Moving Out of Harm’s Way

8/13/2019 Moving Out of Harms Way

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1 Center for American Progress | Moving Out of Harms Way

Moving Out of Harms Way

By Shiva Polefka December 12, 2013

When Supersorm Sandy sruck he easern seaboard a he end o Ocober 2012, wo

o he primary consequences o global warming amplified is desrucive impacs. Firs,

arificially warmer1sea-surace emperaureshe highes ever recorded or he waers

o he Norheasern Unied Saes2almos cerainly increased he inensiy o he

sorms rainall.3

Second, elevaed sea levels resuled in broader and more-severe flooding as he massive

weaher sysems wind and waves pushed he sorm surge inland.4As a direc resul o

global warming, sea levels along he easern seaboard are significanly higher oday han

a any poin in he pas 2,000 years.5odays sea levels are he resul o he dramaic

acceleraion o ocean rise, which began around he beginning o he 20h cenury and in

close correlaion wih he increase o global average emperaures.6

Evidence shows ha afer many cenuries o relaive sabiliy,7sea level along he easern

seaboard is around one oo higher oday han i was 100 years ago. ide measuremensaken by he Naional Oceanic and Amospheric Adminisraion, or NOAA, show 11inches o rise in New York,810 inches in Massachusets,9and more han 15 inches in

New Jersey over he pas cenury.10Whas more, he siuaion is no going o ge any

beter. Climae scieniss warn ha even i we cease all emissions o ossil-uel-based

greenhouse gases oday, sea levels will coninue o rise or he nex several cenuries.

One geologis poins ou ha he las ime he amosphere was as carbon rich as we have

made i oday, seas were 20 meers higher.11

So wha are he consequences o having more ocean a our back doors? According o

Princeon Universiy earh scienis Michael Oppenheimer, who was inerviewed in

Ocober by he Associaed Press, 50,000 people experienced flooding rom Supersorm

Sandy who would have oherwise been spared in he absence o global warming.12By

he ime he sorm dissipaed, i had exaced an economic cos o more han $68 bil-

lion,13resuled in he deahs o 117 Americans,14and aken he lives o 69 more people

hroughou he Caribbean and Canada.15


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Bluning he inensiy and reducing he rise in requency o sorms like Sandy is one o

he mos pressing reasons o reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.16According o a

Sepember 2013 repor rom he American Meeorological Sociey, global-warming-

caused sea-level rise is significanly reducing he ime beween major coasal flood

evens.17Te own o Sandy Hook, New Jersey, provides a dauning example: Sorm

surge rom Supersorm Sandy desroyed he owns flood gauges afer rising pas 8 ee.

In 1950, a flood o ha magniude would have been considered a once-in-435-yearseven. Bu given he rapidly increasing likelihood o sorm-surge flooding, scieniss now

predic ha by 2100, Sandy-scale flooding will occur every 20 years.18

Tis skyrockeing risk o flooding pus a huge porion o he U.S. populaion and econ-

omy in jeopardy. Coasal counies are already he mos populous in America, and hey

generae a disproporionaely large share o our naions economic oupu. According o

NOAA and he U.S. Census Bureau, 39 percen o he U.S. populaion lives in counies

wih coasline,19and hese counies conribued 45 percen o he counry s enire gross

domesic produc, or GDP, in 2011.20Ye hese counies accoun or less han 10 percen

o U.S. land areaexcluding Alaska.21

Furhermore, hese counies coninue o grow,having expanded by nearly 40 percen in populaion since 1970.22

Unorunaely, his concenraion o people and economic aciviy is beginning o

resemble he meaphorical eggs being gahered in a single, increasingly vulnerable bas-

ke. In June, he consuling firm AECOM published a repor or he Federal Emergency

Managemen Agency, or FEMA, comprehensively analyzing he change in Americas

flood risks due o climae change. Is sudy ound ha sea-level rise is projeced o

increase he flood-hazard area in our naions coasal floodplain by 55 percen by 2100.23

Moreover, i he Unied Saes ails o adap o rising seas, he sudy projecs ha he

number o coasal flood-insurance policies will increase by an asounding 130 percenover he same ime period, due largely o growh in he coasal flood-hazard area.

Te dramaic increase in flood-insurance policies would be one hing i he risk were

borne exclusively by propery owners. Bu he realiy is no so simple. In ac, U.S. ax-

payers underwrie flood insurance or he $527 billion in properies in he coasal flood-

plain24as par o he $1.2 rillion in asses insured overall under he ederal Naional

Flood Insurance Program.25And he devasaion caused by coasal sorms rom Karina

in 2005 o Sandy in 2012 has no only exhaused he premium-unded resources o he

Naional Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, bu i has also required around $28 billion

in axpayer-unded bailous o pay or insured losses.26As coasal populaions coninue

o swell, so oo will his already underunded liabiliy.


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Forunaely, here are proven soluions a hand ha can reduce he risk and he public

liabiliy or flood damages while simulaneously enhancing he resilience o our coasal

communiies o sea-level rise. Te decepively simple concep o publicly unded buy-

ous o flood-prone coasal properies, in which he lands are resored o heir naural

saes and hen urned over o sae ownership, may be he oremos such opion.

Evidence rom compleed buyou programs across he counry shows ha hese inves-

mens pay or hemselves in avoided ederal recovery coss rom uure floods, usually

wihin abou 10 years. Tey also coninue o provide savings hrough cos avoidancein perpeuiy, since flood risk, response, and recovery coss are permanenly avoided.

Buyous also provide addiional public benefis, including physical buffering agains

uure floods, public recreaional space, and enhancemen o wildlie habia. Finally,

buyou programs help physically adap our coaslines o he ineviabiliy o sea-level

rise. Such adapaion is an unavoidable ask ha we can eiher chose o underake in an

orderly ashion or wai o have imposed on us hrough emergency response o he nex

exreme weaher disasers we know are coming o our coass.

In order o realize hese benefis a a larger scale across Americas coasal floodplain and

o help adap he U.S. coasline o he dramaic rise in sea level prediced or he cenury

ahead, his issue brie recommends he ollowing acions:

Congress should preserve he NFIP reorms o 2012 so price signals rom premiums

accuraely reflec worsening flood risks. New legislaive effor on he NFIP should be

ocused on miigaing he reorms immediae and shor-erm coss o low-income

coasal residens, raher han on modiying he imporan 2012 reorms.

