Category: Governmental Agencies

FEMA – Disaster Operations Legal Reference Manuals

Version 3.1 This mid-edition online update of the Disaster Operations Legal Reference (DOLR 3.1) describes the legal authorities for FEMA’s readiness, response, and recovery activities. It supersedes DOLR 3.0, issued in March 2017. Because this reference is not exhaustive, the…

Stafford Act – Keystone of Federal Disaster Response

The Stafford Act provides the financial framework for the federal disaster response. It is implemented through presidential declaration of an emergency. The basics of this process are outlined in report from CRS:

Keith Bea, Federal Stafford Act Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations, Eligible Activities, and Funding, CRS-RL33053, March 16, 2010 (August 29, 2005 version)[…]

Cape Wind Energy Project

This is a project to develop off-shore wind off Cape Cod. It’s relevance to the Louisiana Coast is that the appeals court ruled that the EIS was incomplete because there was not sufficient geological information about the sea bottom and…

State of the Climate 2014

Blunden, J. and D. S. Arndt, Eds., 2015: State of the Climate in 2014. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 96 (7), S1– S267. International report confirms: 2014 was Earth’s warmest year on record Climate markers continue to show global warming trend…

Corps of Engineers systematically underestimates river flood risk

Robert E Criss, Statistics of evolving populations and their relevance to flood risk, Journal of Earth Science 1–7 (2016). ABSTRACT: Statistical methods are commonly used to evaluate natural populations and environmental variables, yet these must recognize temporal trends in population…

National Flood Insurance Program: Evaluation

National Flood Insurance Program: Evaluation (FEMA – 2006) Original Link The NFIP Evaluation Capstone Study summarizes what was done, what was learned, and recommendations made. It synthesizes the sub-study findings into a coherent report evaluating the aspects of the Program…

NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program – Science Plan

NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program – Science Plan (2015) This is mostly vague generalities, but there is a pointed criticism of diversions on page 20: The impacts of diversions must be vigorously studied before actions are taken. For example, redistribution…

Executive Order: Taking Action to Protect Communities and Reduce the Cost of Future Flood Disasters

Original Fact Sheet: Taking Action to Protect Communities and Reduce the Cost of Future Flood Disasters Executive Order – Establishing A Federal Flood Risk Management Standard And A Process For Further Soliciting And Considering Stakeholder Input FEMA Flood Risk Management Site…

Vermont Environmentalists File FTC Challenge over “Double-Counting” RECs

Represented by Patrick A. Parenteau and Douglas A. Ruley of the Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, four Vermont residents have petitioned the FTC to investigate alleged misleading marketing practices by Green Mountain Power regarding their provision…

Climate Change: Conceptual Approaches and Policy Tools – CRS

Climate Change: Conceptual Approaches and Policy Tools – CRS Summary Congress has, over the past three decades, authorized and funded federal programs to improve understanding of climate changes and their implications. Climate changes have potentially large economic and ecological consequences,…

Reducing Coastal Risks on the East and Gulf Coasts – NRC

National Research Council. Reducing Coastal Risks on the East and Gulf Coasts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014. National Vision Needed to Achieve Comprehensive Risk Reduction Along Atlantic and Gulf Coasts WASHINGTON – A national vision for coastal risk…

The Mississippi River Delta Cycle and Coastal Restoration

  Click here – Video of a presentation by Prof. Edward Richards to the LSU Mineral Law Institute on the delta cycle and the coastal erosion lawsuit. (1.3gb file – works best if you download it before playing. Otherwise it…

Army Corps of Engineers 404 Permit Process

Corps permits are also necessary for any work, including construction and dredging, in the Nation’s navigable waters. The Corps balances the reasonably foreseeable benefits and detriments of proposed projects, and makes permit decisions that recognize the essential values of the…

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS – Limiting Federal Fiscal Exposure

EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS: Limiting Federal Fiscal Exposure and Increasing the Nation’s Resilience GAO-14-364T: Published: Feb 12, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 12, 2014. What GAO Found The federal government has opportunities to limit its exposure and increase the nation’s resilience to…

Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico – EIS Resources

Review Plan for the Post Authorization Change Decision Document of the Mississippi River and Tributaries, Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Protection Project, LA – 2011 Final Independent External Peer Review Report for the Mississippi River and Tributaries, Morganza…

FLOOD INSURANCE – Strategies for Increasing Private Sector Involvement

FLOOD INSURANCE Strategies for Increasing Private Sector Involvement What GAO Found According to stakeholders with whom GAO spoke, several conditions must be present to increase private sector involvement in the sale of flood insurance. First, insurers need to be able…

GAO – Making the Clean Water Act Work

CLEAN WATER ACT – Changes Needed If Key EPA Program Is to Help Fulfill the Nation’s Water Quality Goals, GAO-14-80 What GAO Found The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states each have responsibilities for developing and implementing pollution targets,…

General NEPA Resources

White House Guidance Guidance on the Applicability of E.O. 13807 to States with NEPA Assignment Authority Under the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program (2019) Statutes and Regulations The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended Council on Environmental Quality(CEQ)…

Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plans

Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority The Plans Decision-making chronology for the lake Pontchartrain & vicinity hurricane protection project Van Beek, Johannes L. “Recommendations for freshwater diversion to Louisiana estuaries east of the Mississippi River.” (1982). Van Beek, Johannes L.,…

Witless Policy and the Barrier Islands

William J. Siffin, BUREAUCRACY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND NATURAL RESOURCES: Witless Policy and the Barrier Islands, 1 Cato Journal 291 (1981} A good, early review of the unintended consequences of the National Flood Insurance Program.

West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Study

http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/WestShoreLakePontchartrain.aspx This is levee system will protect I-10 as it enters New Orleans from the west. Appendix A  has useful information from Fish and Wildlife about endangered species in Louisiana and how the proposed levee will adversely impact them. West…

EPA – Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters

Draft Report – 12 Meg Draft Report – 6 meg This report reviews and synthesizes the peer-reviewed scientific literature on the connectivity or isolation of streams and wetlands relative to large water bodies such as rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans.…

FLOOD INSURANCE: More Information Needed on Subsidized Properties

Report What GAO Found The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (Biggert-Waters Act) immediately eliminated subsidies for about 438,000 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies, but subsidies on an estimated 715,000 policies across the nation remain. Depending on factors…