Keep Trump's Infrastructure Policy in Mind

An executive order issued by Trump earlier this month revoked an Obama-era directive that had established flood-risk standards for federally funded infrastructure projects built in areas prone to flooding or subject to the effects of sea-level rise – like many of those now sinking in Texas.

Houston already has some of the laxest building regulations for structures in potential flood zones and the president wants to spread that policy across the US.

[...]

Storms and flooding are generally becoming costlier and more frequent and data suggests climate change is a leading culprit.

Many towns are located in coastal areas and riverine floodplains, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says “building codes are often insufficient in reducing damage from extreme events”. The number of “billion-dollar events” – natural disasters ranging from flooding to wildfires that incur more than $1bn in damage – has risen over the past few decades, increasing in cost from a roughly $10bn five-year average in 1985 to more than $50bn in 2015.

Obama signed executive order 13690 in 2015 in response to rising sea levels and surface temperatures and more frequent storms, particularly tropical cyclones. The Obama order, with its references to sea-level rise and climate change, became an instant target for an administration eager to expunge those terms from the political lexicon.

[...]

“It makes no sense,” said Steve Ellis, vice-president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Taxpayers deserve to have the assurance that if they provide assistance to a community to build or rebuild, it’s done in a way that isn’t going to cost taxpayers money in the future.”

  Guardian

It makes sense if you're a building/real estate mogul with friends in the business.

The consequences of making it easier to build in flood zones are likely to be severe. So far 30,000 people are projected to have been displaced by flooding from Hurricane Harvey. This is the third major flood in the US this year, and the third the Houston area has seen since March of last year. Catastrophic flooding, whether on the coast or in the river-hashed central plains, is a given.

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Public housing, which often stands upon flood-prone land that was inexpensive for housing authorities to purchase, is particularly vulnerable. According to HUD, more than 11,000 public housing buildings – 5% of the total – are in flood zones. In total New Orleans has 1,944 buildings in flood zones; Miami and Jacksonville, Florida, have another 1,157, according to HUD.

And guess who's at the helm at HUD. That's right - Ben - the pyramids are grain storage structures - Carson. What in God's name does a brain surgeon with bizarre ideas know about housing? About as much as a TV narcissist huckster salesman knows about running a country.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.