FIGURE 1

Rising seas loom for the National Flood Insurance Program

Climate change puts taxpayers on the hook for an already indebted program

Sources: Craig Fugate, Testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, "Implementation of the Biggert-Waters

Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012: One Year After Enactment," September 18, 2013, available at http://www.dhs.gov/news/2013/09/18/writ-ten-testimony-fema-administrator-craig-fugate-senate-banking-housing-and-urban; Arthur D. Postal, As NFIP Faces Deepening Debt, Some Call for

More Subsidies and Lower Rates, Property Casualty 360, March 25, 2013, available at http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2013/03/25/as-nfip-fac-es-deepening-debt-some-call-for-more-su; National Oceanic and Atmospheric A dministration, State of the Coast: Federally-Insured Assets in t he

Coastal Floodplain, available at http://stateofthecoast.noaa.gov/insurance (last accessed December 2013).

Annual NFIP

premiums paid bypolicy holders

Revenue:

NFIP-insured losses paid by

the U.S. Treasury in excessof received premiums as of

March 2013

Debt:

Total value of coastal

floodplain propertiesinsured by NFIP as of 2011

Liability:

$3.5 billion $28 billion$527billion


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Sae and ederal decision makers should implemen policy ha increases volunary

buyous o coasal properies in he mos flood-prone areas by, or example, auhoriz-

ing and invesing in buyous o high-risk properies in advance o flood disasers and,

when appropriae, allowing saes o use ederal aid o complee buyous above he

exising 75 percen cap on ederal conribuions.

Lawmakers, regulaors, and program managers should collaborae o develop, evaluaeand, as appropriae, insiuionalize innovaions in propery buyoussuch as New

York saes buyou price bonuseso address specific social and land-use challenges

and o maximize heir fiscal and environmenal benefis.

With rising seas comes rising taxpayer liability

Flooding already consiues he mos common naural disaser in he Unied Saes.27

Beween 1991 and 2010, hurricanes and ropical sorms were he bigges cause o

propery losses among all naural caasrophes, causing 44 percen o all disaser-relaedpropery desrucion in he Unied Saes.28Jus how did ederal axpayers end up on he

hook or he securiy o more han hal a rillion dollars worh o coasal propery?

Following wha was hen unprecedened desrucion in he wake o Hurricane Besy,

legislaion was passed in 1968 o creae he Naional Flood Insurance Program, or

NFIP, because very ew privae insurers were willing o olerae he risk o widespread

caasrophic losses associaed wih large flood evens. Policymakers realized ha in he

absence o insurance agains flood risk, he social, fiscal, and economic coss o hurri-

canes and oher flood disasers could spiral ou o conrol. As summarized by Universiy

o Pennsylvania economis Erwann Michel-Kerjan and his colleagues:

It was thought that a government program could potentially be successul because it

would have unds to initiate the program, pool risks more broadly, subsidize existing

homeowners while charging actuarial rates to new construction, and tie insurance to

land-use changes that might lower risks.29

Unorunaely, lawmakers have sruggled o achieve a fiscally sound balance among

hese objecives or impose building codes or land-use policies o slow developmen o

flood-prone coasal areas.30Despie periodic effors by Congress o improve he sol-

vency o he NFIP,31he damages rom flooding evens over he pas decadeincluding

Hurricanes Karina, Ria, Wilma, Irene, and Sandyhave lef he program approxi-

maely $28 billion in deb o U.S. axpayers.32

Tis liabiliy became cosly enough o spark a rare bou o biparisan agreemen las

year, when Congress passed he Bigger-Waers Flood Insurance Reorm Ac o 2012,

or BW-12 as he bill became known,33o reduce he NFIPs billions o dollars o deb o


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axpayers and rapidly curail he subsidies i provides in he orm o below-marke-rae

premiums or approximaely 715,000 ederal flood-insurance policyholders34around

one-fifh o all NFIP policies.35Among is provisions, BW-12 required he NFIP o raise

premiums o reflec rue flood risks and complee updaes o flood-risk maps ha in

some cases had no been revised in decades.36

Tese adjusmens make fiscal and economic sense. Pu simply, beore BW-12, axpay-ers had been paying ballooning amouns o money o keep many coasal homeowners

in known floodplains, even properies ha had been repeaedly flooded and rebuil. For

oher hazards aced by homeowners, he only opion o manage risk when oping o live

in harms way is o purchase privae, unsubsidized insurance rom he open marke.

Bu some painul shor-run consequences accompany he reorms mandaed by BW-12,

which are scheduled o be phased-in over a five-year period. As flood-map revisions

expand hazard zones o more accuraely reflec he new realiy37o rising seas and he

law erminaes longsanding subsidies, many coasal homeowners will ace spikes in

heir annual premiumsreporedly rom hundreds o dollars o as much as $10,000.38

For lower-income households, hese new raes may no only be onerous, bu hey could

also affec resale values as poenial buyers balk a he increased cos o ownership.

As Nicholas Piner, a flood exper rom Souhern Illinois Universiy, concluded:

Te reorms passed by Congress are taken om the best textbooks on floodplain man-

agement, but too much o the burden is being orced on flood-zone residents. I harsh

medicine is in orderand the programs $25 billion debt says it isthen the cure

should be effective and permanent, but not kill the patient in the process.39

Forunaely, real cures exis o significanly reduce flood risks and provide fiscal, eco-

nomic, and environmenal benefis.

Investments that save money

In 2005, FEMA commissioned a congressionally mandaed, independen sudy o quan-

iy he coss and benefis rom he projecs i has unded hrough gran making o saes

and municipaliies, or he purpose o reducing he risk o propery loss rom floods,

earhquakes, and wind damage. Is findings were unequivocal: For every $1 invesed in

hese hazard- miigaion aciviies, he U.S. economy saves $4 in socieal losses rom

uure disasers and an addiional $3.65 in coss o he U.S. reasury rom avoided ed-

eral disaser-recovery expendiures and los ax revenues.40

While policy developmen, educaion o sae and local auhoriies, and vulnerabiliy

assessmens are among he hazard-miigaion aciviies assessed by he independen sudy,

he grans FEMA awards o sae governmens o implemen physical measures ha help


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avoid or reduce damages rom disasersprimarily floodsmade up he larges propor-

ion o oal invesmens. Specifically, aciviies o acquire, relocae, elevae, or flood-proo

properies made up 47 percen o he oal coss sudied. By comparison, only 13 percen

o coss were or rerofiting and rehabiliaing earhquake-affeced srucures, and grans

or srucural wind rerofiting made up only 3 percen o sudied invesmens.41

For he coasal properies acing he inexorable onslaugh o sea-level rise, evidence indi-caes ha one specific miigaion measurevolunary public buyous o flood-prone

coasal properiesmay become he mos imporan and cos-effecive sep ha he

ederal governmen can ake o help coasal residens move ou o harms way.

