governor, welcome. he is my neighbor. he is a good, great colleague despite a few aggravations in sec sports. thank you for joining us today. we have an important agenda and we will get to it. we have, as will be introduced shortly, the director of fema 101michael berkowitz of resilient cities. you can see from the video, virtually every state gets hit at one time or another by a catastrophe or national disaster. most recently in arkansas, flooding. if missouri would just contain their water we would be a lot better off. but water flows. ,e've had flooding in arkansas 44 counties were designated as federal disaster areas. most recently in arkansas as a result of flooding problems. i didn't want to mention, anytime you have a natural disaster, emergency communication is one of the critical areas. calling upon my experience at homeland security, i understand the importance of that and i want to remind the governors that we have 90 days after submission of the plan from first net to either opt in or opt out. i made the decision that we opted in for the first initiative representing arkansas and i wanted to remind the governors of their responsibility in their regard. but the early presence of each of you is important. i have learned when it comes to our flooding in arkansas, the rolla is justice critical. i want to express my consideration for fema's early work and assessments making me judgments of what qualifies and the assistance provided but i am following up with the levy system. levees can be operated by the corps of engineers, they can be privately operated, publicly operated. if it does notn, lead to more flooding or flooding in unintended areas. that is a follow-up item. it is my hope that fema will educate us on all of this and we will have a good dialogue with everyone as they ask questions. governor edwards, i know you all have some things to add. you.come >> thank you governor hutchinson. it is a pleasure to be here. i am probably not as pretty as the governor from oregon but i will do the best i can. in louisiana, we have been challenged a lot and often. you all know about hurricane katrina and certainly that was the biggest single challenge but we have been challenged just about every year since then. resiliency, mitigation strategies, incredibly important. we have more experience than we would like in this area. we have learned you cannot wait for the federal government. even though you want to have a good partnership, you simply cannot wait for them to provide the answers to the challenges. do matter andips i encourage each to get to know the federal coordinating officer. certainly the administrator. since i took office in january 2016 i am not sure -- louisiana -- 64 of our parishes have been declared federal disasters, mostly from flooding. we were creating -- attempting to create a program that does not fit the confines of the stafford act. thethe state, working with step down lines develop the thetered helm program after august 2016 flood. this program provides minimal repairs, temporary repairs. simply to make a home habitable, safe, and secure. depopulating and moving elsewhere, something we experienced with hurricane katrina. the resident resiliency, even if the residents did not live within the home, the home did not suffer from old and has station and become otherwise abandoned later on so that they were able to return home. i can tell you we will continue to work with fema to improve the program and we have recommended to make it permanent because of we can make a permanent, you can have a contract before the disaster said and you can negotiate the contract, get a price. that saves time and effort and energy after the storm when you have to sit down with fema to negotiate the parameters then go proposalsequest for and receive bids and award the contract. you would be able to get to that much faster. the other thing i would encourage fema to do and i know the administrator is working on this, is the manufactured housing units, have them available at the state because you have a manufacturing in-state or significant inventories, that the states be able to purchase and then be reimbursed from fema and accordance with strict guidelines, i know. so we have a lot of challenges around resiliency and a state that suffers from coastal erosion. we need more resources to direct the activities. resiliency is a huge issue for us and louisiana. i had a lump or remarks plant but i'm going to stop here because i know we have to get to our guests. we areto introduce and proud to have with us today and it many is the administrator of fema. i wanted knowledge, we know you have a hard stop at noon so i want to make sure the other folks know that here as well. and michael berkowitz, president of 100 resilient cities. i know that both of you in the state of louisiana have made a tremendous difference for my citizens. i want to thank you very much for that and they q4 being here. the program is now yours. >> thank you governors. it is an honor to be here and serve the nation and this capacity. one thing you will get from me is working through the issues. i want to organize fema in a with yourt helps you responsibility goals. it is a partnership. if there is a failure at any level whether it is local, federal, state, we fail together. we can't afford for that to happen so we have to design programs in a manner that resiliency. you may is incredibly active even though we are not in the news very much right now. we are working 24 different disasters in 18 states. we have four or five more disasters and maybe they are in some of your states as well. we're trying to expedite because as we said thursday, the live governors should render a quick decision. as fast as we can to let