Archive for the ‘Superstorm Sandy’ Category

States pressure Obama to find $82 billion for federal superstorm relief

Thursday, December 6, 2012 by:max.kranl@chron.com (Max Kranl)
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President Obama is battling with lawmakers over federal spending.

No, not the fiscal cliff.

And he’s not even battling Republicans.

The White House is jostling with lawmakers from the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut over how much of the tab for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts will be picked up by the feds.

Discussions have been going on for days. The governors of the affected states have requested $82 billion to clean up the storm damages and for infrastructure improvements to prepare for future storms.

White House officials expect Obama to send his proposal to Capitol Hill at the end of this week.

But on Wednesday the New York Times (an authoritative source for White House leaks) reported that Obama’s proposal to Congress will be about $50 billion. A huge amount of money, but not even close to what coast lawmakers have asked for.

The report has provoked disappointed reactions among senators of the affected states calling for more support by the administration. All six senators from the storm-ravaged states are Democrats, as are the vast majority of House members (including 100 percent of the Connecticut delegation).

The White House immediately called the New York Times report “premature speculation” and said the administration is currently working on the storm aid, so there’s no specific number yet.

Also on Wednesday, during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan repeated the White House’s statement and promised that the administration won’t forget about the damaged coast states.

Referring to the New York Times report, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said, “If that is the number, it is inadequate. It will not even go remotely far enough to meet the needs of New York.”

Not to mention Connecticut and New Jersey.

Secretary Donovan did say that the administration’s emergency aid bill will include funding for storm damage prevention, something New York lawmakers have been calling for.

How the bill will be financed — whatever amount it would cover — isn’t clear yet.

On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie met with Obama at the White House to talk about the issue. Afterwards, he went to Capitol Hill to assure the coast states’ needs will be heard.

Ron Paul says post-Sandy “price gouging” would’ve helped solve the gas shortage

Monday, November 12, 2012 by:jana.kasperka@chron.com (Jana Kasperkevic)
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(Jewel Samad/AFP)

Even as New York and New Jersey launched lawsuits against business that have participated in price gouging post-Sandy, Texas Rep. Ron Paul has penned a newsletter saying that when it comes to gas this practice would have actually solved states’ problems post the storm.

In the ‘In Praise of Price Gouging’ newsletter, Paul argues that price gouging is “normal market response of rising prices in the wake of a natural disaster.”

According to Bloomberg, New Jersey government is currently suing seven stations for price gouging. Under New Jersey law, excessive price increase of 10 percent or more during a declared state of emergency is considered price gouging.

“We warned merchants again and again not to violate the law by taking advantage of people following this catastrophe,” said New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa during a press conference on Friday Nov. 9. “The fact that we have these fringe businesses that think that disasters are a profit center is troubling.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie warned against price gouging as early as Oct. 27, when he said:

“During emergencies, New Jerseyans should look out for each other – not seek to take advantage of each other. The State Division of Consumer Affairs will look closely at any and all complaints about alleged price gouging. Anyone found to have violated the law will face significant penalties.”

On Nov. 5, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office has received overwhelming number of complaints about price gouging and was launching an investigation into the matter, reported Reuters.

“Our office has zero tolerance for price gouging,” he said. “We are actively investigating hundreds of complaints we’ve received from consumers of businesses preying on victims.”

However, the outgoing representative from the Lone Star State, Ron Paul, believes that interfering in price gouging and regulating the prices actually hurt the residents in New Jersey and New York and caused the post-Sandy gas shortage to last longer than it otherwise would.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the supply of gasoline was greatly disrupted. Many gas stations were unable to pump gas due to a lack of electricity, thus greatly reducing the supply. At the same time demand for gasoline spiked due to the widespread use of generators. Because gas stations were forbidden from raising their prices to meet the increased demand, miles-long lines developed and stations were forced to start limiting the amount of gasoline that individuals could purchase. New Jersey gas stations began to look like Soviet grocery stores.

Had gas stations been allowed to raise their prices to reflect the increased demand for gasoline, only those most in need of gasoline would have purchased gas, while everyone would have economized on their existing supply. But because prices remained lower than they should have been, no one sought to conserve gas. Low prices signaled that gas was in abundant supply, while reality was exactly the opposite, and only those fortunate enough to be at the front of gas lines were able to purchase gas before it sold out. Not surprisingly, a thriving black market developed, with gas offered for up to $20 per gallon.

Obama allies use Romney’s RNC climate change joke in post-Sandy attack ad

Monday, November 5, 2012 by:jana.kasperka@chron.com (Jana Kasperkevic)
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney laughs as he talks with campaign trip director Charlie Pearce after boarding his campaign plane in Sterling, Va., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. (Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)

President Barack Obama is not the only one being hit with a storm-related attack ads in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Forecastthefacts.org is running an attack ad against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in swing states like Virginia and Ohio, highlighting the climate joke Romney made while speaking at the Republican National Convention.

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans,” said Romney, as the RNC audience began to laugh. “And to heal the planet!”

The organization is asking all viewers to “tell Mitt Romney: Climate change isn’t a joke” and is using grassroots donations to expand its ad buy. As of Monday afternoon, over $17,000 in donations has been pledged.

“It’s heartening to see concerned citizens contribute their hard-earned dollars to make sure Americans remember how tragically unfunny it was for Mitt Romney to make climate change a laugh line at this year’s Republican convention,” wrote Daniel Souweine, campaign director for Forecast the Facts, in a press release. “Americans across the East Coast are still reeling from the destruction of a true Frankenstorm, which was exacerbated by warmed and risen seas, and is exactly the kind of extreme, unprecedented weather scientists have long predicted would come with global warming. Anyone who mocks climate change is mocking the lost lives, dislocation, and billions of dollars of damage wrought by Sandy.”

Chris Christie prepares to reschedule Halloween in NJ; FEMA says storm might affect elections

Monday, October 29, 2012 by:jana.kasperka@chron.com (Jana Kasperkevic)
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(Mel Evans/AP Photo)

Chris Christie has been pro-actively on storm duty all day long. But New Jersey’s governor may have shocked the his Twitter followers on Monday night, when during the Superstorm Sandy at about 8:30 p.m. ET, he tweeted: “If conditions are not safe on Wednesday for Trick or Treating, I will sign an Executive Order rescheduling #Halloween.”

Younger New Jersey residents now can ride out the storm without having to worry about missing out Halloween, dressing up and consuming unhealthy amount of candy. This tweet was also not the only one sent out by Christie to reassure his younger constituents. Earlier that day, he tweeted: “For all the kids at home, there is no reason to be scared. The adults are taking care of business. #Sandy”

Halloween is not the only thing that might be rescheduled.

According to POLITICO’s Alex Guillen, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is exploring whether or not Superstorm Sandy will affect voting in impacted areas.

“We are anticipating that, based on the storm, there could be impacts that would linger into next week and have impacts on the federal election,” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said during Monday’s conference call with reporters.

While federal law does require that the elections take place on a Tuesday following first Monday in November, there is an exception for when states fail to make such decision as could happen following Superstorm Sandy.

“It’s really too early to say what will be the impacts of the storm, and that’s why it’s again important that we’ll be supporting the governors’ teams and their supervisors of election or secretaries of state as they determine what … assistance they may need,” said Fugate.

Gov. Christie seems sure that he can reschedule Halloween, but Guillen reports that “the Federal Election Assistance Commission advises state election officials to “review existing State law to determine if the Governor has the power to cancel an election or designate alternative methods for distribution of ballots.””