Floods: It’s the Development, Stupid

Don’t Blame just the Rain
Here we go again.
Another statewide flood.
And the press will write stories quoting weathermen. And all they will talk about is the rainfall.
The unstated premise is that we can’t control the rain. But that dis-empowering notion is false and diverts attention from the real causes and factors we can control.
Flooding is caused by the interaction of rainfall with the landscape. Extent of flooding is related to land use and development controls, stormwater management, flood prevention, and infrastructure systems that are put in place, funded, managed and enforced by governments.
More pavement & rooftops – and continued destruction of forests, wetlands and stream buffers – means more flooding. PERIOD.
Goodness sakes, just two weeks ago DEP issued a press release bragging about the wonderful job they were doing on stormwater management:
DEP REPORT SHOWS MUNICIPALITIES ARE MAKING GOOD PROGRESS MEETING STORMWATER POLLUTION CONTROL REQUIREMENTS
TRENTON – A new Department of Environmental Protection report demonstrates that New Jersey’s municipalities are making good progress toward implementing programs that will reduce the impact of pollutants that are carried into the Garden State’s waterways through stormwater runoff, Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson announced today. http://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2008/08_0011.htm
Doesn’t anyone want to hold DEP accountable to that spin?
What ever became of the Governor’s Flood Task Force?
STATE FLOOD MITIGATION TASK FORCE TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2005/05_0093.htm
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/wms/Flood%20Mitigation%20TF.pdf
GOVERNOR CORZINE ANNOUNCES NEW FLOOD CONTROL RULES http://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/approved/20060823a.html
Are DEP and the Governor walking the walk on flood prevention? Is sufficient funding in place? Are regulations being enforced? Are we losing the war on sprawl?
Here are some sources to consider in asking those important questions::
1. DEP to Flood Victims: Protection “Cost Prohibitive”
$38 BILLION for tolls, $380 million for bond consultants, and NJ can’t find money to map where the flood risks are? http://www.nj.com/njvoices/index.ssf/2008/02/dep_to_flood_victims_protectio.html
2. Ignoring Climate Change – In the Highlands, past is not prologue. One thing global warming science makes clear is that the future will not be like the past – droughts and floods will be more frequent and severe. We are already experiencing 50 to100-year interval droughts and floods in 5 to 10-year cycles. http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/02/potemkin_plan_highlands_plan_a.html
3. DEP weakens protections of stream buffers http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/02/dep_weakens_protections_of_str.html
4. DEP budget cuts are backdoor polluters agenda http://blog.nj.com/njv_bill_wolfe/2008/02/dep_budget_cuts_are_backdoor_p.html
“The strengths of this budget policy are that polluters bear the burden of DEP regulatory oversight, not the taxpayers. The drawbacks, however, are that critical and popular programs like State parks, forestry, fish & wildlife, flood control, science, air & water quality monitoring, global warming, and policy & planning are severely underfunded and neglected.
5. Letter to Commissioner Jackson on loopholes in new flood hazard rules: http://www.peer.org/docs/nj/stream_encroac_%20rules.pdf
6. NEW JERSEY CUTS DEEPLY INTO PROTECTED STREAM BUFFERS — Commissioner Revokes Her Year-Old Order, Leaving Buffers at Mercy of Politics http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=986
7. NEW JERSEY WATER TESTS UNDERSTATE POLLUTION — County Complains Standard Does Not Truly Measure Development Impacts http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=916
8. “Ocean County, just south of Monmouth, found the DEP regulatory estimation method severely under-estimates stormwater runoff volumes and impacts from development;” http://www.stormwaterauthority.org/assets/Impact%20of%20Soil%20Disturbance.pdf
9. WHEN IT RAINS…IT FLOODS — New Jersey Continues to Lose War on Sprawl New Figures Show http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=845
10. NEW JERSEY FLOATS DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES ON CLEAN WATER FUNDS — Golf Courses, Transit Villages and Transferable Building Rights Are Eligible Projects http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=813
11. HUGE NEW JERSEY WATER INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS NOT BEING MET — State’s Economic Future Threatened by Not Investing in Environmental Quality http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=764
12. JERSEY SHORE HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO STORMS AND SEA LEVEL RISE — Environmentalists Urge Corzine Administration to Include Global Warming and Land Use Reforms in Pending Insurance Industry Bailout http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=755
13. NEW JERSEY ABANDONS ADDED STREAM PROTECTIONS — DEP Employees’ Recommendations Pushed Aside As Persistent Flooding Worsens http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=563
14. FLOOD REDUCTION PLANS STUCK IN THE MUCK — New Jersey DEP Delays Enforcement Despite Big Flood Toll http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=552