you know what type of assistance is available or not. regarding resilience, with scares me the most is i do not believe we built a true culture of preparedness within our citizens. i believe we have what is called hazard amnesia. we've had some bad disasters. sandy, matthew, flooding. one of the thing sickens me up at night it's his nation is not of a majorvastation man falling hurricane since 2005 . you know, so sometimes i think we forget the worst. we've not seen a devastating earthquake in some time. i go to sleep with that every night. so, fema cannot do this alone. we are a partner with your state. i have to understand the gaps each of you face and how we can meet in the middle. how we can help you overcome those gaps through pre-disaster funding or how we maximize .unding in your state what i don't want to do is come into your state, set up joint spend a lot of money, and repeat the cycle over and over again. hopefully the experiences positive and we leave you better and stronger for the next time you have to face it. achieving resiliency is a partnership. i look at it with two different thoughts. there is the citizen and there is the public infrastructure side. on the public infrastructure side, it is amazing to me to look at that fema on average without about $8 billion a year in recovery funding to rebuild after the disaster. had we get that money up front? there was a time between 2011-2014 where a gao report found fema put out three point $2 billion and post-disaster mitigation funding in that three-year time. during the same time frame we were able to cough up 222 million on the pre-disaster site. it flip flopped. it is backwards. it is not just as easy. if i could have been sworn in and signed a document within one hour that said we're going to move the post disaster mitigation funding to the front side, i would have done it right off the bat. i would've done it because i feel it is the key to reducing future disaster cost. it cannot just be fema funding alone. it has to be priority. i know having served as a cabinet level director for the alabama emergency management agency i understand the demand on state budgets and general funding. i understand it is hard. i get that. but i believe with to focus on the pre-disaster. i have a tough job. i need your help to understand how to navigate that. it will require the help of congress to move that funding to the front side. when it comes to citizen, i am not sure that our "you ready" programs have hit the marks. poverty, that asset your ability to put your hand on cash right now, $500, the majority of americans cannot do it. they cannot come to a simple medical emergency or activate insurance or you know, basically absorb the cost of having to evacuate. the fuel cost. many campaigns are saying, about and be ready. by all of the supplies for the next three days. that is important but maybe unrealistic. the department of education and others, must train people to fund.heir own rainy day the other thing we have to look at is we call our citizens disaster victims, disaster survivors. i look at our citizens as the responder. at times, fema does not role in right after the disaster. it takes time for us to come into place and there's a whole process that takes ways. if you look at cyber attacks, active shooters, alabama after a theado, your neighbor is one most likely to do the first search and rescue so we have to think about how we train our citizens and give them life-saving skills. cpr. how to shop waterfalls. search and -- how to shut off water valves. search and rescue. empowering citizens. including them in our training and exercises. in closing, i will keep it there. on the housing side, governor edwards hit the nail on the head. only have so much capability we can bring down it is our job to coordinate. command level. that is my job. we only have so much we can bring to the table. how do we do things smarter from the standpoint of, had we make sure we implement proper rapid repair programs or step program's as the good governor talked about. how do we do that to keep people in their homes without having to bring in temporary housing to those locations? are we maximizing economy-sharing such as airbnb. if you can read them that is the best thing to do. how can each of the states -- i believe it is my time to get guided on the contracts. i believe you can control your own destiny more by setting up the right contracts. whether it is hiring firms to to recovervigate cost or whether it is setting up your own logistics systems. doing water every day in your state, saying, can i have 100 truckloads of water at market price of we get hit? so you were rolling forward the first 24-48 hours of water so i can backfill on logistics. let me reimburse you for that first $4800 through the stafford act. i think we have to clearly say, here at the things you can do is no cost retainer contracts until they are turned on to be a little bit more prepared and help the system as we go forward. i am going to stop there. one more thing. recovery is fragmented. incredibly fragmented in this country. there are studies where everybody is in, reduce the disaster caused. i believe we can do that by reducing complexity. there are over 200 policies that guide fema recovery as well. that is too much. it leads to negative decisions. it is tough for local government to keep up with all of that. the other thing is, fema is not the only one providing funding. there are numerous funding out there when it comes to disaster recovery. sba, otherom funding. economic injury loans, the army engineer's. one of the big data systems that helps governors understand how to formulate recovery goals to -- i don't think we've come together as a nation to do that. i