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Trump Reportedly Revoked an Obama Order to Improve Flood Protections Two Weeks Before Harvey
It's from GQ, which is not a news source.
Trump Reportedly Revoked an Obama Order to Improve Flood Protections Two Weeks Before Hurricane Harvey
BY JACK MOORE
2 hours ago
Just before floods came to Texas, Donald Trump went about undoing President Obama's work to make people safer from floods.
Hurricane Harvey is a wake-up call. In the Trump news cycle, it's easy to lose the most basic question that should be a the center of every policy decision our nation makes: "does this make people's lives better?" But then something like Charlottesville or Hurricane Harvey happens and you realize what's actually important. And so while normally, I'd be more than happy to do a deep dive into Donald Trump's many insane tweets from the weekend, including the truly bizarre one where he seemingly brags about how intense the storm is and then says "thanks!", I'm not going to do that... Except to say it's incredibly unclear who he is thanking, and for what.
As we speak people in Texas are in serious danger due to the overwhelming rains and the flooding that accompanied them. And as president, it's very much is his job to make sure that we are in the best position to be prepared when it does rain. This is not something he has done in his time in the Oval Office. In fact, he's done the opposite. According to Columbia Law School, less than two weeks ago, on August 15th, Donald Trump rescinded Obama era executive order 13690. And what did this order do? It set out to strengthen our nation's flood preparedness, by instituting stricter standards on how flood-ready federally-funded projects near floodplains had to be.
That's right. Two weeks before a massive and deadly storm hit land and led to what the president himself called "unprecedented" floods, Donald Trump dialed back protections against floods. Why? On first glance it's hard to know for sure, but there are two likely reasons. First, President Obama's executive order used the increasingly dangerous weather caused by climate change as a reason for improving our flood-resilience. We all know how the current administration, even while a "HISTORIC" and "UNPRECEDENTED" weather event is occurring, does everything it can to pretend that climate change doesn't exist. And two, it was an executive order signed by President Obama. If there has been a unifying ideology to Trump's policies, it's "do the opposite of what Obama did."
If it wasn't clear before this week, it should be clear now that running your administration in total opposition to your predecessor is not just petty and gross, it's also dangerous. And sure, the decision to revoke this executive order most likely didn't have an effect on Houston's flood readiness, but you can bet your ass that it will in cities that will be flooded in the future. Cities will continue to get flooded as massive weather events become more and more likely, and thanks to this kind of cavalier policy-making by President Trump, people will be less safe when it happens.
BY JACK MOORE
2 hours ago
Just before floods came to Texas, Donald Trump went about undoing President Obama's work to make people safer from floods.
Hurricane Harvey is a wake-up call. In the Trump news cycle, it's easy to lose the most basic question that should be a the center of every policy decision our nation makes: "does this make people's lives better?" But then something like Charlottesville or Hurricane Harvey happens and you realize what's actually important. And so while normally, I'd be more than happy to do a deep dive into Donald Trump's many insane tweets from the weekend, including the truly bizarre one where he seemingly brags about how intense the storm is and then says "thanks!", I'm not going to do that... Except to say it's incredibly unclear who he is thanking, and for what.
Link to tweet
As we speak people in Texas are in serious danger due to the overwhelming rains and the flooding that accompanied them. And as president, it's very much is his job to make sure that we are in the best position to be prepared when it does rain. This is not something he has done in his time in the Oval Office. In fact, he's done the opposite. According to Columbia Law School, less than two weeks ago, on August 15th, Donald Trump rescinded Obama era executive order 13690. And what did this order do? It set out to strengthen our nation's flood preparedness, by instituting stricter standards on how flood-ready federally-funded projects near floodplains had to be.
That's right. Two weeks before a massive and deadly storm hit land and led to what the president himself called "unprecedented" floods, Donald Trump dialed back protections against floods. Why? On first glance it's hard to know for sure, but there are two likely reasons. First, President Obama's executive order used the increasingly dangerous weather caused by climate change as a reason for improving our flood-resilience. We all know how the current administration, even while a "HISTORIC" and "UNPRECEDENTED" weather event is occurring, does everything it can to pretend that climate change doesn't exist. And two, it was an executive order signed by President Obama. If there has been a unifying ideology to Trump's policies, it's "do the opposite of what Obama did."
If it wasn't clear before this week, it should be clear now that running your administration in total opposition to your predecessor is not just petty and gross, it's also dangerous. And sure, the decision to revoke this executive order most likely didn't have an effect on Houston's flood readiness, but you can bet your ass that it will in cities that will be flooded in the future. Cities will continue to get flooded as massive weather events become more and more likely, and thanks to this kind of cavalier policy-making by President Trump, people will be less safe when it happens.
President Issues Executive Order To Expedite Infrastructure Reviews, Revoke Flood Management Standard
Date: August 15th, 2017
Explanation: Executive Order
Agencies: White House
President Trump issued an Executive Order on Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure, which directs agencies to expedite environmental reviews for infrastructure projects “with the goal of completing all Federal environmental reviews and authorization decisions for major infrastructure projects within 2 years.”
The new order also revokes Executive Order 13690: Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input (signed by President Obama on January 30, 2015), which was aimed at ensuring that federal investments located in or near floodplains will be resilient in the face of climate change.
Date: August 15th, 2017
Explanation: Executive Order
Agencies: White House
President Trump issued an Executive Order on Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure, which directs agencies to expedite environmental reviews for infrastructure projects “with the goal of completing all Federal environmental reviews and authorization decisions for major infrastructure projects within 2 years.”
The new order also revokes Executive Order 13690: Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input (signed by President Obama on January 30, 2015), which was aimed at ensuring that federal investments located in or near floodplains will be resilient in the face of climate change.
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