In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
And yet, I just was told on cable news that the fires were Clinton's fault because he and all Democrats were such environmental wackos they wouldn't allow any clearing to happen anywhere. I actually did.
U.S. Rejected Davis on Aid to Clear Trees
FEMA spent six months studying the governor's request, then turned it down hours before fires began, saying state was already getting funds.
SACRAMENTO — The Bush administration took six months to evaluate Gov. Gray Davis' emergency request last spring for $430 million to clear dead trees from fire-prone areas of Southern California.
The request was finally denied Oct. 24, only hours before wildfires roared out of control in what has become the largest fire disaster in California history.
Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs), a leader in the effort to get federal assistance for fire prevention, questioned Thursday why the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not rule sooner.
"FEMA's decision was wrong," Bono said. "The timing couldn't have been worse.... We knew this disaster was going to happen with certainty. It was only a matter of when, and we were trying to beat the clock with removing the dead trees."
If Davis had received the denial earlier, Bono said, he would have had time to wage an appeal.
FEMA spokesman Chad Kolton said the agency denied Davis' request for an emergency declaration because California was already receiving more than $40 million from the departments of Agriculture and Interior to deal with a bark beetle infestation that has damaged thousands of acres of forest in the San Bernardino Mountains.
$430 million to clear dead trees was rejected because $40 million was already being provided for bark beetle infestation? And what is the impact on the economy of these fires? What is the true horrible price of these people who's homes and communities no longer exist. What do you say to those who are dead? Sorry, you see, Halliburton really needed the money more.
"Federal agencies were already engaged in a very substantive way," Kolton said. "Federal assistance was already being provided."
For beetle infestation.
Davis' request, made in a letter to President Bush dated April 16, took months to process, Kolton said, because "we obviously wanted to consider this issue very carefully."
And the obviously did a bad job.
Here is the sad truth. If Arnold wrote that letter California would have got the funds, quick, simple, end of story. Bush's petty politics has killed people, not only in Iraq, but in California.
- rob 3:22 PM - [PermaLink] -
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