Page 41 - The Long Road Home

participating communities, more quickly after a storm. Timing is important: residents need to make decisions about rebuilding or other alternatives soon after a storm because they need housing. Buyout options also serve as a mitigation effort by returning the land to a natural state as a buffer for residents that remain.
Most of these reforms, and additional important changes, are part of the SAFE NFIP reauthorization legislation introduced in the Senate with nine unlikely co-sponsors: Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), John Kennedy (R-LA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Jack Reed (D-RI). What these ideologically diverse Senators have in common is that they are all from states which have experienced significant flood disasters, including New Jersey’s two senators. These reforms are based on experience and rise above party politics. New Jersey’s representatives in the
House have introduced the same legislation.
State-Led Mitigation & Prevention
States’ responses to Sandy, and to other major storms and flooding events, have been very uneven. For example, while Connecticut and New York responded to Sandy by planning and preparing for rising seas and extreme weather, New Jersey took more of a piecemeal approach and, most critically, has not seriously considered the impacts of sea level rise.
Despite its vulnerability, New Jersey ranks near the bottom of states (D-) in preparing for sea level rise and future storms according to “States at Risk: America’s Preparedness Report Card,” a report produced by Climate Central.49 New Jersey’s leaders did not bring together the multiple stakeholders needed to create an actionable plan for a sustainable New Jersey that can adapt to and prepare for future sea level rise and extreme weather. However, universities,
NEW JERSEY RESOURCE PROJECT
MOLD MOVES IN
Photo: Ray Fisk, Down the Shore Publishing.
Mold (with potential health risks) covers water damaged ceilings and walls.
Did Our Approach Cost Us?
In January 2016, HUD announced the finalists for a national disaster recovery contest.48 New Jersey was a finalist and was awarded $15 million. However, this amount was much lower than the $181 million of the contest that had been earmarked for New York and New Jersey because of Superstorm Sandy. New York City received $176 million and New York state an additional $35.8 million. New Jersey’s application, for a bus depot at the Meadowlands and wetlands management, was deemed by HUD Secretary Julian Castro weaker than other states’ submissions. One potential reason for the low ranking was a lack of inclusion of sea level rise in its mitigation and depot calculations.
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