House Recognizes Actions of Stennis Employees During and After Hurricane Katrina

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives tonight honored the employees of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for the actions they took during and after Hurricane Katrina’s strike along the Gulf Coast.

By voice vote, the House passed H.Res. 948, a resolution “Recognizing the dedication of the employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Stennis Space Center who, during and after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on Mississippi, provided shelter and medical care to storm evacuees and logistical support for storm recovery efforts, while effectively maintaining critical facilities at the Center.”

Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA), who managed floor consideration of the resolution, delivered the following floor statement:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 948, a resolution recognizing the stalwart NASA employees who performed beyond their day-to-day duties to establish the Stennis Space Center as the logistical emergency center for a large region of the Southern Mississippi Coast leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The Stennis Space Center’s runway, which served all of Southern Mississippi as well as the New Orleans area, was cleared within a day. This alone allowed flights with foodstuffs, generators, and medical supplies to land and also allowed for the medical evacuation of storm survivors.

Nearly 3700 persons – including employees and their families as well as the local public – sought refuge at the Stennis facility for weeks following the disaster. Two weeks ago I visited the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. I toured Southern Louisiana and Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Mississippi. Bay St. Louis was decimated for several blocks from the shoreline with nothing left standing. Waveland was completely destroyed. Many homes that were thought to be “storm-proof” were rusting skeletons of steel. The destruction and damage continued for a mile inland.

Despite this overwhelming tragedy, the employees at the Stennis facility were back to work and excited about their upcoming role in the Vision for Space Exploration. We saw a test firing of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. We saw work being done on the J2X that will become the upper stage engine for the Ares launch vehicle. We even saw the facility that will be building the American-made rocket engine to be used on the Ares launch vehicle – the RS-68 engine. Excitement about their work and about the future shows the drive and ingenuity of the American people at its best. I want to join in expressing my admiration for these exceptional people who showed the strength and the spirit of America.

109th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. RES. 948

Recognizing the dedication of the employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Stennis Space Center who, during and after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on Mississippi, provided shelter and medical care to storm evacuees and logistical support for storm recovery efforts, while effectively maintaining critical facilities at the Center.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 25, 2006

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. MELANCON, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. GORDON, Mr. WICKER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. JINDAL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Science

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the dedication of the employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Stennis Space Center who, during and after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on Mississippi, provided shelter and medical care to storm evacuees and logistical support for storm recovery efforts, while effectively maintaining critical facilities at the Center.

Whereas, during Hurricane Katrina, some 3,700 persons (including employees, their immediate and extended families, and members of the general public), sought shelter at the Stennis Space Center;

Whereas the Stennis cafeteria, which normally serves about 175 breakfasts and 600 lunches each day, served 3,000 meals 3 times a day to evacuees, for a period of a week following the storm;

Whereas before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the storm, the small staff of the Stennis Medical Clinic provided medical care to all who needed it among the evacuees onsite, including some 20 special needs patients, and soon after the storm, the Stennis clinic staff was complemented by medical personnel airlifted from other National Aeronautics and Space Administration Centers;

Whereas, although commercial electrical power was not available to Stennis for 10 days following the storm, electrical power was maintained to all essential buildings through the extensive use of diesel-powered generators and the around the clock efforts of a team of individuals who mechanically maintained those generators and kept them fueled, also enabling the pumps on Stennis’ deep-water wells to provide a continuous supply of potable water for drinking, cooking, and sanitation to support the 3,700 people onsite;

Whereas a team of employees in the Stennis rocket propulsion test complex protected the health of all test infrastructure, employing innovative methods to ensure an uninterrupted supply of purge gases to all required facility infrastructure and test hardware, failure of which would have resulted in untold millions of dollars of new costs to clean, purge, and recertify these facilities for Space Shuttle Main Engine and other propulsion system testing;

Whereas for 10 days following the storm, logistical support (including food, water, medical supplies, and personnel exchange) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans was provided via helicopters operating from the Stennis Space Center, along with helicopters, and flight crew and security personnel, from the Marshall Space Flight and Kennedy Space Centers; and

Whereas, immediately following the storm, Stennis Space Center facilitated the use of its property as the site of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Incident Command Center serving a 6-county area along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Stennis served as the central distribution hub for disaster response supplies to those same counties, including, during the nearly 2-months of Federal Emergency Management Agency relief operations at Stennis, distributing more than 7,600,000 gallons of water, 41,000,000 pounds of ice, and 3,500,000 MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) to devastated areas via the Stennis Space Center hub: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives commends the dedication of the employees who stayed behind at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Stennis Space Center, who, during and after Hurricane Katrina’s assault on Mississippi, provided shelter and medical care to storm evacuees and logistical support for storm recovery efforts, while effectively maintaining critical facilities at the Center, including Cheryl Bennett, James Bevis, Terry Bordelon, Steve Brettel, Vicki Brown, Bill Brumfield, Kirt Bush, Paul Byrd, Ethan Calder, Marla Carpenter, David Carstens, Jonathan Clemens, Eric Crawford, Cheri Cuevas, John Davenport, David Del Santo, Isaac DeLancey, Jim Freeman, Greg Garrett, Dave Geiger, Stan Gill, Don Griffith, Haynes Haselmaier, Coby Holloway, Gay Irby, Manning `JJ’ Jones, Catriona Ladner, David Ladner, Richard Ladner, Stanley Lee, Michelle Logan, Ron Magee, Sharlene Majors, Steve McCord, Pat McCullough, Michael McDaniel, Mike McKinion, Kirk Miller, John Mitchell, Ron Moore, David R. Oakes, Kevin A. Oliver, Alan Phillips, John Nick Pitalo, Allen Price, Porter Pryor, Margaret Roberts, Miguel Rodriguez, Jason Saucier, Dale Sewell, Donald Seymore, Kathy Slade, Sue Smith, David Throckmorton, Karen Vander, John Waquespack, Rodney Wilkinson, Robert Williams, and Michael J. Witt.