Feds to cover cleanup costs for 6 months
December 4, 2008
The federal government on Wednesday agreed to pay for Hurricane Ike cleanup costs in Texas for an additional six months, rejecting Gov. Rick Perry's request for money for 16 months.
Written by ennifer Leahy, The Houston Chronicle
The federal government on Wednesday agreed to pay for Hurricane Ike cleanup costs in Texas for an additional six months, rejecting Gov. Rick Perry's request for money for 16 months.
Perry vowed to keep fighting for additional funding.
"The governor made a very reasonable request, that Texas be treated no less than Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and this doesn't even come close," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said.
Last week, Perry had asked that counties be fully reimbursed for an additional 16 months. At the time, federal authorities were planning to pay for 75 percent of the cleanup costs. But asking local municipalities to pick up the remaining 25 percent could bankrupt small towns, he said.
Castle noted that the debris removal funds announced on Wednesday were "only a small fraction of the assistance Texas requested."
In a Nov. 20 Houston news conference, Perry expressed outrage that Texas would not receive 100 percent reimbursement for storm debris removal as Louisiana did after Katrina.
The federal government attributed the decision to scale back their contribution to Texas' state budget surplus.
Perry, who established the Governor's Commission for Disaster Recovery and Renewal to coordinate relief and press for more federal assistance, said it was "incomprehensible" to punish the state for being fiscally responsible.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursed all debris removal costs until late October, when the rate was lowered to 75 percent.
FEMA previously approved three requests from Texas to pay 100 percent of eligible cleanup costs, which covered the first 44 days following the storm.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, applauded the federal extension as a way to take a step toward a return to normal in the region.
"In the wake of such massive devastation, even a minimal local match would exceed a hurricane-strapped county's entire annual budget — and that's just to remove debris," Brady said.
Cleanup costs associated with the Sept. 13 storm have been estimated to total about $2 billion.
There may be as many as 12 million cubic yards of debris within the city and county, city and county officials say.
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