Shouldn't be a problem with the Admins...I've done this many times with articles in the Wall Street Journal and other printed publications.
Ok, here it is then!
Austin Huguelet | Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — The federal government will not take over the removal of hundreds of thousands of tons of wreckage left by the May 16 tornado despite the city’s request for reinforcements to supercharge the effort.
But city officials said Thursday that’s OK. The federal government will still send experts to guide the process, and advance tens of millions of dollars to accelerate cleanup efforts. And the state will step in to manage contractors, relieving the city of an administrative burden it couldn’t handle alone.
The deal, said Mayor Cara Spencer, is “the very best” the city could get given the push by the administration of President Donald Trump for state and local governments to take larger roles in disaster recovery across the country.
“This is a huge win for our community,” Spencer said at a Thursday press conference. She thanked U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt and Gov. Mike Kehoe for pressing for the deal. The news drew applause from both politicians.
“Our office has been proud to work closely with Senator Eric Schmitt, alongside the rest of Missouri’s federal delegation, and Mayor Spencer to ensure St. Louis can move forward and expedite its recovery,” Kehoe said in a statement.
“This will unlock rapidly deployed federal funding and assistance,” Schmitt added in a statement of his own, “to strengthen state and local efforts to remove debris, protect public health and safety, and support St. Louis’ full recovery.”
The tornado cut a wide path as it moved across the city, from Forest Park through north St. Louis to the Mississippi River. Thousands of buildings were damaged, many severely. The city and contractors have since collected many truckloads of what fell in the public right-of-way.
But officials say substantial debris remains on private property — at least several hundred thousand tons.
And as the city rebuilds and rehouses displaced residents, that debris is an obstacle: collapsed structures, downed trees, and asbestos- or lead-containing materials must be removed before new homes, businesses and infrastructure can rise.
For months, City Hall had counted on the Army Corps to lead the cleanup. Last month, the cost was estimated in the hundreds of millions — as much as $730 million, double initial estimates — and while the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to reimburse its usual 75% share of the costs, officials said that wasn’t enough.
The city, they said, had neither the capacity nor the expertise to manage contracts on that scale.
The Army Corps of Engineers, however, has handled many such tasks. It oversaw the removal of enough debris to fill three Empire State Buildings after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It removed 50,000 tons after a Baltimore bridge collapse last year. And it finished last month clearing over 1 million tons of debris left by the Palisades fire in Los Angeles.
In a July letter seeking aid, Spencer said a Corps-managed cleanup would take 6 to 8 months, while a city-managed effort could take three times as long.
But on Thursday, after more than two months of waiting, Spencer described a new arrangement, with the state managing contractors, the city handling permissions to get on private property, and the Army Corps offering guidance as needed.
And Casey Millburg, the mayor’s chief of staff, said FEMA’s decision to pay out millions of dollars before work is done — rather than reimbursing after the fact — could speed operations considerably.
The exact level of financial support was not immediately clear Thursday. Schmitt’s office said in a news release that he had secured a commitment from FEMA for a debris removal mission estimated to cost at least $180 million, with an initial payment of $63 million.
And, at the news conference Thursday, Spencer said she did not think a final cap had been placed on federal assistance.
