Thursday, July 19, 2007
Hurricane Katrina Response
Committee Probes FEMA's Response to Reports of Toxic Trailers
Supplemental Memo and Exhibits
This memorandum provides additional information about the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reports of dangerous levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers. The memorandum is based on a review of nearly 5,000 pages of documents received from FEMA. Despite the issuance of a subpoena by the Oversight Committee, FEMA continues to withhold responsive documents from the Committee.
The FEMA documents show that the agency received multiple warnings about dangerous levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers, including warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but refused to conduct testing of occupied trailers because testing "would imply FEMA's ownership of this issue." The documents depict a battle between FEMA's field staff, who recognized an "immediate need" for formaldehyde testing, and FEMA officials in headquarters, particularly FEMA attorneys, who consistently rejected the pleas of the field staff and refused to authorize testing of occupied trailers.
In March 2006, news articles reported high levels of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers. FEMA field staff urged immediate action, saying "This needs to be fixed today," "we need to take a proactive approach," and there is an "immediate need" for a plan of action. FEMA testing of a trailer occupied by a pregnant mother and her infant in April 2006 - apparently the only occupied FEMA trailer ever tested by FEMA - showed formaldehyde levels that were 75 times higher than the maximum workplace exposure level recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Despite the evidence of a formaldehyde problem in FEMA trailers, FEMA officials in headquarters, acting on the advice of FEMA lawyers, refused to test occupied FEMA trailers. One FEMA attorney explained: "Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK. . Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them." Even though FEMA did not perform testing, a public statement from headquarters in May 2006 asserted: "we are confident that there is no ongoing risk."
In July 2006, EPA and CDC officials consulted with FEMA and warned that FEMA trailers were likely to have high levels of formaldehyde. According to a July 11, 2006, e-mail, EPA officials told FEMA: "they have done some preliminary research to establish a health base level for formaldehyde and it appears that it will be much lower than we suspected. . The levels we find after testing may well be more than 100 times higher than the health base level." Another FEMA e-mail reported that the EPA research "has indicated that the acceptable level of formaldehyde will probably turn out to be much lower than we anticipated, and our units may be far above that level even after we ventilate them."
In consultation with EPA, FEMA staff developed a plan to test trailers to "determine formaldehyde concentrations emanating from the trailer encountered during living conditions." But this testing plan was rejected. Instead, FEMA decided to test unoccupied trailers with their windows open, their ventilation fans running, and their air conditioning units operating. FEMA staff called this test protocol "unrealistic" because "it doesn't seem that the variables are in sync with the typical living conditions for the average applicant." Nonetheless, the test results became the basis for continuing FEMA claims which minimized the risks of formaldehyde exposure.
The FEMA documents show that the agency repeatedly received complaints from occupants about high formaldehyde levels, but brushed them aside. On one occasion, a husband and wife living in a FEMA trailer notified FEMA that they suspected that formaldehyde exposure may have caused the death of their baby girl. When a FEMA official visited the trailer, she reported that the formaldehyde levels made her "nose burn." Even so, there is no record that the trailer was ever tested or that future occupants were warned about the formaldehyde risks. After a death of an occupant in a trailer was blamed on formaldehyde exposure, a teleconference with 28 staff from FEMA and other federal agencies recommended an investigation and testing. FEMA lawyers called the conference call "not acceptable" and there is no record of follow-up action being taken. In another instance, when a trailer occupant complained that formaldehyde was "causing her respiratory problems and making her eyes burn," her request for alternative accommodations was denied.
Currently, there are over 76,000 travel trailers and manufactured homes that are being used as temporary housing by victims of Hurricane Katrina and other Gulf Coast hurricanes. There still has been no comprehensive testing by FEMA to assess the levels of formaldehyde in these trailers or the risk to the occupants.
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