Absurdity, Allegory and China

The Chinese drywall problem in Florida has gotten a lot bigger all of a sudden, according to a story in the Sarasota Herald Tribune: Scope widens in Chinese drywall case

Drywall produced by Knauf Tianjin Plasterboard Co. Ltd. — one of the problematic manufacturers identified so far — made it to the inland town of Sebring, about 90 miles east of Sarasota in Highlands County, the Herald-Tribune has confirmed. Meanwhile, a national consumer advocacy group is claiming that the scope is much broader. The Washington, D.C.-based America’s Watchdog, which is partnering with high-powered attorneys across the country, says that its own investigation has found defective Chinese drywall in Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Virginia and Texas.

“We think this could literally turn out to be the worst case of sick houses in U.S. history,” said Thomas Martin, the organization’s president.

The Herald-Tribune reported on Feb. 1 that shipping records show at least 550 million pounds of Chinese drywall has been offloaded at U.S. ports since 2006 — enough to build 60,000 average-size homes.

On another sour note, the Palm Beach Post is reporting that two federal agencies are being asked to look into the problem: Senator seeks Chinese drywall probe

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is asking the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate whether Chinese-manufactured drywall is toxic.

The wheels on this bus just keep going round-er and round-er. Bigger and faster too. The estimates of the volume of imported Chinese drywall is also on the increase too, up from estimated 36,000 homes, as I posted 11 days ago, to 60,000 homes.