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The agency issued an internal memo saying it would “pause” a regulation directing that schools, libraries and other public facilities damaged by disasters be rebuilt safely.
Christopher Flavelle has covered FEMA and flood regulations for almost a decade.
Feb. 14, 2025, 5:04 a.m. ET
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has decided to stop enforcing rules designed to prevent flood damage to schools, libraries, fire stations and other public buildings. Experts say the move, which has not been publicly announced, could endanger public safety and may be in violation of federal law.
The change in policy was laid out in a Feb. 4 memo by FEMA’s chief counsel, Adrian Sevier, that was viewed by The New York Times.
The rule in question, called the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, was one of the Biden administration’s most significant efforts to address the growing costs of disasters. The rule says that when public buildings in a flood zone are damaged or destroyed, those structures must be rebuilt in a way that prevents future flood damage if they are to qualify for FEMA funding. That could include elevating a structure above the expected height of a future flood or relocating it to a safer spot.
In some cases, the standards also apply to private homes repaired or rebuilt in a flood plain.
The rule has a tortured history. FEMA first proposed it in 2016, in response to an executive order from President Barack Obama. The powerful home-building industry opposed the rule on the grounds that it would increase construction costs. When President Trump first took office in 2017, he revoked Mr. Obama’s order, stopping FEMA’s effort. Soon after taking office in 2021, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signed a new executive order calling for a federal flood standard, which culminated in a final rule issued by FEMA last July.
The goal wasn’t just to protect people and property, according to Deanne Criswell, the head of FEMA at the time. It was also to save taxpayers’ money as climate change made flooding more frequent, causing buildings in flood plains to be repeatedly damaged and then repeatedly rebuilt with government help.
“We are going to be able to put a stop to the cycle of response and recovery, and rinse and repeat,” Ms. Criswell said at the time.