Te Columbia Universiy Law Schools Cener or Climae Change Law, summarizing

relevan ederal saues, defines volunary buyou programs as a specific ype o prop-

ery acquisiion in which he governmen uses public unds o purchase privaely held

lands rom willing sellers, demolishes exising srucures, and hen mainains he land in

an undeveloped sae in perpeuiy or public use.42

FEMA has long suppored flood-sricken saes and municipaliies wih volunary buyous

o properies damaged or desroyed by inundaion. Under is curren program, when a

ciy or sae governmen deermines ha buyous would be appropriae or a flooded

area, i may apply o FEMA or he allocaion o ederal recovery aid or his purpose. I

FEMA approves, he agency hen provides unding or 75 percen o he ull pre-flood

marke value o each o he floodedand flood-proneproperies. Te sae or municipal

governmen mus und he remainder. I he propery owner has already received money

or losses rom he NFIP, FEMA and he sae or local governmen subrac ha setlemen

amoun rom he pre-sorm marke price value o deermine wha hey will pay.

Afer purchase, he sae or local governmen akes ile or he land and mus demol-

ish he remaining buildings. Under ederal law, he acquired propery canno be resold

or buil on and mus be mainained or public use, such as parklands, wildlie reuges,

or public beaches.43

o some, buyous may seem like he anihesis o pos-flood recovery and reconsruc-

ion. Evidence rom flood-prone areas naionwide, however, shows ha volunary

buyous ofen make sense or severely sricken neighborhoods and he communiies o

which hey are a par. In addiion, ollow-up sudies o specific buyou programs have

shown repeaedly ha hese buyous are highly cos effecive or axpayers.

During and afer hisoric flooding along he Mississippi River rom 1993 hrough 1995,

or insance, he sae o Missouri launched a program o buy ou repeiive-loss

buildings in he rivers floodplainhomes in flood-prone areas ha had been known o

draw repeaed flood-insurance payous. Beween 1995 and 2008, FEMA and he sae

o Missouri invesed roughly $75 million o purchase 4,045 repeiive-loss properies

across eigh easern counies.44


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Te iniiaive was esed requenly over he ensuing decade. From 1999 o 2008,

Missouri aced 14 presidenial disaser declaraions due o flooding. Analyzing he per-

ormance o buyous in 2009, FEMA and Missouri ound ha or he 885 properies or

which here were adequae daa, nearly $97 million in losses was avoided during hose

14 flood disasers, represening a 212 percen reurn on invesmen or he $44 mil-

lion o public unds ha had been invesed in hose paricular buyous.45As he saes

hazard-miigaion officer pu i in a 2010 inerview, In Missouri, i seems ha buyoushave worked he bes and been he mos cos-effecive approach.46

Similar cases exis rom around he counrycases in which FEMA and flood-sricken

saes joinly compleed buyous argeing repeiive-loss properies and quickly earned

cos-covering reurns. Consider he ollowing examples:

In Shepherdsville, Kenucky, FEMA and he sae governmens $1.3 million inves-

men in propery buyous yielded a 245 percen reurn in avoided losses afer our

so-called 100-year floods and one 500-year flood repeaedly inundaed he region

beween 1999 and 2011.47

Many residens o Baker Couny, Georgia, decided o ake buyous afer ropical

Sorm Albero devasaed heir own in 1994, causing $4.5 million in damages. In

1998, when a massive sorm again flooded he own, nearly $2 million in damage was

prevened hanks o he $754,000 invesed in buyous by FEMA and he sae, repre-

sening a reurn o approximaely 265 percen in less han five years.48

In a deailed sudy, Iowa deermined ha he buyou o 703 floodplain properies in

12 o he saes communiies beween 1988 and 2008 yielded a 219 percen reurn on

invesmen ollowing he floods o 2008 alone, represening an average o $140,408in 2008 dollarsin oal losses avoided or each propery.49

In a mulisae sudy on buyous ollowing he caasrophic 1993 Midwes floods, he

Naional Wildlie Federaion, or NWF, repored a broader summary saisic: a $2

reurn o axpayers or every $1 invesed in buyous o repeiive-flood-loss properies

wihin five years,50demonsraing ha he cos effeciveness o FEMA-managed buyous

holds up over large areas, even wihin shor ime horizons.

Ye NWF also poined ou ha is esimae was inherenly conservaive because i

did no capure an array o addiional coss ha are permanenly avoided because o

buyous, such as local flood fighing, evacuaion, rescue and recovery expenses, and he

social coss o human suffering and he loss o lie.

In addiion, buyousbecause hey involve resoraion o floodplain lands back o heir

naural environmenal condiionsprovide ongoing benefis beyond he eliminaion

o uure disaser-response and recovery coss. As Columbia Universiys Cener or

Climae Change Law summarizes, resored coasal welands absorb and hold floodwa-


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ers, buffering he surrounding communiies rom inundaion; filer polluans rom

runoff; and provide public recreaional space ha enhances propery values and public

healh or he surrounding communiy.51Furhermore, recen sudies rom around he

world have revealed ha some coasal ecosysems capure and sore immense quaniies

o amospheric carbon dioxide,52which means ha hey help miigae climae change in

addiion o enhancing local resilience o is desrucive effecs.

In oher words, buyous urn coasal floodplain lands rom a massive ederal liabiliy

ino a valuable communiy asse.

Buyouts today: Sandy s aftermath as prelude to the coasts future

Beween 1993 and 2011, FEMA spen more han $2 bil lion o buy 37,707 properies

naionwide.53Reflecing how he U.S. governmen was iniially moivaed o pursue

buyous ollowing he broadly caasrophic Grea Flood o he Missouri and Mississippi

rivers in 1993,54

Missouri was he mos acive sae in erms o buyous during ha imeperiod, compleing 4,950 buyous o he naionwide oal.55

Ye he scale o liabiliies growing along our naions coass dwars hose figures. As

o 2012, he NFIP had writen 2,409,526 flood-insurance policies or properies in

Americas coasal floodplain, he area wihin coasal and Grea Lakes counies where

he NFIP flood-planning regulaions are enorced, and flood insurance is mandaory.

