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FEMA trailer auction raises health questions

Maintenance worker Don Kehoe makes a call from the top of a FEMA trailer in Baker, La. The federal agency has said it will test for formaldehyde in trailers still occupied by Katrina survivors.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Claudia Lauer Los Angeles Times
Maintenance worker Don Kehoe makes a call from the top of a FEMA trailer in Baker, La. The federal agency has said it will test for formaldehyde in trailers still occupied by Katrina survivors.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

WASHINGTON – A day after hearing testimony about health problems from Hurricane Katrina victims who had lived in government-supplied trailers, members of Congress on Friday questioned why a federal agency was auctioning many of those trailers to dealers and individuals across the country.

“I understand the need to not lose money, but if the trailers are going to make people sick, maybe we should consider cutting our losses,” said Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn.

“A sale is out of the question,” said Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass. “These trailers should be taken out of commission until we can guarantee their safety – and the information we have received so far provides no certainty that the health risks associated with these trailers has been addressed.”

The government acquired tens of thousands of trailers to house Katrina victims after the 2005 hurricane. The General Services Administration, which is in charge of auctioning used government equipment, has been reselling trailers that are no longer in use, auctioning more than 17,000 this year and almost 40,000 since it began in April 2006.

On Thursday, a House committee released documents showing that top officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency knew about reports of possible health problems from formaldehyde in the trailers but did not test in occupied trailers. Three former trailer residents testified that they had suffered health effects from formaldehyde, a common component of building materials that can cause respiratory and other problems in cases of long-term exposure.

At the hearing, FEMA Director R. David Paulison committed the agency to performing a comprehensive test of trailers still being occupied by nearly 60,000 Katrina survivors. But he made no mention of testing trailers that had been reclaimed from hurricane victims who have moved into more permanent housing.

FEMA has not responded to a letter sent in April by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Bernie Thompson, D-Miss., asking whether the agency would test vacated trailers for high levels of formaldehyde before reselling them. Waxman is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which held the Thursday hearing.

Officials at the GSA said each trailer listed on the agency’s Web site as available for auction included a link to information about formaldehyde. But GSA officials also said that no written warning is passed out when buyers pick up the trailers.