Madison County officials voted Wednesday to sue the federal government over its Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
The Madison County Board voted 28-1 for the authorization to join a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and W. Craig Fugate in his official capacity as FEMA administrator. The lawsuit is challenging the issuance and finalization of digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps in St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties…more
The Madison County Board on Wednesday gave approval for the issuance of $100 million in bonds to pay for improvements to the metro-east’s system of levees along the Mississippi River.
The levee improvement project being coordinated by the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District has an estimated cost of $160 million to $170 million. The project is a response to new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps and guidelines, which would decertify the region’s levees and significantly increase the cost of flood insurance for property owners if the levees are not upgraded… more
The Southern
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
By Linda Rush
It’s hard to schedule any meeting before the Nov. 2 election, but two Southern Illinois Congressmen say as soon as the campaigning is over, they hope to hold a regional meeting on how to repair the region’s aging levees.
Campaigning is a top priority until Nov. 2, but U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, said Tuesday he hopes to schedule an initial meeting sometime in November. He, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, would attend and share information on how to address problems…more
Illinois Business Journal
October 2010
By Alan J. Ortbals
Sen. Dick Durbin’s bid to cut the denizens of the American Bottom some slack on flood insurance requirements appears to be a case of too little, too late. Congress adjourned without moving the bill… more
Alton Telegraph
October 14, 2010
By Sanford J. Schmidt
EDWARDSVILLE – The Madison County Board is likely to vote next week on a $100 million bond issue to fix aging levees in the Metro East, and the bonds may be sold as earlier as November… more
Opinion
BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAT
Sunday, October 3, 2010
By Les Sterman
Most of the discussion surrounding the state of the flood protection system along the Mississippi River in the metro-east focuses on the onerous financial burden arbitrarily imposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on local residents and businesses. A recent study puts the pricetag for added insurance at $50 million annually for metro-east homeowners and businesses. Add to that the economic and financial cost of new building regulations and the loss of property value, and the long-term cost to our area is actually in the billions of dollars…more
COLLINSVILLE, IL., October 1, 2010 … A recent exchange of letters between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District (FPD) Council reinforces that the agency is once again demonstrating inequity in its approach to developing its new flood insurance rate maps (FIRMS) for the Metro East compared to the rest of the St. Louis region.
The Sept. 15th letter from FEMA, which was sent to all the impacted communities and the FPD Council, stated that the agency would be issuing a new set of preliminary maps for St. Louis and St. Charles counties in Missouri by September 30, 2010 and initiating a brand new appeal process in these counties. They are not planning to take the same preliminary maps approach in the Metro East region, but instead they will be issuing appeal resolution letters regarding earlier FIRMs to communities in Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties in Illinois.
FEMA’s issuance of revised preliminary maps for the Missouri counties will reopen the statutory appeals process for those Missouri communities. Simultaneously ruling on the existing appeals from the Illinois counties will close the appeals process for the Illinois communities, with the exception of a newly created Scientific Resolution Panel process. This puts the Metro East at a distinct disadvantage, creating a situation in which final FIRMs will be imposed at a much earlier time than in neighboring Missouri counties.
“We believe that FEMA’s approach, as outlined in its letter, violates the letter and spirit of the legislation crafted and passed by Congressmen Jerry Costello and John Shimkus, and Senator Dick Durbin in 2008 that required FEMA to align the process of map approval in Missouri and Illinois so that Illinois counties would not be at a disadvantage to the neighboring Missouri counties,” stated Les Sterman, chief supervisor of construction and the works for the FPD Council, in his communication back to FEMA .
The council’s letter disputes the procedure announced by FEMA and asks that the Agency honor the law by initiating a new appeal process in Illinois to mirror what it is doing in Missouri. The letter also notes that there is credible information supporting the contention that FEMA hastened the release of flawed maps for St. Louis and St. Charles Counties in order to more quickly release the preliminary maps for Southwestern Illinois.
Copies of the letters are available for the general public to view on the recently launched website for the St. Louis Metro East Levee Issues Alliance, www.stlmetroeastlevees.org. They can be found on the News section under the Correspondence heading.
“We invite people to take a look at these letters to gain a better understanding of the continuing inequity being demonstrated by FEMA,” notes Patrick McKeehan, executive director of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, which is administering the Alliance. “We also encourage them to take advantage of the contact information for FEMA on the website to get in touch with Director Fugate to let him know how flawed they consider this remapping process to be.”
ST LOUIS METRO EAST LEVEE ISSUES ALLIANCE
