Shipping ice to Maine

[unixronin]

So it seems a little light has been shed on those 200 truckloads of ice FEMA sent to Maine.  You see, it turns out it wasn't actually FEMA who sent them there ... it was the Army Corps of Engineers.  Why did the Army Corps of Engineers divert 200 truckloads of ice to Maine?  Simple:  because FEMA sent 85,000 tons of ice to New Orleans -- that's 170 million pounds -- and the Corps of Engineers didn't have any idea what to do with it all or anywhere to store it.

One of those cases, I guess, in which one can have too much of a good thing.  I'm reminded of Soviet-era factories producing 40 million green lampshades, or 60 million left shoes, because they could manage higher production numbers that way -- never mind that without right shoes, the left shoes were useless, or that everyone already had all the green lampshades they wanted and no-one was buying more.

Comments

[rbos.livejournal.com]

well, misestimation of expected demand happens in capitalist societies, too, it's just more blatant in a centrally-managed communism like the Soviet Union.

But why would NO need ice?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Uh, because it was 100+ degrees (Fahrenheit) and there was no power for air conditioning? There were people dying of heat prostration in the Astrodome. (Or Superdome, whichever it is ... I can't keep'em straight.)

[rbos.livejournal.com]

good point :( didn't think of that.

[ilcylic.livejournal.com]

I just keep thinking about the 65,000 gallons of diesel fuel it took to move the shit up to ME. That's approximately 3 million miles of travel in my Jetta. What a waste.

-Ogre

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

yeah. I'll bet the diesel cost more than the ice was worth.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

they could have dumped the ice in a field somewhere, and used the trucks for other purposes like oh, i don't know, how about transporting survivors somehere else?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Might have made more sense, mightn't it? or hell, truck it to one of those hospitals that had no fresh drinking water and no air conditioning. Supply cooling and drinking water at a stroke.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

i likes yer idea better!