A Closeup Look at the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard | Capitol Beach

May 28, 2021

How prepared is the US for extensive flooding?

On The Capitol Beach, Derek Brockbank looks at the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) with Chad Berginnis from the Association of State Flood Plain Managers (ASFPM) and Joel Scata with NRDC. The FFRMS was an Obama-era Executive Order (EO 13690) that required any infrastructure project that received federal flooding to demonstrate some level of flood risk preparedness, with a focus on future flooding and sea level rise. This would have meant significant changes to how coastal projects are planned and/or funded, but it was revoked by the Trump administration before it could be implemented. However, the FFRMS was reinstated by the Biden Administration on May 20th as part of its Executive Order on Climate Related Financial Risk, with direction to federal agencies to continue implementing it using the previously developed guidelines. This podcast explains what the FFRMS does, why it’s important to coastal managers, and what we might expect now from federal agencies that basically pressed pause for 4 years in implementing the policy.


Show Transcription
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Derek Brockbank

Derek Brockbank is Executive Director of Coastal States Organization (CSO), which represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues. With two decades of experience in Washington DC on coastal adaptation policy and organizational development, Derek is connecting state coastal management programs with federal agencies and resources in order to address the greatest coastal challenges facing society. He previously served as executive director for the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) where he led the strategic planning and outreach, government affairs, and development goals of the nation’s leading organization advocating for beach and coastal restoration. Prior to starting with ASBPA, Derek worked as campaign director for a coalition effort to restore the Mississippi River Delta and Coastal Louisiana, and was part of a gulf-wide campaign to pass the RESTORE Act, securing billions of dollars for Gulf Coast restoration. This followed up on his work with National Wildlife Federation on climate adaption. Derek grew up in New York City and got his coastal education from an early age playing on the beaches of Long Island, and kayaking and fishing in Peconic Bay.