[StBernard] St. Bernard sewage reveals waste

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard sewage reveals waste
Posted by tbaquet August 31, 2007 8:30PM


By Bill Walsh 
Washington bureau 

WASHINGTON -- When floodwaters were finally pumped out of St. Bernard Parish
after the 2005 hurricanes, local officials had hoped to move quickly to
rebuild basic services, including the sewage-treatment system, so 66,000
displaced residents could return home. 

They hadn't counted on "44 CFR 206.226." 

That's one of the myriad federal regulations that tell FEMA what it can and
cannot pay for when disasters strike. It turns out that a new
sewage-treatment system in St. Bernard Parish wasn't covered. 

A new system would have run about $38.6 million plus an additional $8
million to ring it with a levee to protect it from future flooding. But
instead of footing the bill, FEMA encouraged locals to make repairs to the
old, antiquated system. Two years later, they remain at loggerheads. 

While officials negotiated and navigated through the complex regulations,
federal taxpayers have paid $41.4 million through mid-August for heavy
trucks to haul raw sewage away, almost 90 percent of what it would cost for
the new system. And the trucks are still rumbling through St. Bernard's
streets today. 

Members of Congress may have thought that when it approved $110 billion for
Gulf Coast recovery, spending the money would be the easy part. They were
wrong. As the gatekeeper for most federal disaster money, FEMA hews strictly
to the Robert T. Stafford Act and a host of federal regulations that spell
out in mind-numbing detail how disaster money can be spent. Although the
agency has shown signs recently of being more flexible in how it interprets
the rules, the recovery throughout southern Louisiana has been characterized
by legalistic arguments over arcane federal regulations. 

Some say those rules, designed to protect against waste and fraud, are a
hindrance when it comes to addressing a disaster on the scale of Katrina.
When Congress reconvenes this month, Louisiana lawmakers, including Sen.
Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, are
expected to push for changes that grant FEMA more flexibility in responding
to catastrophes. 

"Why is the federal government haggling with folks over what degree of
repairs are recoverable after a major American city was put under water by
failed federal levees?" said Andy Kopplin, executive director of the
Louisiana Recovery Authority. "Why not give the community the money and make
them document every red cent?" 

Push for consolidation 

The regulation that has delayed St. Bernard Parish from building a new sewer
system is Title 44, section 206.226 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It
says that for FEMA to cover the costs of replacing damaged public property
it must be "cost effective." Cost effectiveness is determined by the "50
percent rule," which is further explained in the 333-page FEMA "Public
Assistance Policy Manual." Under the rules, FEMA will pay only to replace a
facility if the repairs would cost more than 50 percent of totally
rebuilding. 

In painstaking detail, FEMA surveyed the damage at St. Bernard's seven
sewage-treatment facilities after the storms and determined that repairs
would cost $16.25 million. That was nowhere near 50 percent of the price tag
for rebuilding all seven treatment plants from scratch, which would run
upward of $150 million. 

FEMA said it was willing to spend $16 million on repairs so St. Bernard
could get its old system up and running again -- and the waste-hauling
trucks could stop -- but a new plant was off the table. 

Locals protested that it made no sense to rebuild the old system, which
parish officials had planned to scrap before the storm. It was outdated and
obsolete. Two of the treatment plants were out of compliance with current
environmental standards; one was nearly 50 years old and another was on the
property of the historic Chalmette Battlefield, where Andrew Jackson whipped
the British in the last major military engagement in the War of 1812. 

St. Bernard's plan was to consolidate its seven treatment plants into one.
It would be cheaper to operate. It had the backing on environmental agencies
and watchdog groups who worried that the current system was prone to
accidents. It even had the backing of the U.S. Department of the Interior,
which wanted to get rid of a wastewater-treatment facility on one of the
most prized battlefields in the country. 

A bout of optimism 

St. Bernard officials thought FEMA would embrace the idea. And in a future
flood, locals would only have to protect one plant, not seven. 

"Everyone was in favor of doing this," said Chris Merkl, the parish director
of public works. "The FEMA people saw what we saw. Why reinvest in
rebuilding this old facility? Let's move ahead with what we had planned." 

In a 16-page proposal in January 2006, Parish President Henry "Junior"
Rodriguez made his case for a consolidated system. A few days later, FEMA
Public Assistance Coordinator Jeffrey Bower wrote back with encouragement. 

"We are optimistic regarding approval of the consolidation project," Bower
wrote. 

