[StBernard] Feds to keep picking up full costs of hurricane debris removal

[Westley Annis]

03:43 PM CDT on Thursday, June 29, 2006

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press 
  
WASHINGTON-- The federal government will keep picking up the full costs of
clearing hurricane wreckage in the Gulf Coast for the rest of 2006, the
White House said Thursday. 
 
A program that reimburses state and local authorities for 100 percent of
debris removal bills was set to expire Friday, shifting 10 percent of the
costs to local governments. 
 
But lawmakers and local leaders Louisiana and Mississippi, where tens of
thousands of homes were destroyed in floods and high winds during Hurricane
Katrina, have said the area is too cash-strapped to pay even that much. 
 
"It's a huge help for all of us on the ground because the debris pile is
unprecedented," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La. 
 
Vitter said the federal costs to continue the program were expected to reach
in the tens of millions of dollars. So far, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency has spent $3.6 billion to remove 98.6 million cubic yards of debris
from the region -- enough trash to pile two miles high across five football
fields. 
 
The government will pay for all debris removal in five Louisiana parishes --
where about 17.8 million cubic yards of wreckage remains -- through Dec. 31.
The parishes are Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Washington and
Plaquemines. 
 
The program was extended though next May 15 for projects in the Mississippi
Sound, including rivers and tributaries in state's southern region.
Officials said Mississippi received a longer deadline because it was slower
to be reimbursed by Washington. An estimated 2.1 million cubic yards of
debris remain in Mississippi, according to the most recent FEMA data
available. 
 
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)