Through
fark:
FEMA Sends Trucks Full Of Ice For Katrina Victims To Maine
"The trucks started arriving this weekend, and they're expected to keep coming through Sunday.
City officials say they have no idea why the trucks are here, only that the city has been asked to help out with traffic problems. But the truck drivers NEWSCENTER spoke to said they went all the way down to the gulf coast with the ice -- stayed for a few days -- and then were told by FEMA they needed to drive to Maine to store it."
more..
from
WLBZ:
"...The ice cost 26 cents a pound, bringing the total to 44 million dollars to buy the ice. The Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of this project and does not have an estimate of how much it will cost to transport all this ice, but the public information officer says they will hold on to it and store it here in Maine at least until the end of the hurricane season.
Truck drivers coming into town Tuesday were told it will be about three days until they can unload their truck, as only four trucks can unload at a time.
While they wait they are being paid 800 dollars a day. Once they unload, they are able to pick up other contracts and leave Maine."
My sources tell me that Maine was chosen to store the ice (as well as some bottled water that they apparently don't need) because Seattle or Alaska were "just a little too far away." Why can't they just send it back to the National Strategic Ice Reserve, or send it to Greenland to act as a heat sink for the polar ice cap (it might retard global warming for a week or more!)?
So the REAL screw-up was ordering too much ice, and now there's some some sort of obligation to keep ICE?
I have a much better idea: just let the stuff melt!