FEMA spends $1 billion on ice that's going to just melt
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Hey, here's an opportunity for another Bush photo-op!
The government will pay more than $4 for each of the thousands of five-pound bags of ice ordered for Gulf Coast hurricane-relief efforts that are now sitting unused in tractor-trailers in Gloucester and across the United States, say shipping and ice-making experts.
The same five-pound bag of ice would cost about $1.50 at a neighborhood convenience store.
"It will cost close to $1 billion in trucking for $2 million worth of ice," said James Perdue, owner of J.L. Perdue trucking company of Kearney, Neb.
Fifteen 18-wheelers parked on Rogers Street and Harbor Loop for a second day yesterday waited for hours — some since Monday night — to unload federal shipments of bagged ice that are not needed in the disaster zone caused by Hurricane Katrina, a Federal Emergency Management spokeswoman confirmed this week.
The ice will be placed in cold storage at AmeriCold Logistics, the largest facility of its type on the East Coast, boasting more than 2.8 million cubic feet of space.
Let it melt?
Hundreds of truckers are under contract with FEMA to transport ice for disaster relief efforts being coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But too much ice was ordered, since many of those who would have needed it have been evacuated from the region.
I'm seeing Bush with a bullhorn... On top of a pile of melting ice cubes...
Have an ice day!
