You Can't Sue the Corps? How About Suing FEMA?
Everybody at least thinks they know about the role FEMA played, or mis-played, in the response to the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. What many people still don't realize is the role the US Army Corps of Engineers played in designing that disaster.
A lot of folks have bet against the lawsuits filed by a group of New Orleans homeowners against the Corps, on the grounds that the Corps, as a federal agency, is immune from legal action. Well, tell that to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, who Friday filed suit against the Corps to force it to stop shipping water from Lake Lanier, Atlanta's primary water source, to Florida.
As for FEMA, they're still doing a heck of a job. According to the NYT, the agency still has not begun field-testing their trailers for the formaldehyde fumes that many trailer occupants complain of. What the Times doesn't ask about the delay: does postponing the tests until the end of summer (a time when most Gulf Coast trailers have windows closed and AC on, thus preventing the venting of the fumes) mean FEMA is betting that fall-weather open windows will make the numbers look better?
Posted October 20, 2007 | 05:48 PM (EST)