Flood zone rewrite threatens to sock homeowners

Presented by Gas Leaks: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Oct 27, 2023 View in browser   By Lesley Clark Presented by   YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. Subscribe today.     A flooded neighborhood in Merced, Calif., in January. | Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images A federal panel is urging the government to expand the areas it considers at high risk of flooding — potentially requiring millions of homeowners to buy flood insurance for the first time. The move comes as flood damage has soared in recent years, leading to costly disasters even in states like Kentucky and Vermont that were once considered relatively safe. Remaking the maps would be far-reaching and expensive because owners would be required to buy flood coverage if their property is secured by a federally backed mortgage, writes Thomas Frank, who obtained a copy of the panel’s report. Coverage averages about $1,000 a year, but prices are rising rapidly as climate change and increasing development intensify flood damage. “This adjustment would be a significant shock,” Jeremy Porter, a researcher at the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that assesses climate risk, told Tom. Only a small fraction of U.S. households have flood policies, which are sold separately from homeowners insurance. Expanding the flood insurance requirement could upend housing markets by increasing the cost of ownership. But it could also protect millions who face rising flood risk. The National Association of Home Builders is already raising concern about the costs, noting the proposal to expand the map comes as many communities face housing shortages. Political risk The Federal Emergency Management Agency can redefine flood zones on its own, but any expansion would likely draw congressional scrutiny. FEMA — which runs the nation’s largest flood insurance program — is already facing a torrent of complaints about rising flood insurance premiums from coastal lawmakers, including from Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who was just elected House speaker by the Republican majority. About 8.5 million properties are in areas the federal government considers at high risk of flooding. Experts believe more than twice as many are actually at risk. The expansion is recommended in an interim report by the Technical Mapping Advisory Council, which Congress created in 2012 to strengthen the flood program against challenges such as climate change. It aims to address problems with the maps, which have been criticized for excluding large swaths of flood-prone areas. More homeowners would be financially covered with an expanded map, said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. “Insurance is always a front-line protection,” he said.   It's Friday — Thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Lesley Clark. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. A message from Gas Leaks: Are you ready for a horror story? Despite decades of industry advertising claiming "natural" gas is safe and clean, the reality is that it's actually methane gas, and it poses some horrifying threats to your health, safety and the climate. It explodes nearly every day, gives kids asthma and cancer, and makes extreme weather worse. Gas Leaks is exposing the horrors of methane gas and holding the industry accountable for its disinformation. Learn more today!   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: House Speaker Mike Johnson's energy record is thin. Power Centers Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) during a conversation at the Capitol. | Francis Chung/POLITICO GOP mulls a carbon tariff When is a tariff not a tax? Republican senators are trying to sell the idea that a carbon tariff on foreign importers won’t lead to a similar levy for U.S. companies. Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is sponsoring a resolution that rejects the idea of a carbon tax. It's meant to set the stage for proposed legislation that would impose a tariff on carbon-intensive imported goods. The legislative two-step underscores a political minefield ahead for Republicans, write Emma Dumain and Kelsey Brugger. Rebranding 'green' States grappling to reach goals for renewables and emissions cuts from the power sector are rebranding what counts as “clean,” writes Zach Bright. In the North Carolina Legislature, for example, the state’s Republican supermajority overrode the governor's veto to force through a law to rebrand nuclear as clean in the state energy mandate. Similar measures that symbolically or legally redefine natural gas and biomass as “clean,” “green” or “renewable” also passed this year in Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.   A message from Gas Leaks:   Subscriber Zone Domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden speaks at the White House in August. | Susan Walsh/AP The White House is rolling out a plan to make it easier to build affordable housing and cut planet-warming emissions. Ford has said it would delay construction on a massive electric vehicle battery plant in Kentucky that was part of a slate of projects set to be backed by a record-setting $9.2 billion federal loan.   SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.     A message from Gas Leaks: Are you ready for a horror story? Despite decades of industry advertising claiming "natural" gas is safe and clean, the reality is that it's actually methane gas, and it poses some horrifying threats to your health, safety and the climate. It explodes nearly every day, gives kids asthma and cancer, and makes extreme weather worse! The fossil fuel industry has taken a page out of the Big Tobacco playbook: spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the years to mislead the public into thinking that methane gas is “clean.” Addressing the rapidly escalating climate crisis requires being honest with the public: there’s nothing “natural” about methane gas — it’s a toxic, explosive fossil fuel that is heating the planet. Gas Leaks is exposing the horrors of methane gas and holding the industry accountable for its disinformation. Learn more today!   That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.