NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) —  U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu says that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to the give the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority $44 million to replace 204 buses and 31 vans that were destroyed by flooding during Hurricane Katrina.
Landrieu says the agreement was reached after changes in a FEMA policy mandating that lost items be replaced with comparable equipment, rather than new vehicles.
The standing FEMA policy would have resulted in RTA receiving 204 buses that were 12 years old, to match the age of the vehicles they were replacing.
Instead, Landrieu says FEMA has agreed to obligate the money for as many as 115 new biodiesel buses, which cost about $380,000 each.
 
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