Sunday, January 19, 2014

Flood Money: How Congress Is Botching the Effort to Climate-Proof Insurance

Former UN chief Yvo de Boer famously broke down in tears at the climate talks in Bali in 2007. (Credit: www.rtcc.org) Click to enlarge.
Congress appears to be on the brink of undoing a remarkable piece of legislation that reformed the outdated and hopelessly underwater National Flood Insurance Program.  It’s a pretty weird situation:  Some of the lawmakers who championed the reforms (including the representative for whom the law is named) have become its most incensed critics.

But the irony doesn’t end there.  First, the push to undo the flood-insurance reforms comes, in part, from the victims of Hurricane Sandy — a storm that revealed beyond a doubt just how broken the old system really was.  And second, the reforms, while bold, were only a small first step; if coastal residents think these changes hurt, wait ’til they see what’s coming.

Flood Money: How Congress Is Botching the Effort to Climate-Proof Insurance

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