Bush takes lead on relief efforts after Rita
URGES GAS CONSERVATION President considers naming long-term ‘ hurricane czar’
HOUSTON • As millions of evacuees began returning to the Gulf Coast yesterday to take stock of homes and lives ripped by Hurricane Rita, George W. Bush embarked on new efforts to prevent his presidency from being swamped by the political fallout of a vicious storm season.
Taking a much higher-profile role in Rita’s wake than he did in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last month, the U.S. President said he is considering naming a federal “hurricane czar” to lead reconstruction efforts that could cost between US$100-billion and US$200-billion.
He also met Energy Department officials to get an assessment of damage to the region’s oil industry and urged Americans to conserve precious gasoline while refineries are repaired and supplies improve.
“ The storm affected the ability to get gasoline to markets,” Mr. Bush said. “ We can all pitch in by being better conservers. I mean, people just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption and that if they’re able to maybe not drive on a trip that’s not essential, that would be helpful.”
At least 16 Texas refineries remained shut down yesterday, and at least two are expected to remain closed for weeks.
Mr. Bush said he was willing to tap into the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which he did after Katrina, to prevent any shortfalls in supply to consumers.
“ The storms have shown how fragile the balance is of supply and demand in America,” he said.
The death toll from Rita, initially thought to be zero, rose to seven yesterday after the discovery of five bodies in a Beaumont, Tex., apartment building. The victims apparently died of carbon monoxide poising from a faulty generator.
An estimated 2.8 million people were evacuated from the storm’s path — mostly from Houston, which was spared a direct hit. Residents returned in a steady stream to find a city still short on gasoline and groceries. But the situation in Houston was far better than in such Texas communities as Beaumont and Port Arthur, and Lake Charles, La. — all of which remained closed to residents as work crews struggled to restore power and cleared streets clogged by downed trees.
Mr. Bush was heavily criticized for appearing disengaged in the first days after Katrina struck Mississippi and Louisiana in late August, but he has had a far more ubiquitous public presence throughout the emergency response to Rita.
He monitored the storm’s landfall last week from a military base in Colorado, then spent two days in Texas and Louisiana as the massive emergency relief effort got underway. The White House said yesterday Mr. Bush would return for another visit on Thursday, to Beaumont and Port Arthur.
The initial reviews of the administration’s response have been largely positive. Federal relief efforts began almost immediately and huge shipments of aid flowed quickly into the hardesthit areas.
But whether the sharper response helps Mr. Bush rebound from his post-Katrina blues is less clear.
Several critics have already suggested the primary credit for saving lives during Rita’s onslaught goes to local officials who led pre-storm evacuation efforts.
There was also a strong element of good luck in the quick response and low casualty rate. Rita weakened dramatically and made landfall in a more lightly populated area than Katrina.
“ You would think four years after 9/11, with billions of dollars spent to improve our emergency preparedness, that the response to Katrina would be far crisper, far better co-ordinated and not marred by failures at all levels of government,” Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, told CNN.
“Now, I think we’ve seen the difference with Rita, where, although there were problems, the response was far better. But it still suggests that there are major gaps in our emergency preparedness, and that’s why we need to find out what went wrong and rectify those problems.”
Beyond well-timed photo opportunities during Rita’s onslaught, the assessment of Mr. Bush’s post-hurricane leadership is likely to hang on how well reconstruction efforts proceed in the upcoming months.
Mr. Bush has not yet made clear how he intends to manage the massive task of bringing the Gulf Coast back to life. He is already facing tough questions from Democrats and Republicans alike about oversight in the awarding of contracts and how to pay the enormous reconstruction tab during a time when the United States is waging a war in Iraq and mounting record deficits.
The New York Times
reported yesterday that 80% of the US$1.5billion in contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since Katrina were awarded without bidding or limited competition. Several went to a subsidiary of Halliburton Inc., the company formerly headed by Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Louisiana Senator David Vitter, a Republican, said he was concerned about mismanagement of the reconstruction “because if the American people lose confidence in this effort, Louisiana and the victims of the storm are going to suffer.”
Mr. Vitter said he has asked Mr. Bush to name a “strong federal leader on the Katrina reconstruction effort, beyond the immediate short-term relief effort, into medium and longer-term reconstruction.”
The President, who had initially sounded cool to the idea of an over-arching reconstruction czar, said he was open to the suggestion.
“I think the idea of having a federal interface with local folks might be — might be — a good idea.”