Beween 1978 and 2011, abou $24 billion in losses was paid o NFIP policyholders in

he coasal floodplain, and even hough Midwes floods dominaed flood-damage-mii-

gaion discussions in he 1990s, 9 o he op 10 mos desrucive flood evens since 1999

were along Americas coass.56

Coninued emissions o climae-change-relaed polluans rom ossil-uel burning,

deoresaion, and oher aciviies is bringing his monsrous liabiliy o lie: Florida,

home o nearly hal o he 2.4 million curren coasal flood-insurance policies,57is

now projeced o ace wo ee o sea-level rise in he nex 50 years.58By he end o he

cenury, New York Ciy is likely o see 2.3 ee o sea-level rise, and Galveson, exas, is

likely o see 3.5 ee.59

As discussed, he global-warming-enhanced desrucion o Supersorm Sandy60and

he $50.7 billion price ag or ederal assisance in is afermah61represen a preview o

hese looming coasal flooding challenges.

Bu ambiious new buyou iniiaives rom he governors o New York and New Jersey,

as componens o heir Sandy recovery sraegies, provide emplaesand lessons

or he ype o governmenal responses ha will be needed along he res o Americas

coasal floodplain.

Buyouts turn

coastal floodplain

lands from a massive

federal liability

into a valuable

community asset.


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In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Chrisies adminisraion is argeing he buyou

o 1,000 properies rom willing sellers in coasal floodplain areas ha were affeced by

Sandyalong wih anoher 300 repeiive-loss properies in he inland Passaic River

Basinusing $300 million o he ederal aid appropriaed by Congress o he sae or

recovery.62FEMA is currenly approving small blocs o buyou-eligible properies on an

incremenal basis. As o lae Ocober, he agency had awarded New Jersey $55 million

or he purchase o 272 homes in Sayreville and Souh River, wo communiies paricu-larly hard hi by Sandys flood.63

On one hand, New Jerseys buyou program represens a significan invesmen: Should

he Chrisie adminisraion achieve is goal, he sae will have compleed around 3

percen o all buyous naionwide since he incepion o he modern program. On he

oher hand, as o 2011, New Jersey had 188,141 NFIP policies or properies in he

saes coasal floodplain.64o pu i anoher way, while he saes pos-Sandy iniiaive

is a srong sep oward securing he mos vulnerable coasal lands relaive o pas effors,

he huge public liabiliy rom hese policiescollecively worh more han $40 billion

in publicly underwriten coverage in 2011will probably coninue o worsen in risk assea-level rise coninues.

Meanwhile, in New York, o he $663 million in ederal aid ha Democraic Gov.

Andrew Cuomos adminisraion allocaed or housing recovery ollowing Supersorm

Sandy, he sae designaed $171 million or buyous o properies in he coasal flood-

plain subjec o repeiive loss.65According o repors, he sae idenified 10,000 quali-

ying homes and expecs he owners o roughly 15 percen o hem1,500 qualiying

homeso accep a buyou.66

While he scale o New Yorks buyou arges parallels ha o New Jersey, he Cuomoadminisraions program includes noable differences and innovaions. Perhaps ore-

mos among hese is he explici esablishmen o improved resilience o climae change

as a sraegic objecive o overall Sandy recovery. According o New Yorks official pos-

Sandy acion plan, is effors aim o comprise recovery ha will proec [homeowners]

rom uure exreme weaher evens and climae change in a manner ha is inormed

by a pos disaser evaluaion o hazard risk, especially land use decisions ha reflec

responsible flood plain managemen and ake ino accoun possible sea level rise.67

Second, as is he case in New Jersey, he sandard offer o owners o flood-damaged

propery is ull, pre-sorm marke price. Unlike New Jersey, however, New York is

offering modes payou bonuses above ha marke price as incenives o improve he

perormance o is program. Wih his price flexibiliy, New York is aiming o address

key challenges ha have plagued buyou programs in oher saes. For insance,

coasal properies in he areas o highes flood risk, as well as hose on lands ideni-


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fied in consulaion wih local governmen officials as having high poenial o serve

as buffers ollowing ecosysem resoraion, are eligible or 5 percen o 15 percen

bonuses above he pre-sorm price. Nex, o preven he erosion o local governmen

ax bases, a common complain o propery buyous, New York provides a 5 percen

bonus o propery owners ha relocae wihin heir same couny, a measure ha also

helps preserve communiy cohesion. Finally, in cerain high-risk areas, New York

offers 10 percen bonuses or each member o a group o adjoining propery ownersha collecively op or buyous, in order o maximize he public benefis rom he

associaed resoraion o coasal lands. o preven abuse, New York caps incenives a

15 percen per propery.68

As o lae Ocober, abou 400 homes in he Saen Island own o Oakwood Beach have

been approved or buyous and demoliion under he auspices o New Yorks program,

wih scores o ohers on he island pending. Te Oakwood Beach communiy was paricu-

larly hard hi by Sandy: In addiion o severe propery damage, hree residens drowned in

he floodwaers.69Te rauma o he deah and desrucion caused by he sorm coninues

o exac a oll rom residens and has cumulaively moivaed many o sell.

The heartache of losing my home, the heartache of losing my memories, the blood and

sweat and tears that I put into this home, is going to be healed by seeing trees and nature

come back to that spot right there I dont want to remember Sandy. I dont want to

remember my neighbors dying in a storm. I want to remember the good times. Theyve got

to level this whole area. Get it over with, get it done.

Joe Monte, former resident of Oakwood Beach, New York70

Recommendations: Strategic action for coastal resilience

Te findings in FEMAs comprehensive June 2013 sudy on he increase in U.S. flood

hazard due o climae change crysallized he need or a muliron atack on he naions

coasal flood-insurance liabiliy. Alhough he NFIP is already in deb o U.S. axpay-

ers or around $28 billion, losses per policy naionwide are projeced o increase by 50

percen by 2100. Meanwhile, he oal number o policies in coasal floodplains could

rise by as much as 130 percen i we ail o adap our coaslines o he sea-level rise has

already locked in due o pas greenhouse gas emissions.71In oher words, effors mus be

made o improve he financial soundness o he NFIP and conrol he growh in asses

in Americas hreaened coasal floodplains. Te ollowing recommendaions aim o spur

progress on boh o hese rons.


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Preserve the 2012 Biggert-Waters reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program

Te biparisan Bigger-Waers Flood Insurance Reorm Ac o 2012 iniiaed badly

needed reorms or he NFIP, aimed primarily a reducing he programs severe srain on

he ederal budge. Tree major componens o BW-12 serve his purpose:

Curailing o subsidiesofen called premium discounsor second homes, busi-ness properies, and cerain oher previously eligible srucures

Mandaing adjusmen o all NFIP premiums o reflec acuarial flood risk , including

consideraion o caasrophic loss yearssuch as major hurricanesin he calcula-

ion o he average hisorical loss

Esablishing wihin FEMA an ongoing mapping program o review, updae, and main-

ain flood-insurance rae maps, including all areas wihin he 100-year and 500-year

floodplains. BW-12 also auhorized $400 million annually o suppor FEMAs new

mapping requiremens.72

In sum, BW-12 akes major seps o align he NFIPs premiums wih is losses, an immi-

nenly reasonable expecaion or axpayers underwriing policyholders in floodplains.

