FEMA Reneges on the President’s Promise to West

Before I get into the meat and bones of this I first want to point out that in general, I believe that we are all responsible for ourselves and when tragedy strikes that we must rely on ourselves first, our family second, and our friends and communities third. I believe that it is up to us to help out our fellow citizens and not wait for a government entity to come and bail us out of tragic situations regardless of whether they are the work of nature or manmade.


With that said, I like so many in Central Texas are extremely perplexed by FEMA’s refusal to render anymore aid to the people of West Texas following the destruction this past April as a result of the explosion of a fertilizer plant in that small town. Normally I would not immediately look to the government for help; however, like so many other issues politicians use to enhance their persona, the President promised something that FEMA is now saying they will not deliver on.

Following the tragedy, President Obama came to Central Texas, met with the citizens of West and then gave a speech at Baylor University in which he spoke about how it didn’t matter what else transpired after this tragedy, America would not forget about the victims of this tragedy. He singled out several of the people of West and explained about how important it is to keep these communities intact and to make sure they are protected.

Here is an excerpt of his speech, “We’re Americans, too, and we stand with you, and we do not forget. And we’ll be there even after the cameras leave and after the attention turns elsewhere. Your country will remain ever ready to help you recover and rebuild and reclaim your community.” This line received much applause and many tears from victims who felt reassured and secure in the President’s comments.

Less than two months later; FEMA has agreed to help the U.S. Small Business Administration in providing $7 million in aid and low-interest loans; however, in a letter from FEMA director Chris Fugate to the governor, FEMA has denied the major disaster declaration that would have given West money to rebuild. Of course after the fires that destroyed hundreds of homes in the Bastrop, Texas area went unaided by FEMA just 18 months ago, why should we expect an explosion in West to be treated any different.

After all, it was just an explosions that left a 93 foot crater, leveled the intermediate school, caused severe damage to the junior high and senior high school, leveled almost a hundred homes and in some way affected the homes and businesses of every citizen of this town of 2,800 Americans – NOT TO MENTION took the lives of 10 first responders.

Officials in West say they are getting estimates that say it will cost around $57 million to make the necessary repairs to bring West back to normal. It seems like the federal government could take a little chunk of the tax-payer (and/or borrowed) money they are sending to Egypt, or Brazil, or China, or Libya, or anywhere else for that matter and send West what it needs to make repairs.

Like I said above, normally I wouldn’t think the government should be too involved in solving the problems of people in the face of disaster unless it’s unavoidable (meteor crashing to Earth, terrorist bombing a site that is supposed to be protected by the government, or some other out of the ordinary sort of tragedy).

But this time the President made a trip to Central Texas, used Americans as props, and used an the event to make a speech about how the people of West would be taken care of. If you’re going to make a promise, then live up to it Mr. President.

Now is the time!

God Bless west,
Bill