Florida, Kentucky and the flood insurance mess

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Jun 30, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by Chevron Teresa Reynolds sits exhausted by her home in Hindman, Ky., that was severely damaged by historic flooding across eastern Kentucky in July 2022. | AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley This is the story of two states, two devastating floods, and two wildly different federal responses. In Florida, residents whose homes were flooded by Hurricane Ian in September 2022 have received an average of $91,000 from the National Flood Insurance Program. In eastern Kentucky, the average payout to people hit by a historic deluge in July was just $49,000, an E&E News analysis shows. The gap exemplifies the longstanding deficiencies plaguing flood insurance in the United States, writes Minho Kim. The disparity is due to inaccurate flood maps in Kentucky and a dearth of insurance coverage in the state, among other factors. Nearly 80 percent of homes inundated by last year’s flooding were outside the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s designated high-risk areas. And only a handful of residents had bought flood insurance. Sixty percent of the Kentucky households damaged by the July flood had an annual income of $30,000 or less, making rebuilding without insurance next to impossible. And the gap in coverage is likely to get worse as rates climb. FEMA is revisiting its insurance rates after using more accurate modeling to improve its risk calculations. Under the agency’s updated risk assessment, Kentucky households in the flooded counties will see their yearly flood premiums nearly triple from $1,200 to $3,500 — a jaw-dropping rate hike for most low-income families. But the agency says it understands the urgency and scale of the problem. “Making flood insurance more affordable is a top priority for the agency,” David Maurstad, a FEMA flood insurance administrator, said in a statement. “We will continue to work with Congress to examine all affordability options.” The larger problem is that the U.S. as a whole has done a poor job of mapping out flood risks. That has left millions of people uninsured or dramatically underinsured, at the same time that climate change is turbocharging the risks of extreme rainfall, flash floods, coastal flooding from rising sea levels, and increasingly devastating tropical storms and hurricanes.   Thank goodness it's Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Programming note: We’ll be off this coming Monday and Tuesday for the Fourth of July but will be back in your inboxes Wednesday!   A message from Chevron: At Chevron, we’re striving to lead the way in the energy transition. That means producing renewable fuels to make an impact today and working to develop other fuels for tomorrow – all while working to reduce our carbon intensity. That's energy In progress.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Camille von Kaenel breaks down recent changes to California's landmark environmental law, the subsequent pushback and parallels to federal permitting reform efforts.   A message from Chevron:   Power Centers The Homer City Generating Station in Homer City, Pa. | Keith Srakocic/AP Photo A re(newable)birth for old coal plants As the nation continues transitioning away from fossil fuels, some advocates are pushing a new idea to repurpose old power plants — and their links to the grid — to bring carbon-free power online faster, writes Miranda Willson. Biden's climate law is making the prospect even more enticing. Developers are looking to capitalize on the law’s many clean energy tax credits, including new credits for projects built near former coal mines and plants. U.S. didn't track pollution from flights to climate summits A federal watchdog found that the State Department didn’t keep track of the carbon pollution associated with flying hundreds of federal officials to the last two global climate summits, writes Jean Chemnick. Failing to do so ran afoul of a 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden that directed agencies to track the greenhouse gas emissions their operations produce, including official air travel, said the Government Accountability Office in its new report. U.K. environment minister quits The U.K.'s top environment official quit the British government Friday with a stinging attack on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's climate record, writes Bethany Dawson. Zac Goldsmith, an ally of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said in a highly critical letter that "this government's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable." In Other News ‘A baffling decision’: DeSantis vetoes bipartisan bill to buy Florida more electric cars. This is climate change: Millions of people face a relentless summer of smoke that won’t end anytime soon. ‘Off the charts’: Earth’s vital signs are going haywire.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. An Electrify America charging station in Manchester, N.H. | Charles Krupa/AP Photo Electrify America, the country's largest fast-charging network for non-Teslas, said that it will incorporate Tesla's EV charging standard into its stations, adding to the automaker’s dominance. Before New Jersey lawmakers head home for the summer, Gov. Phil Murphy wants a bill on his desk to save the state’s first offshore wind farm. EPA improperly made a finding that El Paso failed to meet the 2015 ozone standard retroactively, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.       A message from Chevron: To meet society’s energy demands, we’re scaling up our operations while scaling down our portfolio carbon intensity. We’re investing in the fuels of tomorrow, while also staying focused on developing lower carbon alternatives to meet the needs of today. That means producing things like renewable diesel and renewable natural gas to fuel existing engines and help reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of the transportation industry. Meeting today’s energy needs, while forging new paths to the future - in ways that are affordable, reliable and ever cleaner. That’s energy In progress.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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