Number: 2014-01
WHEREAS, many communities across the United States and its territories are vulnerable to sea level rise, storm surge and coastal and interior flooding; and
WHEREAS, climate science strongly suggests that sea level rise, tropical storms, and dramatic increase of catastrophic localized precipitation events will intensify in many regions in the next few decades; and
WHEREAS, this evidence of increasing vulnerability highlights the need to anticipate and mitigate flood risk; and
WHEREAS, NWF is a founding partner in the Smarter Safer coalition and its Florida affiliate, the Florida Wildlife Federation, is a founding member of Stronger Safer Florida, both coalitions being dedicated to reform of unwise coastal and floodplain policies that shift the risks of improper and unsafe coastal development from the risk takers to the taxpayer; and
WHEREAS, both Smarter Safer Coalition and Stronger Safer Florida are broad-based partnerships of business, taxpayer, consumer, affordable housing and conservation groups working cooperatively to achieve significant reforms of federal and state policies to greatly reduce government subsidies for unwise coastal and floodplain development; and
WHEREAS, the Congress passed the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) in 1982 which removed federal subsidies from undeveloped coastal areas on the Gulf, Atlantic, and Great Lake coasts with the intent to save lives, hundreds of thousands of acres of fragile coastal land and taxpayer dollars; and
WHEREAS, to date, CBRA has helped protect 3.1 million acres comprising over 800 units of coastal property on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and other shorelines and a conservative estimate of $1,278,000,000 taxpayer dollars had been saved as of 2003 with ongoing savings increasing every year; and
WHEREAS, legislative proposals to withdraw units from the Coastal Barrier Resource System are often introduced with little consideration of the implications and costs to the federal Treasury; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) uses a comprehensive review process to assess the accuracy of CBRA System maps and to research landowner claims that particular areas did not meet the definition of an “undeveloped coastal barrier” at the time of inclusion in the CBRA System; and
WHEREAS, the review utilizes digital mapping and other techniques that were not available when the original System maps were created in the 1980s; and
WHEREAS, the Congress established the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968 to provide otherwise difficult to obtain flood insurance for residences and businesses that are located in flood prone areas in exchange for the participating communities’ agreement to guide new development away from flood hazard areas and take other risk reduction measures; and
WHEREAS, since its inception the NFIP has grown to more than 5.1 million policies providing more than $1 trillion in annual flood insurance coverage; and
WHEREAS, the vast majority of the nation’s communities are currently participating in the NFIP but many are not taking adequate measures to guide development away from flood hazard areas; and
WHEREAS, the NFIP has led to a $24 billion increase in the deficit, with virtually no possibility of overcoming the debts and large interest payments without a massive federal bailout; and
WHEREAS, a more sustainable NFIP would cease to subsidize those who increase the risk of flood-related harm to people and property and would help reduce development on sensitive coastal and floodplain habitats; and
WHEREAS, the Robert T Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, designed to provide federal assistance to prepare for and respond to natural disasters, is also a powerful tool to promote coastal resiliency and the protection and restoration of natural features to provide flood control and reduce storm surge;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled in Baltimore, Maryland, May 1–3, 2014, urges Congress and the Administration to undertake efforts to modernize the nation’s flood-related and other water policies and programs to emphasize ecologically sustainable and economically sound management of the nation’s coasts and floodplains, with full commitment to promoting public safety and sustainable human development in the context of the natural physical and ecological processes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports action by Congress and the Administration to reduce, eliminate or otherwise condition federal subsidies that promote unwise, costly high-risk coastal and floodplain development, including unwise subsidies in water development, transportation, agriculture, flood insurance and disaster programs; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation recognizes that natural features such as wetlands and undeveloped barrier islands should be protected and restored so that they can provide flood and storm risk reduction for the built environments and important habitat for fish and wildlife; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports action by Congress to allow market signals to highlight the risks to people and wildlife of new development and redevelopment in high-hazard, environmentally-sensitive areas, such as coastal barrier islands, on estuarine, oceanic, lakeside or riverine shorelines and within floodplains; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges Congress and the Administration to provide transitional means-tested premium supports and take other necessary steps to buffer middle and lower income residents who through no fault of their own find themselves unable to pay actuarially adjusted premiums for NFIP coverage; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation believes that Congress and the Administration should refrain from removing units from the CBRA System except where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has conducted a comprehensive review of the unit in question and found that removal is warranted based on the best available science; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports a review of land acquired in fee in flood prone sites by federal agencies abutting the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean or Great Lakes for CBRS eligibility by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges Congress and the Administration to provide adequate funding for hazard mitigation, and specifically, significantly increase the federal and state investment in predisaster mitigation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports actions by Congress and the Administration that continue to improve floodplain mapping so that they reflect the best available climate science, so that natural features such as wetlands are accounted for and so that people and communities understand their true risk; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges Congress and the Administration to enact stronger policies to ensure that participating communities prioritize the placement of future development outside of high-risk floodplain and coastal areas; and where not possible, they strengthen, elevate, or stormproof critical facilities such as schools, hospitals, eldercare, police, fire, and other public facilities, important roads, bridges, and transportation facilities.