousands of jobs during the recession, the push to send the units to Haiti is motivated by more than charity.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/world/article_e7eed6a0-9863-5828-a94d-fdf697f9c81a.html#ixzz1SH9e0lxu

[Suich]

9. Wow! I'm impressed!

Any idea how much these go for?

Terrific idea and "green", to boot!

:)

[newblewtoo]

2. K&R /nt

[KoKo]

3. apologize for the Double Post...don't know what happened there..but I posted

and had to leave...came back and there's "Double Post" and DU tells me it's too late to EDIT...

Sorry about that. :blush:

[Karmadillo]

8. K&R

nt