Op-Ed: Toxic Trailers for Tornado Survivors?

If the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s performance following hurricanes Katrina and Rita was not enough to convince you that FEMA needs to be dismantled, please read on.

Such a federal agency (bureaucracy) isn't covered by the Constitution to begin with but that's another debate. Either way, the utter failures of this agency, not to mention scandalous events surrounding it, should give people a clue. Even though lawsuits were filed due to formaldehyde exposure in some of the temporary housing issued by FEMA, the agency intends to get rid of some of the surplus trailers by giving them to recent tornado survivors, per USA Today. People in Arkansas and Tennessee will be receiving trailers that have been sitting in Hope, Arkansas since days following the hurricanes. The whole trailer issue has been the subject of much contention, from the legitimacy of the contracts, prices paid, and overbuying, to the safety of the travel trailers and mobile homes themselves. Some sources, including the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, concluded that the formaldehyde exposure is at higher levels than what is acceptable. FEMA is accused of “dragging its feet” in regard to testing the air quality in the trailers, and may have been advised to do so by its attorneys. Even more disturbing, it appears that FEMA may have been aware of the dangers and may have even instructed employees not to go inside the trailers because the air was unsafe, according to NewsInferno.com. Lawsuits were filed against the trailer manufacturers because of formaldehyde dangers and people currently residing in many FEMA trailers must be moved. Yet, FEMA in its infinite wisdom has somehow determined that trailers in Hope, Arkansas are safe for tornado victims. Is anyone confident in this assessment? To borrow a phrase, no [expletive deleted] way.