The closure of the federal government will curtail or halt some US climate disaster preparedness and environmen
tal programs — and even potentially delay real estate transactions within the nation’s flood zones.
That’s because the major source of flood insurance for millions of homeowners is among the non-essential go
vernment services caught up in the shutdown, and new policies can’t be initiated while it’s ongoing. The furloughs
hitting government offices across the country, meanwhile, are expected to be particularly severe and extensive at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Weather forecasting, on the other hand, will continue uninterrupted because of its value to public safety. That
should allow monitoring of hurricane threats and wildfires to continue.
Here is a snapshot of how the shutdown will affect key climate and weather functions, as well as the potential impac
t from Trump’s threat to fire workers instead of temporary furloughs.
Neil Alldredge, president and CEO of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, offered the following
comment on the lapse of the National Flood Insurance Program taking place as part of the government shutdown.
“Because Congress faile
d to act, the National Flood Insurance Program has lapsed. During this time the program cannot offer new coverage or renew existing flood insurance policies. There are two full months between toda
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y and the end of Hurricane season, and every day more and more Americans will be needlessly put at risk of losing everything in a flood. We cannot allow this to happen.
“Decades of poor policy decisions – from failing to maintain adequate flood mapping to hidden subsidies that provi
de a false sense of security and encourage development in flood-prone areas – have put millions of Americans in the path of floodwaters. Many of them, though n
ot enough, wisely chose to protect themselves by purchasing flood insurance through the NFIP. They should not be put
at risk because Congress cannot do its job.”
Flood insurance lapses
Funding for the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides nearly $1.3 trillion in flood coverage for
some 4.7 million policyholders, has officially lapsed. That will have potentially significant implications for current and prospective homeowners.
During a shutdown, the program is authorized to pay out claims for existing policies for the duration of their
one-year term, at least until available funds run out, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But NFIP can’t issue any new policies or policy renewals.
Doug Quinn, executive director of the American Policyholder Association, is particularly concerned for people whose policies are set to expire in the comin
g days and weeks. Due to FEMA updating its approach on how to calculate premiums in recent years, he said, people
may face dramatically higher premiums when renewals do eventually come through due to gaps in coverage.
Funding for NFIP has nearly lapsed many times in recent years, with the program getting more than 30 short-term reauthorizations since the end of fiscal year 2017. When funding ran out in June 2010, some 40,000 home sales a month were impacted, according to the Congressional Research Service.
EPA hit hard by furloughs
Nearly 90% of the EPA’s staff are being furloughed.
Unless specified as “exempted or excepted,” EPA staff will stop updating information on the agency’s website. In addition, the EPA will also pause research and publication, and stop issuing guidance, rules and policies.
The EPA has proposed rolling back multiple climate programs and regulations. That includes undoing power plant emissions rules, rescinding the agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases and ending a program for big polluters to report their emissions.
In response to a question about whether EPA employees working on those rollbacks would be furloughed, the agency press office said in an email that the “EPA will work to fulfill our statutory obligations, emergency response efforts, and Administration priorities.”