WP,pg1: First, Flood, Now Fight: Critics say FEMA holds up $1B in relief

[DeepModem Mom]

First the Flood, Now the Fight
Critics Say FEMA Is Impeding Gulf Coast Rebuilding As Disputes Hold Up Nearly $1 Billion in Relief Funds
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 30, 2006; Page A01

Someone had to pay to remove 3,000 dead trees in New Orleans. The trees, insisted the Federal Emergency Management Agency, couldn't have been killed by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters because they weren't toppled to a certain angle. New Orleans would have to pay.

Nonsense, city administrators argued. Brackish water swamped the city for weeks, killing the trees where they stood. Only after months of delay did FEMA relent, adding the trees' removal to the toll of the catastrophe.

Through hundreds of such disputes large and small, the most costly disaster in U.S. history is fast becoming its most contentious, with appeals and disputes worth nearly a billion dollars bogging down repairs of critical public systems and delaying the return of residents.

Current and former officials at all levels blame FEMA workers' inexperience with eligibility rules, weaknesses in U.S. disaster laws and inconsistent treatment by Congress for much of the wrangling. The huge scale of the storm and honest disagreement over whether federal or local taxpayers should pay the tab add to the conflict.

"Disasters should be difficult to declare. . . . But once you get them, FEMA should not worry about cutting costs," said Daniel A. Craig, who stepped down in October as head of FEMA's recovery division and is now consulting for New Orleans. "Public entities are eligible for everything they have lost due to the disaster. It is not up to FEMA to cut corners or makes sure money is saved."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/29/AR2006082901289.html?sub=AR

[cyberpj]

1. Can we sue for the return of our tax dollars from Halliburton profiteering

add in Bechtel and others and we'd have enough to rebuild the city.

[cyberpj]

2. kick -- (must be a lot of us on vacation this week or somethin') :)