FEMA Attorneys Delayed Testing Trailers

Concerned about potential liability, FEMA counsel delayed testing of trailers for formaldehyde, used by victims of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding, according to documents released by a House committee.

“Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK,” one FEMA attorney wrote on June 15, 2006, three months after the first news reports appeared about possible formaldehyde-related problems. “Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them.”

Many of the documents are available here.

–BC