[Sept. 5, 2005/verbatim statement] POPLARVILLE, Mississippi – U.S. Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi emerged from a one-on-one meeting with President Bush today in Poplarville asserting, “I am demanding help for the people of Mississippi to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.”
Lott who has been battling the bureaucracy of FEMA and MEMA jurisdictional squabbles called on the President to authorize the immediate transport of 20,000 trailers, now sitting idle in Atlanta, to the Mississippi coast to provide housing for the tens of thousands of Mississippians now homeless. FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are signed specifying their exact locations in Mississippi.
“Mississippians are homeless, hungry and hurting,” Lott said. “FEMA and MEMA need to be saying ‘yes’ to Mississippi’s needs, not ‘no.’”
Lott thanked the President for his relief and recovery efforts, but in addition to briefing the President on Mississippi’s specific commodity and cash needs, he re-emphasized the need to curtail bureaucratic red tape as the relief process continues.
“This is an emergency situation without peer, like nothing our generation has ever encountered,” Lott said. “If suffering people along the Gulf Coast from Mobile to New Orleans are going to recover as soon as possible, we’ll need an unprecedented public and private effort that can’t be hampered by a process geared toward much lesser disasters.
“The President understands this, and I am optimistic we’re seeing a dramatic improvement in the relief effort and in the lives of Gulf Coast residents. We’ve got a long way to go, and that’s the very reason we must remain focused solely on helping people now.”
Lott said his paramount concern is the distribution of fuel to emergency vehicles key to the immediate relief and economic recovery efforts. The Senator has reached out to every major oil executive and is receiving regular status reports on the pipeline restoration process.
“Fuel shortages will continue as 95 percent of Gulf crude oil and 88 percent of natural gas production have been idled by Katrina,” Lott said. “Nine refineries, including Chevron Pascagoula, the nation’s second-largest refinery, have been shut down. That’s about 25 percent of America’s entire oil and gas production. But the pipelines carrying energy sources are close to 100 percent restored which means we can expect to see additional gasoline stations open throughout the state. I urge Mississippians to conserve as much fuel as possible while the shortages persist, and we’ll continue working toward full restoration of our production and refining capacity.”
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Previous Comments
Lott v. FEMA; this is an interesting part of that release: Lott who has been battling the bureaucracy of FEMA and MEMA jurisdictional squabbles called on the President to authorize the immediate transport of 20,000 trailers, now sitting idle in Atlanta, to the Mississippi coast to provide housing for the tens of thousands of Mississippians now homeless. FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are signed specifying their exact locations in Mississippi. Ship the damn trailors.
#134281 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 5 2005
The FEMA director (Michael Brown) dropped the ball big time. But then again what else would you expect from a man who was fired from his last job overseeing horseshows because of incompetence? www.magnoliapolitics.blogspot.com
#134282 | Author: JoeJ | Date: Sep 6 2005
RE: red tape, check this out: Within hours of Katrina blowing through south LA, MS, and AL, Walmart had a convoy going south on I-55 from their distribution center in Brookhaven, MS with water, food, clothes. At the FEMA checkpoint into LA, the convoy was turned back because FEMA didn’t have its sh*t together! Many people saw this convoy and were amazed when it was rejected. At the very least, FEMA should have asked them to drop the trailers at this checkpoint for distribution when they were ready. Kudos to Walmart for the quick action. BOO-dos to FEMA for not having sense enough to accept the aid.
#134283 | Author: Steph | Date: Sep 6 2005
Yes, you don’t hear me say this often, but kudos to Wal-Mart. Also, any want to make “Fire Brownie” buttons? Bet they’d sell like hotcakes.
#134284 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 6 2005
I second that kudo to Wal-Mart. Ladd, I’d buy about 20 of those buttons! www.magnoliapolitics.blogspot.com
#134285 | Author: JoeJ | Date: Sep 6 2005
“Lott who has been battling the bureaucracy of FEMA and MEMA jurisdictional squabbles called on the President to authorize the immediate transport of 20,000 trailers, now sitting idle in Atlanta, to the Mississippi coast to provide housing for the tens of thousands of Mississippians now homeless. FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are signed specifying their exact locations in Mississippi” Are you kidding me? Can I sign the contracts and assign locations? My best good friend in Hattiesburg can help direct me to some places I don’t know that well, like Waveland and Poplarville.
#134286 | Author: Melissa | Date: Sep 6 2005
Don’t know if it is true or not, but I read on another message board that Gene Taylor was doing an interview on NPR. He told of a National Guard convoy that was turned away by FEMA because they didn’t have a National Guard escort for protection- they ended up returning to their base (I am assuming Camp Shelby), loaded everything on helocopters, and flew *over* the FEMA roadblock to get to the devastated area! Added about a million dollars and many hours to the shipping, but what do you expect? But as they say on Faux News, “its too early to start blaming people- lets fix the problem first…”
#134287 | Author: Rico | Date: Sep 6 2005
It’s funny how it’s “blame” when it’s pointed toward their folks, but “accountability” when pointed at people they don’t like. I think we have to see where the problems are asap, in order to fix them and be ready for another one that could happen anytime. Let the chips fall where they friggin’ may. This ain’t about protecting some political party’s reputation or someone’s feelings. I LOVE the idea that the National Guard flew the hell over FEMA to get where they needed to be, if that’s what happened. But the cost of doing that is indefensible.
#134288 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 6 2005
From Lott today/verbatim: Navy Hospital Ship ëCOMFORTí To Arrive on Mississippi Coast This Week ñ Capacity increased from 250 to 1,000 beds ñ #134289 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 6 2005
Another from/verbatim: U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Sending Nationís Condolences to Hurricane Katrina Victims ñ Commits to Stand by Them in Relief, Recovery Efforts ñ #134290 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 6 2005
Another from Lott/verbatim: Trailers for Katrina Victims Enroute to South Mississippi, FEMA Tells Lott ñ Senator Grateful, Hopeful for Much Larger Second Wave ñ #134291 | Author: DonnaLadd | Date: Sep 6 2005