want to help. i have to stretch across the federal partners to figure out how we work in concert with one another. it also say, governor hutchinson based on this disaster you have and the impact you are experiencing, here is the best way we would encourage you to help. and i do not know how arkansas can be covered better than you. but we've got to figure out how to use the funding. i will stop there. thank you. >> thank you. >> i have michael berkowitz. cities in 48 countries across six continents. i greatly appreciate the opportunity to take a train a couple of hours here. to travelers certainly better. we're trying to help cities old urban resilience. to talk about flooding and flood resilience. while conventional responses are important to our efforts, to limit flood impact, those alone are not enough. i'm here to advocate for more powerful cost-effective approaches to improve the lives of city residents long before the disaster strikes. i am here to advocate resilience. what i mean by missourians? that word gets tossed around a lot. it is the capacity to survive and thrive in the face of disaster. but not just the sudden disaster, earthquake, terrorism, think about the long-term slow burning disasters. food, water, energy shortages. crime, violence. the aging infrastructure. those can also impact cities. i first learned the importance of resilience building when i was working at the office of emergency management as deputy commissioner between 1998-2500 mayors giuliani and bloomberg. of the 1990's preparing and tracking hurricanes and helping the city prepare for them. on 9/11, the two planes flew into the two buildings in the countryew york, and our were changed forever. next came the anthrax attacks, the 2000 three blackout, the global financial crisis, and only then in 2012 did we have a hurricane. hurricane sandy. new york survived and thrived through those incidents. it is worth pointing out this week marks the 40th anniversary in new yorkblackout city. you know, we had a blackout in july of 1977 and the city was impacted by riots for the next several days afterwards. when you contrast that with what happened in 2003, you understand how it is not just emergency response and infrastructure that determines whether or not a city, state, or country can survive in the face of shocks and stresses, but it is a much broader approach. these experiences underscore an it isant insight that important to prepare a city for the worse but it is also critical to focus on robust economies, cohesive communities were neighbors check our neighbors, integrated leadership with strong stakeholders at the table. the same lesson from hurricane katrina and governor edwards can be learned by a nearly 2000 citizens displaced costing nearly $160 billion. it is not enough to look at the state of the infrastructure or how big the storm was. that is important, but we also have to consider local economy, transportation, public health, leadership. looking at flooding in a vacuum would be sort of more focused on exacerbating factors. the truth is, you really know nextdisaster will strike and how it will play out. if you think you do, chances are you are fighting the last war. the all hazards preparedness. the resilience mindset challenges us to look at issues in a comprehensive weight. to commit to tackling multiple problems. it is a simple approach. focus on building strength with every intervention and become better prepared for whatever happens next. how does resilience building work in practice? to answer that question i will show three quick real-world examples. i will start by talking about new york city. new york is surrounded by water. it has merely cemented miles of coastline alone. rising tides and hurricanes have the potential to great flooding that could cripple the city, the region, and our national economy. a traditional response to a threat like this would be to build a seawall. you have engineers and planners, make estimates. a few. have we have a few visuals. you have engineers and planners, make scenarios, estimates, make pour concrete. but there is a better more economical way. it might be a more effective option. it might help new york survived this particular threat but it would feel to strengthen the city more widely. why not address flood link -- flooding while challenging things like public space and isolation.d following hurricane sandy, the citycam up with a project called ."he big u a link of infrastructure running 10 continuous miles. it is not just blood protection. each section provides innovative solutions to challenges raising this rounding neighborhood. for example, a new pedestrian overpass combating obesity and other issues. trees mitigate the effects of which makesat manhattan a hotter than other areas. inning gauges residents said that neighbors meet neighbors, which is something you should not take for granted in a big city. it will protect neighbors from flooding but that is not only will do. it will also strengthen the city socially and economically. connecting new yorkers with one another. making the city stronger and more resilient know matter what the isis they face next is. they matter what crisis may face next. this coastal city, which is famous for ship building and the world's largest naval turning this challenge of rising sea levels, flooding based on opportunity for economic development and civic engagement. led by christine morris, the city's chief resilience officer, the city has heeded the gospel of resilience. instead of just digging upled be city's chief resilience officer, historic tricks to channel floodwater, norfolk is turning those creeks into gathering spaces for the public in real estate for new construction and much-needed housing. norfolk