Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Holds a Hearing On 'Post-Katrina Disaster Response and Recovery: Evaluating Fema's Continuing Efforts in the Gulf Coast and Response to Recent Disasters'

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Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Holds a Hearing On 'Post-Katrina Disaster Response and Recovery: Evaluating Fema's Continuing Efforts in the Gulf Coast and Response to Recent Disasters'

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HOLDS A HEARING ON "POST-KATRINA DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY: EVALUATING FEMA'S CONTINUING EFFORTS IN THE GULF COAST AND RESPONSE TO RECENT DISASTERS"

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

SPEAKERS: DEL. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, D-D.C. CHAIRWOMAN REP. MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, D-MAINE REP. MICHAEL ARCURI, D-N.Y. REP. CHRISTOPHER CARNEY, D-PA. REP. TIM WALZ, D-MINN. REP. HEATH SHULER, D-N.C. REP. PARKER GRIFFITH, D-ALA. REP. RUSS CARNAHAN, D-MO. REP. DONNA EDWARDS, D-MD. REP. TOM S.P. PERRIELLO, D-VA. REP. BETSY MARKEY, D-COLO. REP. JAMES L. OBERSTAR, D-MINN. EX OFFICIO

REP. MARIO DIAZ-BALART, R-FLA. RANKING MEMBER REP. SAM GRAVES, R-MO. REP. TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, R-ILL. REP. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, R-W.VA. REP. MARY FALLIN, R-OKLA. REP. ANH "JOSEPH" CAO, R-LA. REP. BRETT GUTHRIE, R-KY.

WITNESSES: DAVID GARRATT, ACTING DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

JAMES STARK, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA'S GULF COAST RECOVERY OFFICE

PAUL RAINWATER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUISIANA RECOVERY AUTHORITY

RODGER WILDER, IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT, GULF COAST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

GARY LOGSDON, JUDGE/EXECUTIVE, GRAYSON COUNTY

[*] NORTON: Pleased to welcome our witnesses to this second hearing devoted to our post-Katrina evaluation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

To assess FEMA's progress as the nation's only disaster response agency, we will examine progress not only in Louisiana, Mississippi where FEMA's failing had been documented by our subcommittee and many others, but also in Texas, which recently saw major damage from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and in Grayson County, Kentucky, declared a major disaster county by President Obama after recent ice storms devastated the mid-section of our country. Hurricane Katrina was a disaster of mammoth proportions, but its major lesson went well beyond its scope and uniqueness and the failures of FEMA in 2006. Katrina teaches that FEMA must be nimble enough to move quickly before and after any Stafford Act emergency or disaster.

The country cannot be assured that FEMA is always prepared without frequent oversight by our subcommittee which began in the 110th Congress. Gustav, Ike, and this year's ice storms all provide markers by which to measure FEMA's progress in disaster response and recovery agencies.

We want to look at outstanding issues. In Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Kentucky, and Louisiana, there are still public assistance project awaiting disposition by FEMA. In Texas, there are continued challenges with remaining storm debris and with providing housing in the coastal areas.

In Kentucky, although initial reports seemed to indicate a satisfactory response by FEMA, we need to understand the expectation concerning FEMA's assistance to local counties and whether they were, indeed, met in Kentucky and throughout the mid-west.

Today, we will be particularly interested in FEMA's work in housing, in rebuilding public infrastructure, and in case management services during the three-plus years of recovery in Louisiana since Katrina.

We remain particularly concerned about the backlog of large infrastructure projects that have been delayed in the aftermath of Katrina. The sewage and water board of New Orleans's main facility, an essential component of city infrastructure -- of any city anywhere -- is still not protected after the disaster because of protracted negotiations over the definition of mitigation.

Whatever the legitimate differences between Louisiana and FEMA, there is no excuse for failure to devise a way to come to agreement, to use millions upon millions of available funds that had been appropriated by this Congress to repair an essential part of the New Orleans infrastructure, which remains, as a result, vulnerable to natural disaster today.

Moreover, there are many public assistance infrastructure issues in municipal systems across the state still waiting on FEMA. And an agreement to proceed the rebuilding of charity hospitals, an essential part of the New Orleans health infrastructure; and the rebuilding of the criminal justice infrastructure in New Orleans are stalemated.

Why have projects of great priority stalled or slowed for all these years? Why does Louisiana currently have 4,135 projects determined to be, quote, "in dispute due to excessive delay, overt disagree...

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