Tese reorms, however, will no be painless, and by mandaing heir implemenaion

over shor our- and five-year imerames, complains abou affordabiliy among NFIP

raepayers have grown. As Congress re-evaluaes BW-12 reorms73a he behes o

consiuens acing premium increases, i should ocus sricly on alleviaing shor-run

pain among low- and middle-income coasal residens by, or example, lenghening he

phase-in period or he higher raes while preserving he subsance o he laws vialreorms. BW-12 no only alleviaes he NFIPs fiscal oll on axpayers, buby requiring

ha flood-insurance price signals accuraely reflec he real and worsening flood risks in

he coasal floodplainhe law can also help reduce any arificially inflaed demand or

developmen o coasal asses.

Prioritize expansion of coastal floodplain buyouts in federal disaster policy

Securing he naions coasal communiies agains sea-level rise will also require proac-

ive effors o physically adap our coasal communiies o he realiy o a changing cli-

mae. Implemening hazard-miigaion policy ha increases volunary buyous o coasal

properies in he mos flood-prone areas, such as he ideas proposed below, suppors

his sraegic objecive. More buyous also mean helping more Americans volunarily

move ou o harms way, in a sae, equiable manner.


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First, state and federal decision makers must recognize that coastal floodplain buyouts

are a multibenefit policy tool

Buyous alleviae suffering in he afermah o coasal caasrophes. By aciliaing he

reinvesmen o value ha propery owners have accrued, hey permanenly reduce

uure disaser-recovery coss and axpayer liabiliy, usually paying or hemselves wihin

10 years; help communiies sraegically respond o sea-level rise; and enhance he resil-

ience, qualiy o lie, and environmenal healh o coasal communiies.

Second, two policy changes can help increase uptake of coastal property buyouts, which

will help save taxpayer dollars and reduce future NFIP liability

1. Programs or volunary buyous o coasal properies generally launch wih ederal

aid ollowing flood disasers such as hurricanes. Federal and sae emergency manag-

ers could save moneyand livesi hey had resources and direcion o iniiae such

programs or high-hazard flood zones beore he nex sorm evens srike. Pre-hazard

buyous or selec, highly vulnerable communiies could also provide recourse or low-

income coasal propery owners acing burdensome increases in flood-insurance premi-

ums as raes are adjused o more accuraely reflec flood risk under he BW-12 reorms.

2. Federal law limis FEMA o a maximum conribuion o 75 percen o he pre-sorm

purchase price o each coasal propery o be publicly acquired, necessiaing ha sae

and local governmens conribue he addiional unds required o complee he buy-

ou.74Following large-enough flood disasers, his limiaion may impede ulfilling exis-

ing demand or buyous i local and sae governmens are incapable o musering heir

required conribuion. Reducing his minimum 25 percen conribuion or properies

in coasal floodplains may help more willing sellers receive a buyou afer a major sorm,

an oucome o higher value o ederal axpayers han a ew addiional percenage poins

o upron cos. Since ederal axpayers will benefi rom reduced NFIP liabiliy, i isappropriae ha hey shoulder more o he burden o he upron cos.

Develop and institutionalize new innovations in coastal floodplain buyout programs

Te pos-Sandy buyou programs underway in New Jersey and New York represen

some o he larges such effors in he U.S. coasal floodplain since FEMA iniiaed is

conemporary propery-acquisiion ramework in 1993. Tese effors are in response o

a coasal disaser ha, while having litle preceden, is projeced o become a much more

common occurrence or coasal ciies, especially hose along he Alanic and Gul o

Mexico coaslines. Accordingly, hese buyou programs provide an imporan learning

opporuniy or FEMA and oher coasal saes, which should careully monior heir

perormance and sudy heir oucomes upon compleion o capure all available lessons.

O paricular noe, New York saes innovaive sysem o provide up o 15 percen

bonuses as a way o address specific social, fiscal, and land-use challenges ha can

accompany propery buyous warrans close atenion. I he perormance o New Yorks


13/18


program achieves he saes goalsan increase in he number o willing sellers and

more buyous o high-risk properieshe increased price flexibiliy and higher buyou

prices o he program should be insiuionalized.

Te remarkable cos effeciveness o buyous shows ha incenives, even hose well

above he 15 percen bonus cap mainained in New York, will likely sil l be ully paid

back hrough cos avoidance wihin a relaively shor ime horizon. Moreover, resoredcoasal ecosysems provide valuable public services in addiion o flood buffering, such

as wildlie habia, erosion conrol, waer-qualiy enhancemen, and public recreaional

opporuniies, urher jusiying argeed bonuses or coasal propery sellers.

Conclusion: Congress must act to make cost-effective investments in

coastal resilience

On November 1, Presiden Barack Obama signed an execuive order iled Preparing

he Unied Saes or he Impacs o Climae Change, which direcs ederal agencies oake several seps o help prepare he ederal governmen and he naion or he effecs

o climae change. Is measures include he idenificaion and removal o bureaucraic

barriers in ederal permiting o municipal invesmens in climae resilience, he orma-

ion o a ask orce on resilience planning, and improvemen o public access o relevan

daa housed by ederal agencies. In addiion, he execuive order direcs ederal agencies

o recognize he many benefis provided by he naural inrasrucure o he naions

ecosysems, andin language well aligned wih he coasal welands discussed earlier

manage he naions lands and waers in ways ha promoe he dual goals o greaer

climae resilience and carbon sequesraion.75

Te presidens execuive order will surely conribue new momenum and insiu-

ional resources o building resilience o climae change in he Unied Saes and has

obvious bearing on uure managemen o he naions dangerously expanding coasal

floodplains. Bu as a unilaeral ac by he execuive branch, is poenial o meaningully

reduce he immense and growing risks rom inundaion in Americas coasal floodplain

is minimal. Wha are urgenly needed, and wha have repeaedly been proven o be cos

effecive many imes over in saes across he counry, are ederal invesmens in pre-

hazard miigaion measures such as coasal propery buyous. As discussed earlier, such

invesmens usually pay or hemselves, ofen quickly reurning more han 200 percen

in avoided disaser-recovery coss wihin a decade or less.76

Previous analysis rom he Cener or American Progress showed ha beween fis-

cal years 2011 and 2013, he ederal governmen spen abou $22 billion on general

resilience-enhancemen effors naionwide, including boh coasal and inland saes,

plus an addiional $13 billion on pos-Sandy recovery effors, much o which included


14/18


pre-disaser miigaion aciviies.77As pas FEMA research has shown, hose inves-

mens will save he Unied Saes as much as our imes ha amoun in economic

losses and save axpayers more han double ha amoun in pos-disaser expendiures

rom he U.S. reasury.