is not looking at flooding through a myopic lens. they are taking a holistic approach, tackling multiple issues at once, making the most of every dollar spent, and in doing so, they are believed to be stronger and more prepared for the future, no matter what comes next. this type of long-term, comprehensive thinking is resilience building at its best, and others are taking note. last year, the federal department of housing and urban development awarded $20 million to support projects laid out in norfolk's resilience strategy. i believe those with the biggest grants a city has received in its history, and the private sector is similarly enthusiastic. moody's, the credit rating agency, published a paper last year on the hampton roads credit posture in the face of climate change, and the agency maintains strong credit ratings even in the face of this threat. as surely every governor knows, access to credit for investments and infrastructure and innovation is essential to building strong cities and a strong state. norfolk is tackling challenges head on and is already reaping the benefits. there's one more example of resilience in action i would like to discuss today, and i would be remiss if i left this room without returning to new orleans and the home state of governor edwards. new orleans has learned important lessons about what it takes to overcome natural disasters and build a vibrant and resilient city that serves all its residents. one of the first it needs to reach is a comprehensive resilience strategy. new orleans needs to develop actual plans on topics ranging equity and energy to education and emergency planning. i want to point out one more example of resilient flood approach here. that is as a first of its kind resilience district the city is creating in the neighborhood of gentilly, which was made famous by a photo taken right after katrina of houses fully submerged. gentilly is now undergoing a consolidated effort to reduce flood risk and encourage neighborhood revitalization. this is part of a new trend we are seeing in progressive cities and dates all over the world -- cities and states all over the world, moving away from thinking of the city as a funnel and trying to think of the city as a sponge. instead of trying to get rid of the water through pipes and funnel water systems, gentilly is building great infrastructure you can see here that will allow the water to be safely retained on white. is building great infrastructure this approach has multiple benefits. it reduces the risk of catastrophic failure and will create public space that serves residents in both good times and bad. put simply, new orleans is learning to live with water rather than write it and is turning its greatest challenge into a valued asset -- simply put -- you should consider hiring a chief resilience officer for your state. charging someone with this task will make it easier to realize the resilience dividend i have been talking about. with every dollar you spend to address flooding, i would encourage you to ask how this investment can address multiple challenges to strengthen your state and what collateral benefits we can reap. this will not be easy because the reason we have sectors and silos is because transportation people want to talk to transportation people. housing people want to talk to housing people, but if we continue to push this interdisciplinary approach, we will reap the benefits of resilience in the manner of talking about. building resilience is recognizing that shops are interconnected and solutions should be as well. trying to solve single problems with single solutions may have worked in the past, but today, that approach is not only unwise but also untenable. mitigating the threat of flooding in itself is not enough. finally one last thought -- and i am a cities person, so forgive me for being so forward, but when you think about how to solve problem's at the state level, i urge you to look at your city spirit as states are famously known as laboratories of democracy for the federal government, you have the opportunity to tree cities as laboratories of innovation, practical solutions, and limitations for your state. cities around the country are doing incredible work to ensure their residents remain safe and strong, to ensure their infrastructure works the way residents need it to, and to ensure that a changing climate and globalizing economy and urbanizing landscape will not catch them unprepared. we can face the challenges of our time and come out ahead. we can reduce the challenges of our time and we can translate the microcosm of cities to the macro of states. working together, we can become more resilient. thank you very much. [applause] governor hutchinson: thank you, administrator long, and mr. berkowitz as well. excellent presentations. governor hutchinson: thank you, we will have an opportunity to ask questions. let me kick it off, administrator long, with a couple of questions to you. in april of last year, 35 states responded to an inquiry from fema and reactions on the state deductible plan, so i would like for you to update us on where that is in the rulemaking process and what your expectation is as to the process and what your expectation is as to the outcome, and if you could also comment, we had a discussion right before about the levees, is clear, that we have clear roles and responsibilities, that we're giving you proper guidance and helping you understand what you are entitled to from the federal government to improve or maintain those levies. the disaster deductible is interesting. i understand the premise of the program and why fema initially went down this path. basically, the premise is good in my opinion. to me, it is how state and locals