FEMA sending trucks of ice to Maine?

[Biggirl]

http://ksdk.com/news/us_world_article.aspx?storyid=85020

I waivered between posting this in the Pit and raving about the idiocy of this agency and GQ to ask why they are sending ice to Maine. I’ve decided to give the government the benefit of the doubt and not rant until I know there really isn’t a good reason for this.

So. . . why is FEMA sending trucks of ice to Maine?

[Shagnasty]

Wow. That is spooky. It sounds like they are being called to build some kind of “Ice Rink of Dreams”.

[rocking_chair]

just saw this on countdown… perhaps because

ophelia did get somewhat close to maine…

they got confused on where exactly acadians fled to…

they got their “m” states confused…

i’m sure there is some sort of bizarre fema explanation for this, i just can’t imagine what.

[Squink]

Maybe meant to ship it to the other Portland:

Each of these missions is performed by groups of Corps of Engineers employees who are trained and ready prior to the advent of a disaster and know that when they – when the disaster occurs, they will be called in to respond. We have them standing in various stages of readiness. So for example, we know that a team in Portland, Oregon, might be the next team up to go and handle ice.

Defense Department Briefing on Hurricane Katrina Repairs, September 15, 2005

[fifty-six]

It must cost less to let it melt. Thats why they are driving it all the way to Maine.
Thats what happens when congress gets all emotional over some event and acts in haste. That 52 billion should have come in 5-10 billion chunks spread out over time with oversite. It is hard work waisting that much money.

[Punoqllads]

The article at http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/1978720.shtml explain’s FEMA’s rationale somewhat:

“[After disasters,] People go pick up ice and take it back to their house because they don’t have electricity. With Katrina, most of these people don’t have houses so they didn’t come get ice,” she said.

So, FEMA bureaucrat #1 counts up the number of folks affected by Katrina, multiplies it by a value in some book somewhere, and starts the process of sending a kajillion tons of ice to New Orleans. FEMA bureaucrat #2 counts up the amount of ice that it being used per day, multiplies it by the expected number of remaining days its needed, and decides only half a kajillion tons of ice are needed. FEMA bureaucrat #3 compares the cost of storing half a kajillion tons of ice and using it as needed versus throwing away the extra ice and buying more ice in the future as needed, and decides that storing it is the cheaper option.

[CalMeacham]

I’ll give the beleagured agency a chance, but this sounds

ABSURD!!!

Why send it all to one place so far from any conceivable use? Why send it al to one town, in any case? Especially when the only major a in or out is Interstate 95, and it could easily be blocked up in there by some mishap on the Maine Turnpike? Why send it days away from where it’s likely to be needed?

I hope this is some garbled or mitaken report, becase otherwise it looks like someone at FEMA said to him/herself “We need to send this someplace cold? But where? I’ve got it! Maine!”

[samclem]

Hell! This one is gonna wind up in the Pit, so let’s put it there.

samclem GQ Moderator

[samclem]

Now that I"ve gotten my official duties out of the way, I’d like to say…

WTF???

Don’t they realize how many toilet seats the Defense Department could have bought with the savings if they had only let the ice melt?

[anson2995]

Ah, come on samclem. This was a factual question with a factual answer.

According to this story:

As part of its response to Hurricane Katrina, FEMA ordered 180 million pounds of ice to be delivered to staging areas in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to spokeswoman Debbie Wing.

Hundreds of tractor-trailers from all parts of the country made their way South in recent weeks to deliver the ice.

But when it became apparent that it had more ice than needed, FEMA directed many trucks to strategic locations along the East Coast so they would be ready with ice and water in case Hurricane Ophelia, which passed by the Eastern Seaboard last week, caused widespread damage.

Meanwhile, hundreds of other trucks were sent to cold storage facilities across the country where then ice would be available if needed in the future, Wing said.

“We don’t waste commodities,” she said. “We store it for future needs for future disasters.”

[Punoqllads]

The article I linked to explained that, too. FEMA contracted out with AmeriCold Logistics for storing the ice. AmeriCold has facilities all across the US, and has shipped some of the ice to Tennessee and Pennsylvania, but is shipping the rest to Maine. There’s no way to tell if FEMA is picking up the tab for the entire rerouting or some percentage thereof. Basically, FEMA bureaucrat #1 is at fault for not thinking the whole thing through, and FEMA bureaucrat #0 may or may not be at fault for negotiating a bad deal with AmeriCold. And this assumes that bureaucrat #3’s estimates are correct and the shipping and storing costs for the ice in Maine will cost less than letting it all melt and buying additional ice down the line.

[World_Eater]

@samclem

Don’t they realize how many toilet seats the Defense Department could have bought with the savings if they had only let the ice melt?

Those $60,000 DOD toilet seats?

[samclem]

@anson2995

Ah, come on samclem. This was a factual question with a factual answer.

According to this story:

Yes, I understand. But you can get/give factual answers in the Pit, and then continue on with the roasting.

I made a judgement that this one would wind up in the Pit. Thanks for adding some factual info along the way.

Just a judgement call.

[CalMeacham]

Aha! punoqllads’ link (we simulposted) gives the following:

The federal government is diverting hundreds of truckloads of bagged ice cubes from the Gulf Coast hurricane relief effort to cold storage in Portland and other cities…Georgia-based AmeriCold Logistics provides cold storage facilities across the country, and many of the ice deliveries have been sent to its facilities in places such as Tennessee and Pennsylvania.…

So the story as given is, in fact, incomplete. Tennessee, certainly is much closer to where you’d expect hurricanes to strike. The earlier story suggested it was all going to maine, which is odd for the reasons I gave.
Sending even some of it to Maine still seems decidedly weird, though, if it’s intended for hurricane relief.

[Apos]

How much do you really think you know about Maine though? For all YOU know, they could have hurricanes there every DAY.

[vivalostwages]

Yeah. Won’t someone think of the cranberry bogs?

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

@vivalostwages

Yeah. Won’t someone think of the cranberry bogs?

Nope, those are in Massachusetts.You must be thinking of the blueberry barrens.

[CalMeacham]

How much do you really think you know about Maine though? For all YOU know, they could have hurricanes there every DAY.

Took my daughter there a week and a half ago. Took an hour to get there.

Hurricanes Maine doesn’t get. I think FEMA must’ve been stocking up for the blizzards they get up heah.

[Frank]

@samclem

Don’t they realize how many toilet seats the Defense Department could have bought with the savings if they had only let the ice melt?

My understanding is that FEMA has a call out to the nation’s ice sculptors to make toilet seats out of the leftover ice. That’s a win-win if I’ve ever seen one.

[ioioio]

You must have missed two other recent news stories:

• “FEMA to store billions of gallons of cherry syrup in Maine”
• “Government study reveals that nothing cheers up a disaster victim like a cherry Slurpee”

In a study conducted at the New Orleans Superdome two days after hurricane Katrina hit the city, 100% of those interviewed agreed strongly that they would like to have a cherry Slurpee.

Having learned this important lesson from Katrina, FEMA is now absolutely prepared to rush cherry Slurpees to the citizens of Maine should disaster strike.
Unless they can’t find the key to the warehouse or something.