interdictor ([info]interdictor) wrote,
@ 2007-07-15 04:03:00
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Your Government At Work
No, this is not a joke (not in the sense that I'm making it up, anyway):

Katrina ice being melted after 2 years (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070714/ap_on_re_us/katrina_ice)

GLOUCESTER, Mass. - After nearly two years, thousands of truck miles and $12.5 million in storage costs, a cold relic of the flawed Hurricane Katrina relief effort is going down the drain.
The federal government is getting rid of thousands of pounds of ice it had sent south to help Katrina victims, then north when it determined much of the ice wasn't needed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had been hanging on to the ice in case it was needed for another disaster, but decided to get rid of it because it couldn't determine whether it was still safe for human consumption.

"We just didn't take any chances," FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin told the Gloucester Daily Times.

The ice, held at AmeriCold Logistics in Gloucester and at 22 similar facilities nationwide, is being melted. The cost of storing the ice at all the facilities since Katrina is $12.5 million.

The Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged after the August 2005 hurricane that it had ordered too much ice because of faulty estimates by local officials. Truckers received up to $900 a day to move the ice to storage sites around the country.

Gloucester received 118 truckloads of ice that September, but 99 of those were sent to Florida in October 2005 to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Wilma. By November 2005, only four truckloads, weighing between 40,000 and 84,000 pounds each, remained in Gloucester.

FEMA contracts required disposal of the ice three months after purchase, but Kirin said the agency decided to keep the excess ice for the 2006 hurricane season. With fewer storms than expected, the ice was not needed, and the agency decided not to save the ice for the 2007 season.

She added that FEMA tried to donate the ice, but "had no takers."

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[info]evilegg
2007-07-15 08:33 am UTC (link)
Our county school system just had to dispose of $80,000 in pop tarts and smoothie mixes because they ordered too much and then didn't pay attention to expiration dates.
That's a lot of fucking pop tarts.

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[info]thevirtualjim
2007-07-15 05:01 pm UTC (link)
it scares me what kind of crap we feel our children.

Then we are surprised when they have problems learning, and get overweight.

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[info]evilegg
2007-07-15 05:12 pm UTC (link)
Not that I have any intention of doing it, but that raw/paleo thing intrigues me.

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[info]hidenplainsight
2007-07-21 05:00 am UTC (link)
But that was just an oversight error in dates or something. Nothing to worry about, our stalwart local politicians will make sure it never happens again! Just like what they said after that $17,000 a few years back.

(Damn, the internet is a small place sometimes.)

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[info]evilegg
2007-07-21 12:05 pm UTC (link)
I think the 17G was the year before the 80G.
What amazed me was that it wasn't just odds and ends of food that wasn't used, but basically two friggin' items.
And how the hell would anyone KNOW if a poptart was old anyway?

((We have a hurricane/storm community for this area, and general weather heads, if you're interested. It's [info]category_six. One of the mods is a storm watcher and works for Okaloosa emergency operations center.))

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[info]londonbard
2007-07-15 11:17 am UTC (link)
What the hell was the ice for - preserving the bodies?

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[info]sewfishee
2007-07-15 11:47 am UTC (link)
after a hurricane, folks use ice to keep the perishables in the fridge from spoiling. after hurrican fran, we lost power for a week. every day, i would stand in line with my very small children to get ice. my youngest was on medication that had to be refrigerated. (no, the red cross wouldn't help....don't get me started.) it was a royal pain, but possible because our town was not completely obliterated by Fran. trying to get ice to an area after a hurricane is a good idea...if the area is still somewhat functional. After Katrina, New Orleans was no where near functional. there were people who would have gladly welcomed the ice (think superdome), but FEMA couldn't get it to them. (well, ok, if FEMA was organized, the ice could have been delivered, but we all saw how FEMA operates.....)

i have no issue with FEMA trying to get ice to the area. i just can't believe they still had it storage and it cost us $12.5 million to store it! i can't believe they could not find some use for it in 2 yrs.

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[info]rubyspirit
2007-07-15 01:34 pm UTC (link)
i can't believe they could not find some use for it in 2 yrs.

Another question for those Louisiana officials.

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No!!!
[info]btripp
2007-07-15 02:54 pm UTC (link)
"...because of faulty estimates by local officials"

Some fault being attributed to those local "Chocolate City" officials??! That's can't BE! Didn't the Army Corps of Engineers get the memo that Katrina was "all Bush's fault" and that the local officials would have done a perfect job if not for those meddling Republicans?

Duh.


Visit the BTRIPP home page!



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[info]ernunnos
2007-07-15 03:45 pm UTC (link)
It's insurance. Every second you spend buckling up your seatbelt is wasted when you don't have an accident. Every fire extinguisher you buy that isn't used is an economic loss. But you do it anyway. There easily could have been hurricanes in '06, and then that ice would have come in really handy. It didn't and it wasn't, but that's a good thing, the same way not having a car accident or a grease fire in your kitchen is a good thing, even though it means your preparations were wasted.

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[info]evilegg
2007-07-15 05:15 pm UTC (link)
Those are my thoughts.
Getting it here was expensive enough, and time consuming.
If we'd gotten slammed again they would have looked like mad-prepared because that shit was already here.
They still keep telling us to expect a good one this year, so we've already made some preps. BUT- the AF orders him to evac, and pays for it!

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[info]fletch31526
2007-07-16 10:39 pm UTC (link)
I tend to agree... But I'd also be curious as to how much that ice cost in the first place. If storing the ice up until now was cheaper than buying new ice, I see absolutely no problem with it.

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[info]detritus
2007-07-15 08:01 pm UTC (link)
I bet they're using giant propane heaters to melt the ice instead of just leaving it for the sun to do.

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