As environmentalists and scientists debate the effects of global warming, something very cold has our blood boiling — ice.

OK, it’s not just plain old ice. This is really expensive ice. No, it’s not some kind of Martha Stewart concoction that makes this ice so special.

In fact, the ice is just run-of-the-mill ice, but it just cost a fortune of your tax dollars, and the spending isn’t over yet.

In what we hope will be one of the last “Guess what FEMA did now?” moments after their botched disaster relief after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, FEMA has amazed us again.

Millions of pounds of ice originally purchased for hurricane relief are finally about to be melted, mostly because the government isn’t sure it’s safe for human consumption any more.

All total, your tax dollars spent (or will spend) some $67 million on the purchase, transportation and storage of the ice.

What’s worse is that our nation will spend another $3.4 million just to melt the ice.

It’s utterly ridiculous. The agency claims it simply misjudged the amount of ice needed.

But perhaps the real problem was the agency’s horrible distribution plans that left one Mississippi sheriff no choice, but to commandeer a FEMA truck by force to help needy people in his community.

Only FEMA could make freezing water so complicated, expensive and get our blood boiling all at once.