FEMA

13 posts

State Hazard Mitigation Plans Increasingly Recognize Climate Change: New Sabin Center White Paper

By Dena Adler A newly released Sabin Center White Paper, “State Hazard Mitigation Plans & Climate Change: Rating the States 2019 Update,” reviews how well the states have integrated climate change into their State Hazard Mitigation Plans (SHMPs). SHMPs serve as “blueprints” for state efforts to prepare for natural and […]

Changing the National Flood Insurance Program for a Changing Climate: New Article Authored by the Sabin Center and the Natural Resources Defense Council

By Dena Adler Last month the Midwest faced historic floods that devastated rural communities, drowned farms, contaminated water supplies, and resulted in billions of dollars in damages. As climate change exacerbates the risk of these catastrophic flooding events in the Midwest and throughout the U.S., a growing number of citizens […]

Breaking the Cycle of “Flood-Rebuild-Repeat”: New White Paper from the Sabin Center and the Natural Resources Defense Council

By Dena Adler Since September 2017, Congress has kept the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) afloat with a series of short-term extensions, repeatedly punting on a valuable opportunity to issue a long-term reauthorization and reform the program to better protect communities from the increased risks of flooding spurred by climate […]

Congress Can Help Make Houston More Resilient to the Next Hurricane By Adding 3 Words to the 2017 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill

by Justin Gundlach Hurricanes like Harvey and Irma do not wipe clean the slate of prior plans, designs, and construction choices in the communities they afflict, but they do require officials, planners, and home and business owners to decide whether and how to alter those plans as they rebuild. As […]

July 2017 Updates to the Climate Case Charts

Each month, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (APKS) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law collect and summarize developments in climate-related litigation, which we also add to our U.S. and non-U.S. climate litigation charts.  If you know of any cases we have missed, please email us at columbiaclimate at gmail dot com. […]

Sabin Center Urges FEMA to Consider Climate Change in Review of National Flood Insurance Program

by Justin Gundlach & Jessica Wentz  By changing sea levels, coastlines, and patterns of precipitation, climate change is literally shifting the ground under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  Even as floodplains in many parts of the country (especially on the coasts) […]

New: Adaptation Resource Database

The Sabin Center has introduced a new item to our collection of legal resources – a compilation of Legal Resources for Climate Change Adaptation. The new page includes information about specific legal provisions that could be interpreted as requiring consideration of climate change-related risks, articles discussing the nature of legal […]

Flood Management, Energy Efficiency Standards Among the “Ghost Rules” Quietly Withdrawn by Trump Administration

By Jessica Wentz and Tim Wang Shortly after President Trump took office, the White House issued a memorandum imposing a freeze on new and pending regulations. The memorandum directed agencies to delay the effective date of rules that had already been published in the Federal Register and to withdraw regulations […]