There was plenty of reason for optimism. In his speech in Jackson Square two
weeks after Katrina, President Bush emphasized the need to rebuild basic
municipal services to kick-start the resurgence of the Gulf Coast. "Our goal
is to get the work done quickly," he said at the time. He added, "When
communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before
the storm." 

But the guiding principle at FEMA is to replace damaged facilities to their
pre-storm condition, nothing more. 

"We're watching everyone's wallets here," said Jim Stark, director of the
FEMA office in New Orleans. 

FEMA turnaround 

Under the rules, FEMA doesn't merely inspect the damage to a facility and
cut a check. It must develop a detailed document, known as a "project
worksheet," that spells out the scope of work to be done and how it will be
financed in accordance with federal disaster regulations. 

At first, St. Bernard officials say, they were encouraged by FEMA to
classify their plan as an "alternative project," one of the many terms
sprinkled throughout the Stafford Act and the regulations. The strategy
would free the $16 million FEMA was offering for repairs so St. Bernard
could spend it instead on building the consolidated system. But
"alternative" projects also carry a 25 percent penalty, meaning the parish
would only get about $12 million, far short of what it needed. 

Next, FEMA encouraged St. Bernard to apply for money by classifying its
project as an "improvement" under federal rules. There was no penalty
associated with "improved" projects, but financing would be capped at the
total amount of repairs, a little over $16 million. Before the storm, St.
Bernard planned to issue bonds to pay for a new sewerage system. When its
tax base was obliterated in the flooding, it was in no position to pay the
more than $30 million needed to foot the part of the bill FEMA wouldn't pay.


FEMA had also made clear that while the parish could get money for an
"improved" project, the agency wouldn't pay for the $8 million levee to go
around it. The Stafford Act forbade mitigation of "improved" facilities that
replace old ones, they were told. 

By late summer, FEMA's Bower, who had been so encouraging, was gone, and so
was optimism over a new sewage-treatment system. In October, the parish made
another request for full financing, this time as a "relocation project"
under 44 CFR 206.226. A month later, FEMA officially said no. 

What had irked the locals as much as the denial was what they saw as
duplicity on FEMA's part. 

"Don't encourage me to do this and then turn around and reject it. Tell me
you aren't going to do it up front. I can take it. I'm a big boy," said
Merkl, the public works director. "For two years, we could have been doing
improvements and there wouldn't have been any hauling trucks now." 

Rodriguez, the parish president, seethed as he pointed to a chair in his
temporary trailer where he says a FEMA official sat and promised
consolidation would be fully financed by the federal government. 

"I just wish I had tape-recorded the meeting," Rodriguez said. 

Money on the table 

John Connolly, who now oversees FEMA public assistance projects in
Louisiana, said the agency never promised to pick up the whole tab. 

"Yes, we encouraged them to work with us," Connolly said. "But the agency
did not make a commitment. .¤.¤. We made a pledge to take a hard look at it.
We gave them an answer they didn't like." 

Connolly says that FEMA is no happier with the waste-hauling costs than the
locals are. The agency was so alarmed at the mounting costs that it balked
at paying the bills. The Unified Recovery Group, the private company doing
the work, threatened in March to let raw sewage run in the streets unless it
was paid the $24 million it was owed. A settlement was quickly reached and a
new contractor now hauls the sewage. 

Still, FEMA officials put the blame on St. Bernard for not taking the money
available to make repairs and get its old system back on line. FEMA says
that had St. Bernard made repairs, hauling costs wouldn't be nearly as high
as they are. 

"St. Bernard hasn't taken the money on the table," said Gil Jamieson, who
oversees FEMA operations in the Gulf Coast. "St. Bernard isn't doing what
they need to do." 

Recently, there have been signs that a resolution could finally be in the
offing. 

FEMA has revised its treatment-plant repair estimate in St. Bernard upward
to $23.5 million, about half the cost of the new system and a levee to
protect it. In June, the Louisiana Recovery Authority earmarked $26.3
million for infrastructure improvements in St. Bernard. Together, the two
pots of money would be enough to pay for a new consolidated sewer system in
the parish. 

But, once again, there are procedures to be followed. St. Bernard must
officially request that FEMA reclassify the project from a "repair" to an
"improvement" so it can get access to the $23.5 million. As of last week,
FEMA officials said the money would be available for St. Bernard's sewer
consolidation, all they had to do was ask. 

Bill Walsh can be reached at bill.walsh at newhouse.com or (202)¤383-7817