Monday, 24 March 2008
By STACEY SOLIE
Staff Writer

Federal government trailers that have been declared unsafe for occupancy are being donated to local governments and police departments across the state. Many are now in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Throop, Moscow, Tunkhannock and Stroud Township, as well as Luzerne County and the East Stroudsburg School District are among many government entities and municipalities that have accepted donated trailers, which will be used in emergencies as well as for community events, including the annual Throop Cow Flop.

The Scranton Police Department also has requested two trailers, which would serve as mobile command centers.

Federal officials initially procured the trailers to house victims displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This year, researchers found that about one-third of the structures are exuding a cancer-causing formaldehyde gas which can cause symptoms such as burning eyes, nausea and impaired breathing.

Residents are moving out as fast as homes can be found for them, and the government has initiated long-term health studies.
Formaldehyde, a chemical used to speed up manufacturing, is found in many products. It’s particularly common in the inexpensive fiberboard frequently used in trailer interiors. When exposed to air, it vaporizes and can build up, especially if it’s hot and humid and ventilation is poor.

After discovering the formaldehyde problem, federal officials faced a decision of how to dispose of the supply of uninhabitable trailers.

At first, the Federal Emergency Management Agency opted for a capitalist approach, by selling them to the public at deeply discounted prices.

When reports poured in that the trailers were making people sick, FEMA lawyers advised agents to wait to perform follow-up tests.

“The clock is running on our duty to respond to them,” said one e-mail, revealed during a congressional investigation last summer.

Facing criticism, FEMA halted the public auctions and offered to buy the trailers back. With the auction solution nixed, the agency initiated a donation program.

Several of the Northeastern Pennsylvania’s townships and boroughs can count themselves as FEMA beneficiaries.

A good deal?

Along with the annual Cow Flop, Throop’s trailer will be used for Throop National Night Out, as emergency shelter, and for a host of other community activities, said Thomas Lukasewicz, president of the Throop Borough Council, who is not alarmed by emerging toxicity reports.

“I would assume that for short-term usage, that that wouldn’t be a problem,” Lukasewicz said of the trailer’s potential for releasing formaldehyde gas.

“This trailer had a value of $18,500 and we got it for $1,850,” he said. The fee was imposed by FEMA to pay for delivery of the trailer.

“This was a win-win situation.”

The Scranton Police Department’s two trailers, if granted, would be used as mobile command centers during emergencies, said Chief David Elliott, who also is unconcerned about exposure.
“I have a trailer,” Chief Elliott said. “This is in any type of motor home you’re using. The people down there are living in these 24 hours, we’d be in them for a few hours.”

In Luzerne County, the trailers will be used to house emergency relief staff who might otherwise use tents, said Stephen Bekanich, the county’s emergency management director.

Given the latest news about the trailers, the county plans to test them before use, he said.

In East Stroudsburg, the trailer is being converted into a mobile school office, said Eric Forsythe, the director of administrative services for the school district. It also could be used as a place to move students in an emergency.

The intended uses for the trailer are temporary, and they therefore pose little risk, said Forsythe.

Safety tests mixed

Most of the 175 trailers donated and distributed throughout Pennsylvania have been tested for formaldehyde. Not by FEMA, but by Kenneth Hess, with the state Department of General Services, who helped obtain the trailers for Pennsylvania.
Hess read about the formaldehyde controversy last summer, did research on the Internet and began his own testing program. All the tests turned up negative.

“Thus far, we’ve had nothing but good luck,” Hess said.

Good fortune may have played a role, or it could be that the testing equipment used was less sensitive than that used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC tests of 519 trailers this winter showed that one-third had enough formaldehyde gas to cause symptoms of exposure in children, the elderly and in people already predisposed to asthma or other respiratory problems.

Five percent had enough formaldehyde gas to cause healthy adults to experience symptoms, which can include coughing, burning eyes, dry throat, bleeding from the nose and wheezing.

The CDC also warned that its tests were conducted in the winter. Warmer, humid weather would likely increase the release of toxic gas.

In addition to short-term effects, formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, according to a 2004 announcement by a cancer-research division of the World Health Organization. Exposure increases the risk of nose and throat cancer, and has been linked with leukemia.

Through the years, a multitude of federal agencies have developed conflicting threshold recommendations for formaldehyde exposure.

Hess based his trailer tests on a standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which recommends against exceeding 0.1 parts per million. This is stricter than one set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — 0.75 ppm for an 8-hour period — but more generous than another, set in partnership with the EPA, of 0.04 ppm for one to 14 days of exposure, set by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

The strictest formaldehyde standard in the world, of 0.0145 ppm, was adopted last year by California, and both Oregon and Minnesota are looking into how to adopt this standard, said Michael Wolfe, a California-based environmental consultant to the wood products industry. This standard is based on health, economic analysis and an assessment of available technology, Wolfe said.

“People in the health and environmental side think this isn’t going far enough, while industry people say, ‘You’re squeezing us until we pop,’ ” Wolfe said.

Cheap production blamed

Formaldehyde use in wood by U.S. producers has declined over the last 10 years, Wolfe said. However, he suspected the opposite was true in China, the origin of a large portion of composite wood products on the market today.

While there are no conclusive studies on the matter, an increased use of formaldehyde may explain why it’s cheaper to ship Chinese particleboard around the world than to buy U.S.-produced wood, he said.

“Formaldehyde, it speeds things up. The glue dries faster, and you can run (equipment) faster. They have fewer breakdowns and fewer gum-ups,” said Wolfe.

An attorney in Galveston, Texas, who serves on a committee representing 10,000 clients in a lawsuit against the trailer manufacturers, suspects that low-quality wood and low-quality workmanship played a role in the high levels of formaldehyde in the FEMA trailers.

The government, said Tony Buzbee, was offering potentially lucrative no-bid contracts for the trailers.

“(FEMA) asked, ‘How many do you have now?’ How many could you have in six weeks?’ ” Buzbee said. “They were creating these trailers in 16 to 18 minutes each.”

Meanwhile, as FEMA helps thousands of families move out of its trailers, the agency remains relatively quiet.

Hess in Harrisburg said he received no instructions about the trailers until right after the Feb. 14 release of the CDC test results.

“They said if anyone had any questions about formaldehyde, to direct them to FEMA.”

ssolie@timesshamrock.com