are increasing and emphasizing emergency management and disaster resiliency and federal government is coming down and we are meeting in the middle. the process as currently written i have some problems with. i heard very loud and clear that these states also have problems with its current form. i don't want to basically start handing out policy that i know the targeted states are unhappy with, someone very aware of that with, someone very aware of that issue. governor hutchinson: grateful for you taking a fresh look at that. mr. long: thank you. governor edwards: i have a question for michael berkowitz. in louisiana, we are actually taking entire communities and relocating the. we're starting that process now with an american indian community. even though it will be relatively small in terms of a large city like new orleans or new york, i'm just wondering if what you were talking about in terms of resiliency and building it in, if that has applications understand what the scenarios will be so that we appropriately understand what the scenarios will be so that we appropriately relocate communities to somewhere that is less vulnerable than where they came from, right? and we take a long-term view. we will never be able to predict everything that happens, but we take a long-term view of what that means. second, i think the process that we go through in order to work with those communities is every bit as valuable as what the ultimate outcome is in a technical sense. if we do the right stakeholder and community engagement, if we make sure those communities are heard, that will make sure that the communities feel more empowered, bought into what is going on at the state and national level, and, ultimately, that will make them better citizens and residents in the next disaster, whatever that happens to be, the bp oil spill, tornado, rainwater flooding, or a hurricane. to give you one quick example, from the project is talked about in new york, designers proposed some really innovative solutions around creating buildings with wet feet, that they would relocate people in very vulnerable areas of new york, build a new tower, but make those buildings be able to withstand flooding and turn them into, like, community centers. that is classic sort of mitigation action. from my eyes, it looked great as a technical solution, but the community did not trust the city in order to follow through. ultimately, that design was scrapped. i think from a resilience standpoint, feedback was listen to and heard, even if it led to something that might not have been most optical technical solution, that would make the community more resilient because the community members feel a better sense of empowerment and alignment. governor hutchinson: governors, any questions? governor mcauliffe: i would like to thank both administrators for coming here. i just announced last month moving people outside of louisiana, virginia is the second most vulnerable region in america. i just got a report on my desk the other day with a three-foot sea level rise. $90 billion worth of infrastructure and real estate. all the citizens, if they believe in climate change or not, they are all aware of it today, and we are all working together, and it would not have happened without that hud and rockefeller foundation kickstart. we have had a great, great relationship, and it is just an outstanding organization. i want to thank fema for their quick response. i hope i don't have to work with you, but in the event we do, i just want to thank you -- mr. long: we will be working together. thank you. >> i will join in my thanks. thanks for both of you being here. great presentation. one of the things understandably that focuses these large disasters that happen in large urban areas, of course, being so much inside the country as very rural areas, fema response to a lot of disasters, but at least equally significant to citizens who live in a small town, again, i think fema has done a very good job doing that. i was interested in your comets about how you want to become more proactive with dollars that fema has to spend, which i conceptually think is a good idea, but we respond to the 100-year flood, to the tornadoes we did not know were coming, to the wildfires that you have to respond to after the fact in some fashion. is there better predictive analytics, and how are you going to provide -- you said you would have done day one, switch that money around, which would have insignificant. how do you respond to those things that still seem very difficult to predict, particularly in very rural areas? mr. long: rural governments face the toughest time because what typically happens, and having served in alabama, 67 counties, many of them, several counties have less than 50,000 people, and in many cases, you would have tornadoes go through, wipe out significant infrastructure in a very rural area, but the state not come close to it, numeric indicators to ask for presidential assistants and public assistance side. that is a tough situation. i get it. the ask on that is how many states actually have a rainy day fund to handle the pa and iron needs when fema assistance is the pa and ia needs. when fema assistance is not coming for that type of event -- that is just an ask. and work with state directors and maybe we step away from the pa deductible and start rewarding states for being able to prove that they have these systems set up to handle those hard case situations. the other thing is the disaster relief fund, where a majority of post disaster relief funds come out. we put out about $1 billion in year on average from the disaster relief fund. i cannot just move that money. it would require a change in the stafford act that dictates the