On January 30, President Obama released a new Executive Order, titled “Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input.” Executive Order 13690 states, “It is the policy of the U.S. to improve the resilience of communities and Federal assets against the impacts of flooding” and therefore the federal government must take action.
The new standard detailed in the E.O. is for the siting, design and construction of federally funded projects and federal assets. It provides federal agencies with three options for establishing the flood elevation and hazard area:
- Use data and methods informed by best-available, actionable climate science;
- Build two feet above the 100-year flood elevation for standard projects and three feet above for critical buildings; or
- Build to the 500-year flood elevation.
The E.O. amends a previous order from 1977 (E.O. 11998), which resulted in a process for evaluating the impacts of federal actions in floodplains.
The White House Fact Sheet about E.O. notes that each federal agency will consider how to apply the standard after considering public input. The new standard will not affect the standards or rates of the National Flood Insurance Program.