(Flooding may not be as dramatic as an earthquake, but it’s a very real possibility. – promoted by SFBrianCL)
GOP Gov Fires Reclamation Board Following Policy Change To Take Tough New Action Reviewing Flood-Plain Developments
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, California’s Reclamation Board, which overseas flood control in the Central Valley responded with concern. Its responsibilities include 1,600 miles of levees, most of which have been grandfathered into federal flood insurance programs, rather than passing rigorous inspections. Further aggravating matters, the Central Valley is now the most rapidly urbanizing region in the state.
On September 16, the board approved what the Sacramento Bee described as “an aggressive new policy to begin reviewing all urban development proposals in designated flood zones.” The policy would bring pressure to bear on local governments to reject developments in high-risk areas where levees could not be counted on to protect against foreseeable floods.
In turn, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger responded with concern, firing all six members of the board 11 days later (there was one vacancy), and replacing them with a board of six Republicans and one Democrat. A Schwarzenegger spokesperson claimed that the replacements had been in process for some time, but given Schwarzenegger’s secretive style of governing, there were only rumors beforehand, and no outside consultation or explanation.
“There was no communication about why the entire board was removed,” Board Chair Betsy Marchand, told the Associated Press. Marchand was a former county supervisor of Yolo County, home to UC Davis, where another fired boardmember, Jeffrey Mount, chairs the geology department.
There were, apparently, some rumors that Schwarzenegger was considering replacements, but the governor did not even extend the courtesy of contacting the outgoing members before making the announcement public. In fact, he allowed them to keep working on business that would never be completed. There was meeting on September 27 to discuss the board’s next agenda, which concluded at 1 pm. Anthony J. Cusenza, a retired Modesto dentist, found out that he had been fired when he got back to Modesto afterward.
Beneath his customary cadishness lurked his customary corruption. Construction interests are heavy contributors to Schwarzenegger’s political machine, and responsible development practices in flood-prone areas would inevitably drive up costs. The Los Angeles Times reported:
A Times analysis of Schwarzenegger’s donors shows that at least 23% of the $75 million he has raised since 2002 has come from businesses or individuals involved in residential or industrial construction, development and real estate.
The Reclamation Board had only occasionally raised concerns about the booming urbanization of the Central Valley, until Katrina. That’s when they decided there was a need to be far more aggressive in highlighting the risks.
“I believe if you’re going to urbanize the land you’ve got to urbanize the levees. That’s the bottom line,” said board member Bill Edgar at the time. Most Central Valley levees were designed and built to protect farmland, not people.
According to The Sacramento Bee, reporting just after the policy change:
Friday’s action means the Reclamation Board will assume its full powers under the California Environmental Quality Act, which allows the agency to review and submit comments on major development projects. The board has exercised those powers only sporadically over the years.
The Bee went on to explain:
Board members said the need for the policy arises from a disconnect in California land-use policy. Cities and counties control urban development but have little obligation for flood control. That duty lies with levee maintenance districts, which have no input on land use.
The board hopes to bridge that gap by warning local governments that, before approving new homes and businesses behind levees, cities and counties should certify that those levees can withstand a 100-year storm, the federal government’s minimum standard.
If they can’t do so, the board’s comments will urge local governments to identify a flood-control plan for that development project, and to describe improvements that may be needed to withstand a flood, such as elevating homes above the flood line.
Local governments are free to ignore Reclamation’s advice about levee safety if they make certain legal findings that the benefits of a project outweigh the risk. But board members are hopeful that it will spur project changes to make homes and businesses safer, and it will help put consumers on notice that they are moving into a flood zone.
“I believe it’s not only appropriate, it’s an obligation,” said board member Tony Cusenza. “It’s our responsibility to see these people (in new developments) are protected one way or another.”
The board’s intentions—to inform residents, and bring short-term costs in line with long-term risks—were in line with the thinking of the re-insurance industry, whose companies have been concerned about the possible impacts of global warming for over a decade, at least since industry giant Swiss Re published its first relevant brochure, “Global Warming: Element of Risk.”
