Politics Allows Sensitive Lands To Receive Federal Flood Insurance

"Congress passed two bills (this year) carving out exceptions to a law passed years ago to phase out federal spending that might encourage development in environmentally sensitive and disaster-prone areas.

"One of the bills benefited Jekyll Island, a vacation spot off Georgia's coast that is poised for redevelopment, while the other helped a mostly undeveloped 10-lot subdivision on Florida's Gulf Coast. A handful of similar proposals are pending. After seeing the success of the Georgia and Florida bills this year, property owners in Alabama, Texas and elsewhere are lobbying for their own continued coverage."

"You only have to look at 300 miles of Katrina and Rita wasteland to see that bankrolling federal flood insurance in high-risk areas is just asking the American taxpayer to flush money down the toilet," said Oliver Houck, director of the environmental law program at Tulane University in New Orleans. "If people want to build out there, that's one thing. But to build out there with federal support is insane."