Issue Position: Environment - Flood Insurance

Issue Position

Congressman Blumenauer believes the federal government can be a better partner to local communities in reducing the dangers of flooding to people and property. He has worked closely with city and county governments, citizens groups such as the Johnson Creek Watershed Council in Oregon, and businesses to better coordinate federal assistance and prioritize pre-disaster mitigation efforts.

On the Federal level, he is a leader in reforming the National Flood Insurance Program to ensure that it not only provides assistance to homeowners who experience flooding, but also that it helps keep people out of harm's way. In 2004, Congress passed and the President signed the "Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act," which reforms the National Flood Insurance Program to provide mitigation assistance to property owners to live in repetitively flooded areas. Rather than continue to rebuild, the program would provide repeatedly flooded homeowners assistance in either elevating or moving their homes away from flood waters. Those who refuse mitigation assistance would pay the full actuarial costs for choosing to live in a risky area.

Increased flooding is one of the impacts associated with global warming. Unfortunately, planning models used by federal agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Corps of Engineers do not often take this possibility into account. In 2007, the House passed Blumenauer legislation to require the FEMA to take global warming into account when updating its floodplain maps.

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