WASHINGTON - Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency Monday not to force communities to adopt new flood insurance maps until the agency validates their accuracy. Last week, FEMA announced it has chosen five parishes in Louisiana to be part of a pilot program that would incorporate the benefits of non-accredited...
WASHINGTON - Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency Monday not to force communities to adopt new flood insurance maps until the agency validates their accuracy.
Last week, FEMA announced it has chosen five parishes in Louisiana to be part of a pilot program that would incorporate the benefits of non-accredited local levee systems. The parishes are Plaquemines Parish, Lafourche Parish, Terrebonne Parish, St. Tammany Parish and St. Charles Parish.
Currently, FEMA gives no credit for levees it has not accredited, completely wiping this protection off the map when assessing a community's flood risk. Landrieu and Richmond said the new program, called the Levee Analysis and Mapping Procedures, is an opportunity to improve FEMA's understanding of coastal Louisiana's unique topography and conditions and give homeowners and businesses credit for their investments in local levees.
For several months now, some Louisiana residents and businesses have been expressing concern about significant hikes in flood insurance resulting from a new mapping and premium structure established by a 2012 flood insurance law.
The pilot mapping program is an important step, the two lawmakers said, in improving the accuracy and reliability of flood maps throughout the nation so that rates are not raised improperly.
"While we are encouraged by the selection of five Louisiana parishes ... as pilot sites for the implementation of LAMP, it is imperative that FEMA does not force communities to adopt new flood insurance rate maps until LAMP has been fully vetted and validated through this process," Landrieu and Richmond said in a letter to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.
"Previous mapping efforts have failed to understand the unique topography and conditions of coastal Louisiana, and we are committed to ensuring our communities get the credit they deserve for the non-accredited levees, pump stations, and other flood control infrastructure on the ground," Landrieu and Richmond said.
On Tuesday, Landrieu's Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to consider a measure, already adopted by the House, which would block FEMA from using its 2014 budget to implement a part of a 2012 law that ends grandfathered premiums for policyholders who, as a result of new flood-risk maps, have their risk designation changed to "below base flood elevation." The measure, like the House proposal, would be added to a 2014 spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA.
Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, author of the House measure on grandfathered premiums and Landrieu's Senate opponent in 2014, Monday called for swift Senate approval of his amendment. He mentioned the pilot mapping process planned for the five Louisiana parishes.
"These map updates underscore the need for the Senate to pass the Cassidy Amendment that blocks rate increases when FEMA updates flood insurance rate maps," Cassidy said in a statement. "While FEMA will be finalizing its LAMP process soon, it is imperative that maps are not updated until FEMA finds a way to accurately incorporate and credit flood protection features. I will continue to fight for a flood insurance program that is accessible, solvent and balanced in consumer affordability."
In 2011, Sen. Landrieu, along with 26 other senators, sent a letter to FEMA urging the agency to discontinue the use of their "without levees" policy that wholly discounted local levees in the flood mapping process. In response to that letter, FEMA acknowledged in March 2011 the shortcomings in their policy and agreed to make changes that would improve the accuracy and reliability of flood maps.