FEMA Director Brock Long
President Donald Trump’s emergency management director said he’s pushing for an overhaul of disaster relief so that states, cities and homeowners bear more of the costs, and less of the risk falls on the federal government.
Brock Long, who was confirmed in June as the administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for homes that keep flooding, and the threshold for triggering federal public assistance after a disaster might be too low. He also expressed support for an Obama administration idea to make local governments pay more when a hurricane or flood hits.
“I don’t think the taxpayer should reward risk going forward,” Long said in an interview in his office at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington. “We have to find ways to comprehensively become more resilient.”
While some of these changes will require action from Congress, the imprimatur of FEMA’s administrator could give them a boost as lawmakers face a deadline at the end of the September to rewrite the federal flood insurance program. Even without […]
This is one of those issues that is a powerful two edged sword. It’s horrifying to leave these people without help. That said, perhaps, a more balanced plan going forward would be best. Start a fund that helps finance moving businesses, individuals and families that are willing to relocate further inland as the seas keep rising. Of course, there are those, like the Tangier Islanders off the Carolinas who believe the rising seas that are taking huge chunks out of the land are only a temporary problem and the govt. should be investing millions to build sea walls to protect them. Certainly, it’s understandable to have powerful emotional ties around your home ‘place’ and I feel strong empathy for those who do There are other possibilities, many of which could be modeled after Dutch solutions. Dutch engineers, hydrologists have become the go to people for countries that have big problems with rising seas. Of course, it’s highly likely that nothing will be done for quite a while in the US. The Dutch were energized by the deaths of 1800 + people in an overnight storm in 1953. We also need powerful storytellers who can explain that yes, temperatures have risen and fallen over the centuries, but unlike then there were not as many people on the planet. Numbers change things!
footnote: It’s as simple as asking a rancher, what happens when you double the size of the cattle in your barn? Triple the same number grazing without upping the size of your available grazing land? What happens to a ship when the number of people aboard expands 10 times over and above the recommended number of passengers it can hold?