The $100 Million FEMA Ice Fiasco.....how did I miss this one??

[Obamarama]

I've been busier than normal the past few months and my time available to scrounge for truth on DU has diminished, but I can't beleive I missed this one! I know the Katrina ice fiasco surely must have made the rounds on DU, but I must have missed it.

At any rate, I thought it was worth posting it again in case I'm not the only one living under a bridge on the informaion superhighway!

From the NYT:

Ninety-one thousand tons of ice cubes, that is, intended to cool food, medicine and sweltering victims of the storm. It would cost taxpayers more than $100 million, and most of it would never be delivered.

SNIP

Finally, 10 days after he started, the driver was told to take the ice to storage in Bettendorf, Iowa, Mr. Hohnstein said. The truck had traveled 3,282 miles, but not a cube of ice had reached a hurricane victim.

"Well," Mr. Hohnstein said, "the driver got to see the country."

His company's bill to the government will exceed $15,000, he said, but the ice was worth less than $5,000. "It seemed like an incredible waste of money," he said.

The next time FEMA calls for help, it may find the response far less willing. After two Universe Truck Lines drivers spent more than two weeks on the road to no purpose, the company decided it had had enough. When a FEMA contractor called and asked if the company could take some ice stored in Fremont, Neb., to Fort Worth, Tex., Universe said no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/national/nationalspecial/02ice.html?ei=5065&en=435fcce9a4707c7c&ex=1128830400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

[MagickMuffin]

1. heard about this from the "Internets"

and of course with the outrageous gas prices it probably didn't help matters getting the "wild goose chase".


link provided is the testimony of Brownie to congress on what went wrong (which he of course took no blame and no responsibility, but had plenty to dish out to other people involved at the city and state level but not the federal level). This is a two part series and it is kinda long, but the link focuses on the part about the ice, it is at the running time of 1:39:31.

If the link doesn't work then just go to c-span.org, look for the search feature in the video section, and type Katrina Brown, and the first link should open up Real Player. The testimony about the ice is Part2.

http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=katrina+brown&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=Submit

[jmowreader]

2. You know why this happens, right?

It's because fuckers like Brownie and Bush are trying to turn FEMA into an organization that marshals local officials to clean up after terrorists hit. (Since FEMA under Reagan was designed to marshal local officials to clean up after the Soviets nuked us, this isn't much of a change.)

They have no permanent logistics system, and it really hurts them.

[Spinzonner]

3. It's really hard to keep track of all the incompetence and corruption

without a program.