Clinton Commends FEMA for Taking Action on Toxic Trailers

Press Release

Clinton Commends FEMA for Taking Action on Toxic Trailers

New Policy Echoes Senator's Legislation Requiring Safer Temporary Housing

Clinton Renews Call for FEMA to Move Hurricane Victims Out of Contaminated Trailers

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today welcomed the announcement by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that all future trailers and temporary housing units will meet higher standards of indoor air quality, a requirement outlined in legislation the Senator introduced in February. Senator Clinton also repeated her call for the Bush Administration to stop delaying and immediately move the thousands of displaced victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita out of contaminated FEMA trailers and into safe and stable alternative housing.

"I am pleased that FEMA is finally taking long overdue action to ensure that the displaced victims of future disasters are not consigned to contaminated and substandard temporary housing. This new policy is in line with my recent legislation and will be a significant step forward. But all Americans should be outraged that so many victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still living in exactly that kind of unsafe and unacceptable housing. Two and a half years after those disasters, the Bush Administration still has not lived up to their responsibility to the people of the Gulf region," Senator Clinton said.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims living in FEMA trailers are being exposed to dangerous levels of formaldehyde - on average, about five times higher than the levels of formaldehyde in the average home. Senator Clinton introduced legislation to ensure that all trailers and mobile homes purchased by FEMA meet the safety standards for properties maintained by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which requires that all properties used in its programs "be free of hazardous materials, contamination, toxic chemicals and gasses, and radioactive substances, where a hazard could affect the health and safety of occupants." Senator Clinton also sent a letter to President Bush decrying the Administration's record of failure and incompetence in addressing the aftermath of the hurricanes and the needs of the victims. She called for all the displaced victims to be moved out of the contaminated trailers.

On Thursday, FEMA announced that all future temporary housing units purchased by the agency would meet strict new procurement specifications for indoor air quality, including a requirement that formaldehyde emission levels be significantly reduced inside the units. Each unit must test below .016 parts per million (ppm), which would be comparable to the levels in most U.S. homes, where the CDC says indoor air concentrations of formaldehyde typically range from .010 to .050 ppm.

Source