Fingers in our ears on wildfire risk

From: POLITICO's The Long Game - Friday Aug 12,2022 04:02 pm

Aug 12, 2022

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Smoke from widlfires shrouds a community.

Smoke from widlfires shrouds the town of West Linn, Ore. | (Christian Gallagher via AP)

IGNORANCE IS RISK — As the risks of property damage grow along with the severity of Western wildfires, state regulators are trying to help homeowners assess their exposure.

But what if property owners don't want to know?

Oregon officials released a map this summer that offered a detailed look at the dangers of wildfire across the state — right down to the tax lot and property level.

Then they withdrew it.

The tool, which labeled tens of thousands of structures as highly vulnerable, drew fire from Oregon residents after many of them received letters notifying them of their wildfire “risk class.”

“In response to input received since posting, we have decided to remove the current iteration of the wildfire risk map from the Oregon Explorer and withdraw the notices sent,” Cal Mukumoto, who directs the Oregon Department of Forestry, said in a statement last week.

At community meetings this summer, residents railed against the map and its impacts — chiefly its potential effect on insurance rates and property values.

State officials acknowledged the concerns. But they argued that insurance companies have had similar tools for years and that the map wouldn’t change rates or policies. Rates are already going up as a result of the state's extreme 2020 fire season.

Read more from Avery Ellfeldt of POLITICO's E&E News here .

DENIAL IS A RIVER — In other head-in-the-sand news, New Jersey’s top environmental regulator on Thursday blasted developers for opposing rules meant to keep people and property from being swept away by floods.

Developers have warned that the state's plans to release an emergency rule changing development standards in areas that have grown increasingly susceptible to flooding could have “dire economic consequences on potentially thousands of projects.”

“We cannot accept developers telling falsehoods and running around with their hair on fire,” Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette told state lawmakers.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration hasn't released the rules despite years of promises and the deaths, nearly a year ago, of 30 New Jerseyans in flooding brought on by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. POLITICO's Ry Rivard reports .

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WASHINGTON WATCH

IT’S SHOWTIME — The House today will take up the Inflation Reduction Act , aka The Largest Climate Bill in U.S. history. And that has congressional Republicans in a bind.

GOP lawmakers are attacking climate and energy provisions of the Senate-passed bill, which devotes $369 billion to mitigating planet-warming emissions. They’re comparing it to Democrats’ failed Green New Deal .

The criticism comes despite the measure’s fossil-friendly provisions, Josh Siegel reports , and some Republicans warn that the party risks alienating young and suburban voters who are demanding climate action in the face of wildfires, droughts and flooding.

“From a messaging perspective this is a problem for Republicans,” said Quill Robinson , vice president of government affairs at American Conservation Coalition, a youth environmental group. “If they are criticizing this as the Green New Deal, that puts them in a pretty difficult position because process issues and qualms about some substance won’t get through to young people. A lot of them will see this as Republicans opposing climate legislation.”

Across the pond , the European Union warned that the bill’s tax credit for electric vehicles could violate World Trade Organization rules. Domestic content and local assembly requirements make the proposed text “clearly discriminatory,” Miriam García Ferrer, a spokesperson for the European Commission, told POLITICO’s Doug Palmer .

The Inflation Reduction Act contains a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that was criticized in its earlier form by ambassadors from the EU, Japan, Mexico, Canada, South Korea and many European nations. The bill passed by the Senate would require EVs to be assembled in the U.S. to qualify for the tax credit.

AROUND THE NATION

Congested traffic from Brooklyn enters Manhattan off the Williamsburg Bridge.

Congested traffic from Brooklyn enters Manhattan off the Williamsburg Bridge, on March 28, 2019, in New York. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

TRAFFIC JAMS IN NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing ahead on a congestion pricing plan that would raise billions of dollars in revenue for public transit and promises to decrease Manhattan traffic.

But first she has to clear political hurdles in New York and neighboring New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, has made clear his willingness to go “nuclear” on behalf of New Jersey drivers.

Congestion pricing would charge drivers an extra fee during peak traffic hours to enter Manhattan’s Central Business District. Some proposals would raise tolls by as much as $23 a day for commuters crossing the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey. The plan, decades in the making, would be the country’s first, following in the footsteps of London, Stockholm and other cities. Danielle Muoio Dunn and Ry Rivard have the whole story .

YOU TELL US

Happy Friday! Are you an idiot homeowner? We want to hear about it. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott , deputy editor Debra Kahn , and reporters Lorraine Woellert and Jordan Wolman . Reach us at gmott@politico.com , dkahn@politico.com , lwoellert@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com .

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WHAT WE'RE CLICKING

— Corporate fleets are juicing demand for EVs, Reuters reports .

— The WSJ is bullish on hydrogen companies.

— Europe will see your dead bodies in Lake Mead and raise you WWII ships and an ancient Roman bridge. Bloomberg details all the stuff that's been uncovered by falling reservoir levels.

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