funding where it is, and that is a lot of work ahead of us. this is a goal we have to work together on to make sure we can move that out. the other problem we face is the budget control act. i think we all understand why the budget control act was i think we all understand why the budget control act was passed, but for fema, it is a very negative thing. what i mean by that is that every year, because of the formula that the budget control act uses, it basically says katrina and sandy never happened. whenever you hear the average that gets funded goes lower and lower and lower, despite the fact that disasters are going up. with that, we have to all make a stand if we are going to do predisaster mitigation from a whole community perspective, as michael and i have both been putting forward, and two, that is something else i have to tackle that i recognize, so there is pressure to possibly start fighting wildfires on federal land. there's cyber attacks, new hazards and different things the budget control act does not recognize. the act does not recognize changing environments. the other thing is that when i was first at fema, i interviewed with fema on the morning of 9/11, and i watched a lot of changes. but i worked in the national hurricane center directly helping interpret forecast and basically turning that forecast into risk and vulnerabilities, helping governors make evacuation decisions for local governments. i learned that the climate variability, there are also intrinsic cycles, increased and decreased periods of hurricane activity. el niño oscillates every five to seven years, which means freak nor'easter snow storms, tornadoes in areas that do not necessarily get it. there's also a lot of flooding. there's a lot of work to do about recognizing intrinsic cycles that increase and decrease the periods of what we're seeing, soy used to make the presentation that in 1995, because of a cycle called thermal halen association, the oceans conveyor belt, we are getting ready to see an increased period of activity over the next three decades, and all that infrastructure we put without building codes or proper land use planning, we are about to pay for that, and it is happening. there's a lot out of my control, but what i can control, i will work hard on to be able to get it up front. happening. there's a lot out of my control, but what i can control, i will work hard on to be able to get it up front. >> thank you. a follow-up to the administrator again, we want to thank you for your work. to the extent that helps you save any money, we have not had a hurricane in wyoming for a long time, so hope that saves you there. governor scott: administrator long, i want to thank you for your leadership and assistance with irene a few years ago. it was devastating for the state, but there was a great partnership. we were able to work with you in getting us through that. the struggle for us was in the recovery stage and implementation of some of the rules and regulations revolving around the replacement of infrastructure and the replacement of bridges when it did not make sense in some respects to rebuild in the same size, with the rules dictated that it had to be rebuilt to the exact same standards as was their previous to the disaster, and i'm not sure if you have changed that since then, but if you have not, i would implore you to look at that because when you are looking to rebuild, certainly with the frequency of storms and climate change being at the forefront, that we could use that flexibility in the storms and climate change being future when we are rebuilding to make sure the resiliency is real, that we are rebuilding for the future as well. mr. long: sure. right now, fema is working on what is called aba reengineering program, a new concept to streamline services, and as i said earlier, we have nearly 200 policies that dictate how you do recovery, and that includes if it is an environmental impact assessment or cost analysis, many things. in some cases, i think fema gets in the way of interpreting contracts. i just want to make sure you follow the laws, and i want to provide you that maximum flexibility with what is there, so honestly, we have already started or reduced the complexity campaign inside fema now, and part of that is with the pa reengineering program to where we are really trying to try different things in different states to meet your need and make it as painless as possible. you have to hire a consulting firm to navigate fema recovery, it's too complex. governor scott: thank you for that. we did appreciate the good partnership, though. started or reduced the governor hutchinson: i know that you have a schedule to meet. we are grateful for your participation and even though administrator long did not bring us any good news for the future, talking about el niño, we know that you are going to provide great leadership for our nation, that you are going to provide great leadership for our nation, and we are grateful for your service. with that, i think we stand adjourned. unless, chairman mcauliffe, do that you are going to provide great leadership for our nation, and we are grateful for your service. with that, i think we stand adjourned. unless, chairman mcauliffe, do you have any concluding words? thank you very much. [applause] governor hutchinson: well done. governor edwards: thank you. i appreciate it. >> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact here. morning, sunday reporting on the security of the u.s. energy grid and recent

Related Keywords

New York , United States , Arkansas , Louisiana , Alabama , New Orleans , Missouri , Wyoming , Washington , Norfolk , Virginia , Oregon , Americans , American , Kate Brown , Michael Berkowitz , Christine Morris ,