As the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina rolls near, the government is still learning its lesson about disaster preparedness and effective responses.  But it seems that responsibility for the formaldehyde-laden trailers sent to Katrina victims has yet to be fully assigned. 

On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing entitled "Manufacturers of FEMA Trailers and Elevated Formaldehyde Levels."  While the original purpose of the hearing was to figure out how and why the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was giving homeless Katrina survivors trailers built with dangerous levels of the chemical formaldehyde, the meeting quickly dissolved into squabbles and the blame game.  Nothing seems to have been resolved.

Since 2006, FEMA and the manufacturers of the trailers have been receiving complaints from trailer occupants.  People have been citing lingering odors, burning eyes, sore throats, headaches, and nausea - all symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning.

Formaldehyde is typically present in homes, no matter what type of home it is.  It is often used in materials such as carpet, wood and vinyl, and trace amounts are present in fish, chemical cleaners, and even our breath.  But testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Sierra Club, FEMA, and some of the trailer manufacturers have shown that the homes they gave to Katrina victims contain hazardous levels of the chemical.

The average house has between 10 and 20 parts per billion (ppb) of formaldehyde.  (A part per billion is the equivalent of adding one pinch of salt to ten tons of potato chips, or one eye drop of a substance added to 500 barrels of water.)  At 100 ppb, formaldehyde is at a level of concern for the National Cancer Institute.  And according to the American Society of Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers, 100 ppb is the maximum formaldehyde level for continuous indoor air concentration.  

                         Chart showing formaldehyde levels 

Results from the Sierra Club's study showed that 83 percent of the 52 trailers they tested contained formaldehyde levels above 100 ppb. An independent test showed that occupied trailers from trailer manufacturer Gulf Stream contained formaldehyde levels of 590 ppb, while some of their unoccupied trailers, still sealed from the factory, contained a toxic 2,000 ppb.  

So the question is, who is at fault for these high levels of formaldehyde?  The trailer manufacturers, who chose the materials and didn't give FEMA full testing results?  Or FEMA, who left the trailers sealed up tightly in the sun, exacerbating formaldehyde release inside the trailers, and then distributed them?  

The answer seemed to vary with party lines, and as of yet, there is no clear majority opinion.

Rep. Eleanor Norton (D-DC) believed that the trailer manufacturers had a large hand in the situation, and had a moral responsibility to tell trailer occupants about the hazardous living conditions.

Testifying at the hearing were the heads of the four largest trailer suppliers to FEMA. When Norton asked Jim Shea, the chairman of Gulf Stream, whether or not his company disclosed to FEMA that the unoccupied trailers they tested had up to 2,000 ppb, his answer was that he thought the information was "irrelevant."

"Irrelevant?" Norton asked.  "Why was that irrelevant?  These are unoccupied trailers about to be distributed to human beings in the Gulf Coast.  I wonder if the companies have learned anything from this experience."

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) agreed.  He said, "Those unoccupied trailers became occupied trailers.  Somebody should be held accountable for not telling families they are moving into hazardous situations."

The Republicans were more focused on blaming the government, rather than the manufacturers.  

"The customer in this situation was FEMA," Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) said.  When there was a problem, Gulf Stream went to the customer: FEMA.  The trailer manufacturers are just caught in a lingering tempest of government scapegoats."

In 2006, Gulf Stream asked FEMA if it should test trailers.  But according to Shea, FEMA said no.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) played the middleman and decided both parties are at fault.

"This was a failure of government.  The government should have set standards, should have told the public about the danger of formaldehyde, and the government failed.  But it was also a failure of industry," Waxman said.  "Some of you did testing, and found there was a problem, and then that was the end of it. You did tests and didn't follow up."

Although Waxman assigned blame to both parties for the formaldehyde debacle, no one from FEMA attended the hearing. The only person from a federal agency to testify was a director from the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  So much for government accountability.

Oversight Committee members discussed the reasons FEMA's voice could not be found that day.  But they couldn't agree when FEMA was actually invited to testify, with answers ranging from early June to last Thursday.

Blame shifting and truancy aside, the question of what is going to be done about the toxic trailers still lingers?  While Congress plays the blame game, 15,000 potentially hazardous trailers are still occupied by Katrina victims.  And just last week, the CDC released a report stating that anyone living still living in a FEMA allocated trailer with over 500 ppb should move out immediately.  That same week,  FEMA began allocating new trailers to flood victims in Indiana.  

Indiana State Agriculture Director Andy Miller, who is overseeing Indiana's disaster recovery, said the flood victims won't be using the same type of dwellings some Katrina victims blame for giving them frequent headaches, nosebleeds and other ailments. Miller wet on to say that the Katrina victims lived in trailer homes meant for shorter-term use.

In the meantime, federal officials have vowed to test all trailers shipped to Indiana flood victims for formaldehyde before allowing anyone to live in one. Michael H. Smith, the federal coordinating officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the Army Corps of Engineers will oversee testing of about 700 unused mobile homes that have been stored at south-central Indiana's Camp Atterbury.