Over ha same wo-year ime period, however, Congress was orced o spend $136 bil-

lion nearly $400 per U.S. householdon relie and recovery afer disasers sruck.78Based on wha we know abou he reurn on ederal invesmens in resilience o flooding

and oher caasrophesnamely, he avoidance o $3.65 in U.S. reasury spending or

every $1 invesedha exraordinary sum could have been significanly reduced wih a

comparaively small invesmen in hazard-miigaion measures such as coasal floodplain

buyous, perhaps even saving expendiures rom he reasury and precluding unquani-

fiable pain and suffering wihin disaser-sricken communiies.

O course, appropriaion o new discreionary spending o any kind is a near impos-

sibiliy in odays polarized poliical climaein large par due o a bloc o House

Republicans who avor fiscal auseriy as an economic remedy. Ye even ea Parychampions who opposed he relie and recovery bill or Supersorm Sandy have realized

he imporance o ederal spending once a weaher-relaed disaser such as an Oklahoma

ornado79or a Souh Dakoa blizzard80srikes heir home saes.

Proacive, problem-solving policy has no been one o Congresss srenghs in recen

years, bu we mus no ignore he ac ha proven, highly cos-effecive, and readily

deployable measures exis o head off climae changes hreas o our physical and fiscal

well-being. Te resilience o our naions coasal areas is coningen on significan, dedi-

caed invesmens, irrespecive o Congresss curren willingness o make hem.

While coasal floodplain buyous are no a panacea or he effecs o sea-level rise, hey

are an essenial and complemenary policy ool among he array o oher hazard-mii-

gaion measures available, such as elevaing buildings and consrucing levees, breakwa-

ers, and seawalls. Buyous and environmenal resoraion o he mos vulnerable coasal

properies, or example, reduce he exen o which his expensive grey, or concree

and seel-based, flood-proecion inrasrucure mus be buil, saving money and limi-

ing he negaive impacs on coasal habias. Tis saves capial or coasal hardening in

areas where buyous are no appropriae, such as major urban ceners, seapors, and

coasal airpors.

As sea-level rise acceleraes along our naions coaslines, he Unied Saes sands a

a juncure. One opion: We can begin o make he smar invesmens necessary o

respond o his realiy and move our ciizens and asses ou o he crosshairs o climae

change. FEMA and is parners in sae and local governmens have shown ha flood-


15/18


plain residens can and will move ou o harms way when given a air opporuniy o

do so and ha hose properies can rapidly urn rom being public liabiliies o serving

as valuable communiy asses ha provide numerous public benefis. Expanding his

effor o adap our shorelines o sea-level rise will require poliical discipline o preserve

exising reorms, compassion o aid amilies rying o relocae, and vision o effecively

scale up coasal floodplain buyous ahead o he pace o rising seas. Tis being he case,

remendous opporuniies exis.

Alernaively, we can coninue o ignore he roo causes o sea-level rise and coasal

flooding, as well as is available soluions. In so doing, we will squander precious ime

on urher parisan bickering abou which saes deserve ederal relie as we coninue o

lurch rom one mulibillion dollar caasrophe o he nex, even as our collecive liabiliy

or coasal floodplain properies mouns.

Te later pah represens boh an exension o he saus quo and a dangerous

gamble agains an overwhelming body o scienific undersanding ha global warm-

ing is well underway.81

Te sakes could hardly be higher: more han hal a rilliondollars o axpayer liabiliy and he securiy o Americas economic powerhouses

is coasal counies.

Shiva Polefa is a Research Associate or the Ocean Policy program at the Center or

American Progress. Mark Dennin, Michael Conathan, and Kristan Uhlenbrock contributed

to this report.


16/18


Endnotes

1 Kevin Trenberth, Hurricane Sandy mixes super-stormconditions with climate change,The Conversation, October29, 2012, available at http://theconversation.com/hurri-cane-sandy-mixes-super-storm-conditions-with-climate-change-10388.

2 EarthWeek, Record Atlantic Warmth Creates Fisheries

Disaster, September 21, 2012, available athttp://www.earthweek.com/2012/ew120921/ew120921a.html.

3 Kevin E. Trenberth, Framing the way to relate climateextremes to climate change,Climatic Change115 (2012):283290, available athttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-012-0441-5/fulltext.html.According to climatescientist Dr. Kevin Trenberth, sea-surface temperatures: have risen by 0.50.6 C since the 1950s, and over theoceans this has led to 4 % more water vapor in the atmo-sphere since the 1970s. As a result, the air is on averagewarmer and moister than it was prior to about 1970 andin turn has likely led to a 510 % effect on precipitationand storms that is greatly amplified in ex tremes. The warmmoist air is readily advected onto land and caught up inweather systems as part of the hydrological c ycle, where itcontributes to more intense precipitation events that arewidely observed to be occurring.

4 Andrew Freedman, How Global Warming Made Hurricane

Sandy Worse, Climate Central, November 1, 2012, availableat http://www.climatecentral.org/news/how-global-warm-ing-made-hurricane-sandy-worse-15190.

5 Andrew C. Kemp and others, Climate related sea-level variations over the past two mill ennia, Proceed-ings of the National Academy of Sciences108 (27) (2011):1101711022, available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/06/13/1015619108.full.pdf.

6 Ibid.; John D. Boon, Evidence of Sea Level Acceleration atU.S. and Canadian Tide Stations, Atlantic Coast, North Amer-ica,Journal of Coastal Research28 (6) (2012): 14371445,available at http://www.jcronline.org/doi/abs/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00102.1.

7 Kemp and others, Climate related sea-level variations overthe past two millennia.

8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, MeanSea Level Trend, 8518750 The Battery, New York, available at

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=8518750(last accessed December 2013).

9 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, MeanSea Level Trend, 8443970 Boston, Massachusetts, availableat http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_sta-tion.shtml?stnid=8443970(last accessed December 2013).

10 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, MeanSea Level Trend 8534720 Atlantic City, New Jersey, availableat http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_sta-tion.shtml?stnid=8534720(last accessed December 2013).

