DeGette: Federal Government's Katrina Response Echoes Failure of Pre-9/11 Planning
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2005
DeGette: Federal Government's Katrina Response Echoes Failure of Pre-9/11 Planning
Also Questions Justification for Rising Gas Prices
WASHINGTON, DC - Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette (CO-01), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following prepared opening statement for her committee's hearing today into the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the hurricane's impact on gas prices:
"Like people around the world, I was horrified and saddened by the disaster on the Gulf Coast. My heart goes out to the more than 1 million people who have lost loved ones and whose lives have been forever changed by this storm.
As we assess the damage, bury our dead, and begin to rebuild, we must have a full accounting of the actions past week. Make no mistake, what we are seeing in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama is an echo of the federal government's failings on 9/11. An appalling lack of imagination, planning or preparation for a mass casualty disaster and an inept response to the disaster once it occurred cost Americans their lives.
This is unforgivable.
My constituents are outraged that their federal government failed Americans in their time of need. I know that this attitude is not isolated to residents of the First District of Colorado.
What I want this hearing to address is how we can start fixing these problems and fixing them now. We have Gulf Coast residents and emergency responders facing potential outbreaks of disease due to mosquito infestation and contaminated water. We have emergency communication networks that still do not operate correctly.
As we will also hear today, the nation faced a surge in gas prices in the wake of Katrina. While there were some disruptions in service in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, prices appeared to jump without reason. Prices skyrocketed in Colorado event though there was ample supply and no connection to the distribution network in the gulf. To me and most Coloradoans, this looked like price gouging, not the impact of a disaster.
Americans have been struggling for months with rising costs. This has been fueled by surging worldwide demand for oil, refining infrastructure operating at near capacity and, perhaps, oil companies' quest for ever-increasing profits.
This crisis was also exacerbated by another failure of the federal government: a short-sighted, profit-driven national energy policy. What some mistook for a comprehensive national energy strategy was nothing but a broken record: drilling, drilling, and more drilling.
This administration and this Congress has focused exclusively on old technologies that threaten our national security, pollute our skies, and subject us to supply interruptions.
While we must immediately fix our government's inability to respond to national emergencies, we must also focus on the long-term energy crisis that too many are ignoring."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/050907.html