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When Good Intentions Result in Unintended
Consequences: Environmental Benefits
vs. Societal Impacts
FMA ConferenceSeptember 5, 2019
John Moynier, CFM, CEP
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
Thought for the Day:“What is this strange quality in humans that makes them court
disaster? They build their homes on floodplains and riverbanks, cliff edges, slipping hillsides, brush-
choked canyons and on the slopes of volcanoes. All over this planet we defy the eternal forces of nature, then we try to coerce those forces
into doing our bidding.”
-Arthur Hoppe (San Francisco Chronicle)
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
This is the bio talk, right?
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.“
- John Muir
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
FEMA has prepared a Nationwide Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (NPEIS) to evaluate proposed modifications to the NFIP:
The Purpose for making program modifications to the NFIP is to:
• Implement BW-12 and HFIAA
• Comply with ESA
The Need arises from the recent concerns over the fiscal soundness of the NFIP:
• Owners of existing homes and businesses did not have to rebuild to the higher standards, and many received subsidized rates that did not reflect their true risk.
(*FEMA was also sued by the USFW&S/ NOAA)
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
“When the well is dry, we shall know the value of
water.”-Benjamin Franklin
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
Dams have to balance multiple purposes. They
capture water, but they also capture sediment
Dams that are full of water help meet supply needs, but not flood protection (dams full of sediment do neither)
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
Local Communities: Development must not increase the flood hazard on
other properties (i.e., “No Adverse Impact”)
• Communities adopt floodplain management ordinances that govern developmentand other activities in the floodplain, including minimum freeboard (i.e., BFE + 1’ minimum standard; BFE + 3’ for sea level rise).
• Communities regulate development in the floodways in order to ensure that there are no increases in upstream flood elevations.
• NFIP regulations prohibit projects that would result in any increase in the flood elevation (i.e., “no rise” regulation).
• All projects in the floodway must undergo an encroachment review to determine their effect on flood flows (i.e., piers, pools, walls, etc).
• Many communities then issue a “no rise” encroachment certification.
• If there is no regulatory floodway, communities must not permit any new development that would result in a cumulative increase of the water surface elevation (WSEL or WSE) of the base flood more than one foot.
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
EO 11988
Federal agencies must comply with EO 11988, which provides guidance “in
order to avoid to the extent possible the long and short term adverse impacts
associated with the occupancy and modification of floodplains.”
EO 11988 directs all federal agencies to:
• exercise judgment in seeking to reduce flood damage,
• restore the natural and beneficial values of floodplains, and
• minimize impacts by not issuing permits or providing funds for floodplain
development where practicable alternatives exist, and
• comply with wise floodplain management practices.
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
When Good Intentions Result in Unintended Consequences
"When the levee breaks, we’ll have no place to go.“
- Led Zeppelin
"When we fail to plan, we are planning to fail.“
- John Wooden
The world is complex, but we often only look at only look at a
challenge from one specific perspective without considering all of the potential ramifications.
As a result, we often see situations where our good
intentions result in (negative) unintentional consequences.
Summary