11 Joe Romm, Manmade Carbon Pollution Has Already PutUs On Track For 69 Feet Of Sea Level Rise, Climate Progress,February 1, 2013, available at http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/02/01/1527551/manmade-carbon-pollution-has-already-put-us-on-track-for-69-feet-of-sea-level-rise/.

12 Seth Borenstein, How Sandy Went From Boring to Killer

Superstorm, The Big Story, October 25, 2013, available athttp://bigstory.ap.org/article/how-sandy-went-boring-killer-superstorm.

13 Bryan Walsh, A Year After Sandy, Living Dangerously by theSea, TIME, October 29, 2013, available athttp://science.time.com/2013/10/29/a-year-after-sandy-living-dangerously-by-the-sea/.

14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DeathsAssociated with Hurricane Sandy October-November2012, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report62 (20) (2013):393397, available athttp://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6220a1.htm.

15 CNN Library, Hurricane Sandy Fast Facts, CNN, availableathttp://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/world/americas/hurricane-sandy-fast-facts(last accessed December 2013).

16 Daniel J. Weiss and Jackie Weidman, Preventing FutureFrankenstorms, Center for American Progress, November1, 2012, available at http://www.americanprogress.org/

issues/green/news/2012/11/01/43504/preventing-future-frankenstorms/.

17 Thomas C. Peterson and others, Explaining Extreme Eventsof 2012 from a Climate Perspective, Bulletin of the AmericanMeteorological Society94 (9) (2013): 174, available at http://www.ametsoc.org/2012extremeeventsclimate.pdf.

18 Tom Johnson, Mapping Out Areas in New Jersey at Risk ofFlooding as Sea Levels Rise, NJ Spotlight, October 28, 2013,available at http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/10/27/analysis-maps-out-flood-risks-in-nj-as-ocean-levels-rise/.

19 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA,U.S. Census report finds increases in coastal populationgrowth by 2020 likely, putting more people at risk ofextreme weather, March 25, 2013, availabl e at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130325_coastalpopula-tion.html.

20 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAAsState of the Coast: The Coast Our Economic Engine, avail-able athttp://stateofthecoast.noaa.gov/coastal_economy/welcome.html(last accessed December 2013).

21 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA,U.S. Census report finds increases in coastal populationgrowth by 2020 likely, putting more people at risk ofextreme weather.

22 Ibid.

23 AECOM, FEMA Climate Change Report (2013), avail-able athttp://www.aecom.com/News/Sustainability/FEMA+Climate+Change+Report.

24 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Stateof the Coast: Federally-Insured Assets in the Coastal Flood-plain, available at http://stateofthecoast.noaa.gov/insur-ance/ (last accessed December 2013).

25 Erwann Michel-Kerjan, Sabine Lemoyne de Forges, andHoward Kunreuther, Policy Tenure Under the U.S. NationalFlood I nsurance Program (NFIP), Risk Analysis32 (4) (2012):644658, available at http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/risk/library/J2012RA_PolicyTenureNFIP_EMK.pdf.

26 Arthur D. Postal, As NFIP Faces Deepening Debt, SomeCall for More Subsidi es and Lower Rates,Property Casualty360,March 25, 2013, available athttp://www.propertyca-sualty360.com/2013/03/25/as-nfip-faces-deepening-debt-some-call-for-more-su.

27 Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, Catas-trophe Facts and Statistics, available at http://www.rmiia.org/Catastrophes_and_Statistics/catastrophes.asp(lastaccessed December 2013).

28 Ibid.

29 Michel-Kerjan, Lemoyne de Forges, and Kunreuther, Policy

Tenure Under the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP).

30 Eric Lipton, Felicity Barringer, and Mary Williams Walsh,Flood Insurance, Already Fragile, Faces New Stress, TheNew York Times, November 12, 2012, available athttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/nyregion/federal-flood-insurance-program-faces-new-stress.html.

31 Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, Divi-sion of Water: Brief History of the National Flood InsuranceProgram, available at http://water.ky.gov/floodplain/Pages/BriefHistory.aspx(last accessed December 2013).
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32 Postal, As NFIP Faces Deepening Debt, Some Call for MoreSubsidies and Lower Rates.

33 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Flood InsuranceReform Act of 2012, available at http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-reform-act-2012#1 (last accessed Decem-ber 2013).

34 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Flood Insurance:More Information Needed on Subsidized Properties, GAO-13-607 (2013), available athttp://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-607.

35 Greg Allen, Nixed Flood Insurance Subsidy DrownsCoastal Home Values, NPR,September 27, 2013, avail-able at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=226902317.

36 Deirdre Fernandes, Changes to flood insurance meanhigher costs, The Boston Globe,October 16, 2013, availableat http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/15/changes-flood-insurance-mean-higher-costs-water/1hXoKECepAhcpothIhnfeI/story.html.

37 Michael Howard Saul, Sandy Alters Reality, The Wall StreetJournal, December 6, 2012, available at http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324640104578163643710593824;

38 Allen, Nixed Flood Insurance Subsidy Drowns CoastalHome Values.

39 Nicholas Pinter, The New Flood Insurance Disaster, The New

York Times, August 28, 2013, available at http://www.ny-times.com/2013/08/29/opinion/the-new-flood-insurance-disaster.html.

40 Federal Emergency Management Agency, MitigationsValue to Society (2005), available at http://www.dhses.ny.gov/oem/mitigation/documents/mitigations-value-to-society.pdf.

41 Multihazard Mitigation Council, Natural Hazard MitigationSaves: An Independent Study to Assess the Future Savingsfrom Mitigation Activities, Volume 1 Findings, Conclusions,and Recommendations (2005), available at http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/MMC/hms_vol1.pdf.

42 Columbia Law School, New Report Offers Legal Tools toLimit Risks of Climate Change for Coastal Communities,Press release, October 30, 2013, available at http://www.law.columbia.edu/media_inquiries/news_events/2013/octo-ber2013/managed-retreat-handbook.

43 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hazard Mitiga-tion Assistance - Property Acquisition (Buyouts), availableat http://www.fema.gov/application-development-process/hazard-mitigation-assistance-property-acquisition-buyouts(last accessed December 2013).

44 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Loss AvoidanceStudy: Eastern Missouri, Building Acquisition, Part One:General Overview (2009), available at http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1728-25045-1085/loss_avoidance_study_eastern_missouri__building_acqui-sition_part_1.pdf.

