He said he was receiving hourly updates on the disaster response and outlined efforts by the federal government to ease recovery efforts, including by making satellite imagery available to utility companies and waiving some regulatory requirements.
At Biden’s request, the Energy Department said it was releasing 1.5 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ensure a steady fuel supply in the Gulf region, where sunken vessels are blocking key supply lines along the Mississippi River. The oil will be used by ExxonMobil at its Baton Rouge refinery. The company has agreed to replenish the strategic reserve, which is used as an emergency stockpile, within three months.
The president also scolded insurers who are declining to pay for the costs of damage or hotel stays for people who had to evacuate their homes.
“Don’t hide behind the fine print and technicalities,” Biden warned the insurers. “Do the right thing and pay your policyholders what you owe them.”
Biden said separately that the Pentagon was assisting with ongoing firefighting operations in California against the Caldor fire.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards suggested Biden’s Friday visit would be crucial for the president to understand the destruction by seeing the widespread damage for himself.
“There’s nothing quite like visiting in person,” Edwards told reporters Wednesday following a briefing with local elected officials in Jefferson Parish, which took direct blows from Ida. “When you see it for yourself, it is just so much more compelling.”
Asked what type of assistance he planned to request from Biden, Edwards said, “Quite frankly, the list is going to be very, very long.” But he said a priority would be for a housing program to help people rebuild.
The White House says Biden has held several conference calls with governors and local officials to discuss preparations and needs after the storm, and has received briefings from Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell.
FEMA had sent tons of supplies, including generators, tarps and other materials to the region before the storm, and federal response teams are working on search and rescue.
Biden’s trip Friday to the Gulf region will cap a difficult stretch for the president, who oversaw the chaotic exit of the US military from Afghanistan after a 20-year engagement. That included the deaths of 13 US service members helping evacuate more than 120,000 Americans, Afghan allies and others fleeing life under Taliban rule.
As Ida bore down on the Gulf Coast on Sunday, Biden was at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the return of the remains of the 13 US servicemen and women who were killed in suicide bombing last week at Afghanistan’s airport in Kabul, where the evacuations were taking place.
