Underscoring the political challenges President Barack Obama faces as he presses ahead to combat climate change, eight Republican senators are contesting the legality of his Jan. 30 directive toughening floodplain standards for new federal projects.
In a letter to Obama last week that was coordinated by Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, the newly empowered chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the senators expressed concern about “the vast implications” that the standards would have for families and workers in coastal communities.
They demanded to know which governors, mayors and other stakeholders had provided input for the new policy, as required by legislation passed weeks ago that continued funding for the federal government.
Obama’s executive order specifies that the administration received input from “governors, mayors and other stakeholders.” Less clear is how many of them were Republicans.
The president’s order requires that new federal projects must be built at least two feet above the highest level that floodwaters are projected to reach in a 100-year period. It also mandates that any crucial infrastructure, such as a hospital, must be built an additional foot higher or built to the 500-year floodplain.
“The federal government does not operate in a vacuum,” Cochran said in a statement. “Such sweeping flood standard changes for federal properties will affect localities and private property owners in Mississippi and elsewhere. The president needs to explain to Congress and the American people why he took this unilateral action to disrupt cooperative, bipartisan work on flood risk mitigation issues.”
The skirmish is just the latest to reflect the deep political divide over global warming between the White House and the conservative flank of a newly emboldened Republican Party as the administration moves on multiple fronts to contend with climate change.
The huge taxpayer toll from the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy also affects the politics of the issue. Members of both political parties have been jockeying to avoid a backlash from property owners over the phased reduction in federal flood-insurance subsidies in areas with rising risks of storms and flooding.
Over the last two years, Obama has tested the limits of his executive power to push climate change policies that otherwise would be stymied by Republicans who’ve controlled the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, after Republicans seized the Senate in November’s midterm elections, he must contend with a hostile Congress, whose most conservative elements have gained a bigger voice on global warming, one of his signature initiatives.
Cochran’s Mississippi colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker, was another vocal signer of the letter. Wicker was the only senator to vote against an amendment last month declaring that human-induced climate change is real and not a hoax. He contends that the science on the issue isn’t yet settled.
According to NASA, “Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.”
In a statement about the flood risk policy, Wicker said “this administration seems to forget that it works for the American people, not the other way around.”
“These new standards issued by executive decree – without local, state or public input – could have many unintended consequences,” he said. “People in Mississippi and around the country deserve answers.”
Other signers were Sens. David Vitter and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Roy Blunt of Missouri and John Boozman of Arkansas.
The letter also asked Obama to:
– Identify any nonprofit groups that participated in drafting the new flood-risk standards.
– Summarize the activities of the federal group that drafted the standards.
– Specify the methods used in determining whether the benefits of the new policy outweigh the costs.