45 Ibid.

46 The Gazette, Despite benefits, towns reject FEMA floodbuyouts, April 18, 2010, available at http://thegazette.com/2010/04/18/despite-benefits-towns-reject-fema-flood-buyouts/#sthash.UGFecfW9.dpuf.

47 Esther White, Establishing Long-Term Cost Effectiveness ofFEMA Buyouts: A Loss Avoidance Study of the Acquisition/Demolition of 22 Properties in Shepherdsville, Kentucky(Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Martin School ofPublic Policy and Administration, 2011), available at http://www.martin.uky.edu/centers_research/Capstones_2011/White.pdf.

48 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Newton Acqui-sition Project, available at https://www.llis.dhs.gov/content/newton-acquisition-project(last accessed December 2013).

49 Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management,2008 Iowa Mitigation Success Story Avoided Lossesthrough Property Acquisition and Relocation for OpenSpace, available athttp://www.iowahomelandsecurity.org/documents/hazard_mitigation/HM_StatePlan_2-0_AnnexC.pdf(last accessed December 2013).

50 National Wildlife Federation, Higher Ground: A Report onVoluntary Property Buyouts in the Nations Floodplains(1998), available athttps://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Water/199807_HigherGround_Report.ashx.

51 Columbia Law School, New Report Offers Legal Tools to

Limit Risks of Climate Change for Coastal Communities.

52 NOAA Habitat Conservation, Carbon Sequestration 101,available at http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/coastalcarbonse-questration.html(last accessed December 2013).

53 David A. Lieb and Jim Salter, APNewsBreak: FEMA floodbuyouts top $2B since 1993, Yahoo! News,July 12, 2011,available at http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-fema-flood-buyouts-top-2b-since-1993-185604826.html.

54 U.S. Geological Survey Missouri Water Science Center, TheGreat Flood of 1993, available athttp://mo.water.usgs.gov/Reports/1993-Flood/(last accessed December 2013).

55 Lieb and Salter, APNewsBreak: FEMA flood buyouts top $2Bsince 1993.

56 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAAsState of the Coast: Federally-Insured Assets in the Coastal

Floodplain.

57 Ibid.

58 Curtis Morgan, Deep trouble: How sea-rise could cause hav-oc in South Florida, The Miami Herald, March 10, 2013, avail-able athttp://w ww.miamiherald.com/2013/03/09/3277234/deep-trouble-how-sea-rise-could.html.

59 U.S. Global Change Research Program, Global ClimateChange Impacts in the United States (2009), availableathttp://downloads.globalchange.gov/usimpacts/pdfs/climate-impacts-report.pdf.

60 Freedman, How Global Warming Made Hurricane SandyWorse.

61 William L. Painter and Jared T. Brown, FY2013 SupplementalFunding for Disaster Relief (Washington: CongressionalResearch Service, 2013), available athttp://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42869.pdf.

62 State of New Jersey, Governor Christie Announces $300Million Buyout Plan To Give Ho meowners The Option ToSell Sandy-Damaged Residences, Press release, May 16,2013, available at http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/552013/approved/20130516a.html.

63 State of New Jersey, Christie Administration AnnouncesFirst Post-Sandy Home Bu youts Completed I n Sayreville,Press release, October 24, 2013, available at http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/552013/approved/20131024c.html.

64 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAAsState of the Coast: Federally-Insured Assets in the CoastalFloodplain.

65 State of New York, Governor Cuomo Seeks Federal Ap-proval of NY State Plans for Housing and Business StormRecovery Programs, Press release, March 12, 2013, available

athttp://www.governor.ny.gov/press/03122013cuomo-seeks-federal-nys-housing-bus-storm-recovery.

66 Thomas Kaplan, Homeowners in Flood Zones Opt toRebuild, Not Move, The New York Times,April 26, 2013,available at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/nyregion/new-yorks-storm-recovery-plan-gets-federal-approval.html.

67 New York State Homes and Community Renewal Office ofCommunity Renewal, State of New York Action Plan forCommunity Development Block Grant Program DisasterRecovery (2013), available at http://www.nyshcr.org/Publications/CDBGActionPlan.pdf.
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18/18

68 Ibid.

69 Meghan Barr, After Sandy, Only a Lucky Few GettingBuyouts, The Big Story, October 28, 2013, available at http://bigstory.ap.org/article/after-sandy-only-lucky-few-getting-buyouts-0.

70 Ibid.

71 AECOM, FEMA Climate Change Report.

72 National Association of Insurance Commissioners and theCenter for Insurance Policy a nd Research, Biggert-Waters

Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012(2012), available athttp://www.naic.org/documents/cipr_overview_2012_flood_reauthorization.pdf.

73 Office of Sen. Robert Menendez, Menendez, Isakson, LeadBipartisan Coalition to Protect Homeowners From FloodInsurance Rate Spike, Press release, October 29, 2013, avail-able at http://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-isakson-lead-bipartisan-coalition-to-protect-homeowners-from-flood-insurance-rate-spike.

74 Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hazard Mitiga-tion Assistance - Property Acquisition (Buyouts).

75 The White House, Executive Order -- Preparing the UnitedStates for the Impac ts of Climate Change, Press release, No-vember 1, 2013, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/01/executive-order-preparing-united-states-impacts-climate-change.

76 White, Establishing Long-Term Cost Effectiveness of FEMABuyouts: A Loss Avoidance Study of the Acquisition/Demoli-tion of 22 Properties in Shepherdsville, Kentucky; FederalEmergency Management Agency, Newton AcquisitionProject; Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Manage-ment, 2008 Iowa Mitigation Success Story Avoided Lossesthrough Property Acquisition and Relocation for OpenSpace.

77 Daniel J. Weiss and Jackie Weidman, Pound Foolish: FederalCommunity-Resilience Investments Swamped by DisasterDamages (Washington: Center for American Progress,2013), available at http://www.americanprogress.org/

issues/green/report/2013/06/19/67045/pound-foolish/.

78 Ibid.

79 Alex Altman, For Republicans, Oklahoma Tornado RevivesQuestions About Disaster Relief, Swampland, May 22, 2013,available at http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/22/for-republicans-oklahoma-tornado-revives-questions-about-disaster-relief/.

80 Joann Weiner, Rep. Noem faces natural and political disas-ter after South Dakota blizzard, She the People, October 16,2013, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/10/16/rep-noem-faces-natural-and-political-disaster-after-south-dakota-blizzard/.

81 Joe Romm, New IPCC Report: Climatologists More CertainGlobal Warming Is Caused By Humans, Impacts Are Speed-ing Up, Climate Progress,August 18, 2013, available athttp://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/18/2484711/ipcc-

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Moving Out of Harm’s Way

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