Wu Introduces Rural Community Flood Protection Act

Press Release

Today Congressman David Wu introduced the Rural Community Flood Protection Act, H.R. 5917, to make it easier and more affordable for rural communities to comply with national flood protection requirements.

Like many areas across the country, Oregon's Columbia and Clatsop counties are protected from floods by an extensive system of levees. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires that the levees be tested for safety and structural integrity in order to inform decisions about what land is at risk of flooding.

Small and mid-sized communities often cannot afford the environmental and engineering studies that prove their levees are safe, but without the studies, local business owners and families must purchase unnecessary and expensive flood protection insurance.

Communities traditionally worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to perform levee maintenance and inspection, but legislation passed in 2000, the Thomas Amendment to the Water Resources and Development Act, prevents the Army Corps from performing these needed services. As a result, communities are now required to pay more so that private companies can provide services that were previously performed at a substantially lower cost by the Army Corps.

"Many Oregon communities are already struggling with high unemployment and a lackluster economy and can't afford the exorbitant cost that private companies charge for levee recertification," said Wu. "To make matters worse, if the communities can't foot the bill, the financial burden then shifts onto local residents and businesses in the form of costly required flood insurance. My legislation prevents this nightmare scenario by making it more affordable for rural areas to proactively protect themselves from the threat of floods."

The Rural Community Flood Protection Act will:

* Change current federal policy to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to provide assistance to communities seeking levee certification.
* Establishes a non-federal cost share for levee certification of 35 percent. However, the bill also lowers this cost share to zero for communities under 10,000 people and for volunteer-run diking districts.

"Those of us with property, homes, and businesses located behind levees in Columbia County are pleased with the efforts of Congressman Wu and his staff to mitigate the financial burden of meeting the FEMA recertification mapping requirements," said Margaret Magruder, coordinator of the Lower Columbia River Watershed Council and a local diking district official. "The proposed legislation to allow the U.S. Army Corps to provide assistance in the certification process has the potential to provide us with welcome relief from the unreasonable requirements placed on us by the bureaucracy."

The levees along the Columbia River protect thousands of properties, including multiple cities, a regional airport, and deepwater port industrial areas.

"Thanks to the proactive leadership of Congressman Wu, we could finally see a break in the bureaucratic and regulatory log jam that would allow for citizens to have some control over their own destiny with regards the FEMA re-mapping process," said Tony Hyde, chairman of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners.

H.R. 5917 has been sent to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for initial consideration.

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