Feds delaying disaster relief

State officials livid at paperwork snag in aiding ranchers

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 6, 2007 at midnight

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State officials were livid Friday when the federal government decided to delay disaster dollars to ranchers suffering through a snowy calamity in southeastern Colorado.

"We sent a bunch of new figures so they had everything in the world to consider it with and that's what bothers me - our emergency operations center was up until midnight getting all their i's dotted and the t's crossed," said Don Ament, Colorado's agricultural commissioner. "What's the hang up?"

Paperwork, according to Sen. Wayne Allard's office. It now appears a decision won't be made until next week.

Steve Wymer, Allard's spokesman, said his boss worked all day with Federal Emergency Management Agency Director R. David Paulison trying to expedite the paperwork needed to get the disaster relief.

Allard's office talked to Ament about an hour before the delay was announced and said the release of the federal money was "imminent."

"This is just a great example of red tape," Wymer said.

The winter storms over the southeastern plains have left thousands of cattle stranded in snow deeper than three feet, forcing Gov. Bill Owens to release state emergency money to help combat the disaster.

In addition, the Colorado National Guard has been there all week either airlifting bales of hay to cattle or traveling on the ground to deliver relief to stranded ranchers.

The Guard stopped hay drops Thursday due to weather but continued with ground assistance Friday. And Owens' office released an additional $1.1 million of money for assistance, bringing the state's emergency commitment total to $2.1 million.

Still, the lack of urgency on the federal government's part was troubling to most everyone who assumed it would be released Friday.

"It's a travesty," said Cody Wertz, spokesman for Sen. Ken Salazar. "We had been assured by the USDA, FEMA and the President's office that everything was OK - the paperwork is in place and things were moving forward. To find out there is a delay is extremely disheartening. Every hour there is a delay, there are livelihoods at stake."

And Dan Hopkins, Owens' spokesman, said it seemed out of the ordinary that there would be a delay in the release of money.

Hopkins said state efforts to bring relief to the ranchers and their stranded cattle included the Division of Wildlife having more than 30 people on snowcats delivering bales of hay and other supplies.

In addition, Ament met with officials Friday to discuss what to do with carcasses that will be found as the snow begins to melt. He said the top option is to try to ship them to rendering facilities in Kansas and Texas. He also said the state health department has issued protocols on disposing of the animals by burying them.

But the effort still was on trying to save cattle currently trapped by the storms.

Lt. Darin Overstreet of the Colorado National Guard said his ground units would continue to plow through the deep snow to the far-reaches of the state where relief was still needed and said the Guard's mission was "indefinite."

He also said the Guard only had about a third of its Blackhawk helicopter force available for the hay drops because eight of the aircraft were currently deployed to Iraq. In addition, a Chinook helicopter - used to carry large quantities of hay - had to be borrowed from Oklahoma because Colorado's four Chinooks were also in Iraq.

But Overstreet said they had enough equipment to handle the effort despite the commitment of equipment overseas.

monterod@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5236

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