Northern CT Lawmakers Send Trump Crumbling Foundation Letter

More than a dozen members of the state House and Senate Republicans on Tuesday sent letters to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Paul Ryan urging the Republican leaders to support amendments from U.S. Senators Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and Reps. John Larson and Joe Courtney that will provide "help to homeowners living with a crumbling foundation."

• House Amendment 881 to H.R. 6147 seeks to provide funding for the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a map showing pyrrhotite occurrences across the United States. This would help to ensure residents of other states never have to grapple with this crisis in the future.
• House Amendment 292 to H.R. 3354 seeks to provide funding in the Community Development Block Grant program to examine the application of grant funds to mitigate and remediate the effects of pyrrhotite-related damage.
• House Amendment 934 to H.R. 6147 seeks to provide funding within the Department of the Treasury, Departmental Office towards a study, led by Treasury with the participation of relevant regulators, to examine the financial impact of the mineral pyrrhotite in concrete home foundations. The study would provide recommendations on regulatory and legislative actions needed to help mitigate the impact on banks, mortgage lenders, tax revenues, and homeowners.

Here is the Trump letter:

July 31, 2018

President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Trump,

As members of the Connecticut Senate Republican and House Republican caucuses, we would
like to draw your attention to an important issue. The State of Connecticut is facing a silent crisis
which has an impact equal to that of any major natural disaster. Throughout a large portion of
our state, the concrete foundations of potentially thousands of homes are crumbling due to the
presence of a rare mineral called pyrrhotite. This mineral wreaks havoc on homes when it reacts
with water and expands to cause extensive cracking. Once the structural integrity of the home is
compromised, it is only a matter of time until it collapses. Insurance policies do not cover the
issue, the company which produced the concrete aggregate cannot be held liable because no law
was broken, and so far FEMA has rejected our pleas for assistance on the grounds this is not a
“natural disaster.” Thus, homeowners have seen the value of their homes depleted to nearly
nothing with no financial recourse. The repercussions, however, are not limited to the individual
homeowners. State and federally chartered banks and credit unions are forced to put these losses
into capital reserve, municipal tax bases are eroding, and the broader housing market in the
region has suffered from a pervasive fear.

In response, Connecticut’s federal delegation has proposed three amendments to begin to address
this issue, which we hope you will support. House Amendment 881 to H.R. 6147 seeks to provide
funding for the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a map showing pyrrhotite occurrences across
the United States. This would help to ensure residents of other’states never have to grapple with
this crisis in the future. House Amendment 292 to H.R. 3354 seeks to provide funding in the
Community Development Block Grant program to examine the application of grant funds to
mitigate and remediate the effects of pyrrhotite-related damage. Finally, House Amendment 934
to H.R. 6147 seeks to provide funding within the Department of the Treasury, Departmental
Office towards a study, led by Treasury with the participation of relevant regulators, to examine
the financial impact of the mineral pyrirhotite in concrete home foundations. The study would
provide recommendations on regulatory and legislative actions needed to help mitigate the
impact on banks, mortgage lenders, tax revenues, and homeowners.

Furthermore, the State of Connecticut has agreed to bond $100 million over the course of five
years and has also imposed a $12 surcharge on all homeowners insurance policies to provide
assistance to affected homeowners. However, it is cleat that this is an issue the state cannot
tackle on its own. For that reason, we request that you support additional funding. Senator
Christopher Murphy proposed S.2744-Aid to Homeowners With Crumbling Foundations Act of
2018 and Senator Richard Blumenthal proposed S.2745-Crumbling Foundations Small Business
and Homeowner Assistance Act of 2018. We hope you will consider supporting these or similar
measures.

We deeply appreciate your attention to this issue and are grateful for the efforts your
administration has taken thus far. On June 4, Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Ben Carson visited an affected home and had a constructive conversation with us and
the victims of this tragic situation. We hope to build upon that dialogue with substantive
legislative action at the federal level. Our constituents need your assistance. But, of equal
importance, we hope that you will support pro-active measures to ensure that no one else in any
other part of the country has to face this staggering disaster.

Thank you for your attention.

About 35,000 homes in the north, east, and central parts of Connecticut are facing foundation break-downs because of the mineral pyrrhotite. It causes a slow deterioration of concrete foundations when exposed to oxygen and water.

The concrete was from a northern Connecticut quarry. Cracking, flaking, bowing, and separation of the concrete has already appeared on some homes built between 1983 and 2015.

State officials said the cracking starts small and can take more than a decade to appear.

The damage is irreversible, state officials said, and the most effective repair is to replace the existing foundation with a new one. The cost, according to state officials, ranges between $150,000 and $250,000 per home.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel

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