Banned contaminated Katrina FEMA trailers housing Gulf oil spill cleanup workers

July 1, 2010

An article in The New York Times says FEMA trailers used to house residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina, found to contain high levels of formaldehyde that sickened many people, are finding a second life housing Gulf oil spill cleanup workers, despite being banned for long-term housing by the government.

Within months after Katrina in August of 2005, residents of the trailers complained of health problems including respiratory ailments and burning of the eyes, nose and throat. It was later determined that the 120,000 trailers contained high levels formaldehyde which caused these health problems.

Formaldehyde is a chemical often used in building materials such as particleboard or other pressed wood products. Health effects include eye, nose and throat irritation; wheezing and coughing; fatigue; skin rash; severe allergic reactions. It has been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans, including nose cancer. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that formaldehyde may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen.

In 2006, the federal government decided to sell the contaminated trailers, but with the stipulation that they were not intended to be used as housing. Hundreds of buyers have purchased some 100,000 of the trailers with the requirement by the government to inform subsequent buyers of the use restrictions. Contractors and cleanup workers have been purchasing the trailers, or owners leasing the trailers, since the spill to provide housing.

“These are perfectly good trailers,” Ron Mason owner of Alpha 1 told The New York Times. “Look, you know that new car smell? Well, that’s formaldehyde, too. The stuff is in everything. It’s not a big deal.” The newspaper listed Mason as the owner of the disaster-contracting firm Alpha 1, but he could only be found as the owner of Alpha 1 Roofing of Texarkana, TX.

According to the news source, one of the FEMA trailers shown to a reporter by Mr. Mason had an overpowering smell of formaldehyde inside and all placards that warn of formaldehyde risk and that the trailer is not for housing were missing. Mr. Mason declined to say whether he informed buyers of the risks.

It is questionable whether other trailer sellers are warning buyers of the risk too. The New York Times interviewed several buyers that did not know that the government banned the trailers for use as housing.

An NBC News video about the history and future of the FEMA trailers detailed the controversy. A spokesperson for Henderson Auctions in Livingston, LA, who has bought some 30 thousand of the FEMA trailers, told NBC News that the formaldehyde in the trailers has dissipated over the five years since Katrina. Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson protested the health endangerment of American citizens by using the selling the trailers.