Gary Lemcke, a climatologist working for Swiss Re here in America, works with models that combine climate forecasts and risk assessment models, producing scenarios that point to future problems that could cost billions of dollars, just for a modestly warmer-than-usual summer, much less a catastrophic weather event.
“Don’t gamble with Mother Nature,” Lemcke warned in an interview with Random Lengths News on September 23. “That’s exactly what we are doing. We felt pretty safe in the seventies and eighties and thought it would go on forever. And stated building in areas where we shouldn’t build. There’s a lot of flood plain areas, as well that have been opened up for development, and that’s not the smartest thing to do. Whatever we do, nature in the end will bet stronger than us. There will be loss. There will be damage. And an insurance policy is only going to bring us so far.”
But Schwarzenegger and his financial backers have more to worry about than the pesky Reclamation Boardmembers they just got rid of. In part, the Boardmembers were responding to changes in federal policy—changes coming from FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) that were actually drafter a week before Katrina hit New Orleans.
According to another story in The Sacramento Bee:
A new federal flood-mapping policy could impose a mandatory flood-insurance rule on hundreds of communities nationwide and may even cause a building moratorium in some areas, according to state flood-control officials who are working to meet the requirements.
The memo, written by David Maurstad, acting director of FEMA’s mitigation division, ordered that local officials in any floodplain that contains a levee must certify that it meets FEMA’s 100-year flood standard—the standard Central Valley levees did not have to meet previously, because they were grandfathered into the system. If officials cannot certify meeting the standard, FEMA will assume that the levee does not exist, The Bee was told by Rod Mayer, acting chief of the division of flood management at the California Department of Water Resources. The Bee continued:
It could bring a twin shock for people to learn that their properties weren’t as safe as they believed, and that they would have to absorb flood insurance bills of hundreds of dollars a year.
In many cases, local communities could continue to build homes and businesses in those areas, Mayer said. But they may have to be elevated above expected flood levels, an expensive standard that many communities won’t be able to meet.
“Local agencies may find it very difficult to provide such certification,” Mayer said. “What I would expect to see is a moratorium on building in many areas behind levees.”
While FEMA recently certified that much of urban Sacramento met the 100-year standard, and more areas were still being upgraded, the grandfathering of the whole Central Valley system meant possibly dire consequences, according to The Bee:
But the true structural integrity of many of those levees remains suspect, and a full inspection might reveal that they don’t meet the FEMA standard.
“I cannot overstress how critical this is,” Rabbon said. “The potential outfall on this can really be horrendous, because almost all of the levees have been grandfathered into the national flood insurance program.”
…
A similar situation exists in many areas of the nation.
“It’s not just California, it’s the whole country,” Pineda said, noting that the Midwest also will feel a big hit from the requirements.
“It’s tough medicine,” Pineda said. “It’s going to be very controversial.”
Ironically, the FEMA directive is just the sort of “unfunded federal mandate” that the GOP used to rail about when it could blame Democrats. It will be interesting indeed to see what kind of fancy footwork Schwarzenegger and his new board have in mind for the special interests they serve.
Reclamation Board Purge
Purged Board Members:
Burton Bundy, a Los Molinos rancher and former Tehama County supervisor
Dr. Anthony J. Cusenza, a retired Modesto dentist
William H. Edgar of Sacramento, former Sacramento city manager
Betsy A. Marchand of Davis, former Yolo County supervisor
Jeffrey F. Mount of Davis, a professor of geology at the University of California at Davis
Floyd H. Weaver, a retired school adminstrator and former vice mayor of Stockton
Schwarzenegger Appointees:
Rose Burroughs of Denair, owner of California Cloverleaf Farms
Benjamin Carter, a Colusa farmer and former Apple Computer executive
Maureen Doherty, a farmer from Maxwell, Colusa County
Francis “Butch” Hodgkins of Sacramento, former executive director of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency
Teri Rie of Walnut Creek, a civil engineer with the Contra Costa County Public Works Department.
Emma Suarez of Folsom, an attorney for the California Farm Bureau Federation
Cheryl Bly-Chester of Roseville, owner of Rosewood Environmental Engineering
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