Delta coalition settles with FEMA over flood insurance program [The Record, Stockton, Calif.]

May 07--The practice of building in Central Valley floodplains can be traced to higher Bay Area real estate prices, population growth and policies protecting other lands from development.

Whatever the reason, all that development has served as an accessory in the death of the Delta, according to a coalition of landowners in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta relies on water exported from the estuary. But those exports have been reduced to help revive the Delta's environment.

So the coalition has filed legal challenges addressing other parts of the problem -- targeting Stockton for its polluted runoff and the state of California for allowing alien fish to chomp down on native species.

Add FEMA to the list.

The coalition sued the federal agency over its administration of the National Flood Insurance Program, which the coalition argues fosters urban growth in floodplains that otherwise would provide habitat for threatened and endangered fish.

The flood insurance program, launched in 1968, establishes low-lying areas as high-risk flood zones where building is restricted. However, developers can build levees that -- if they meet FEMA standards -- remove those restrictions. Thus, critics say the program fosters construction in the floodplains.

A settlement requires FEMA to consult with wildlife agencies about the program. It's unclear what will come out of that consultation, but a similar case in the Puget Sound area led to a temporary moratorium on floodplain development and a host of new restrictions.

"It's possible that in the Delta those sorts of requirements could be imposed, but we can't say," said Paul Weiland, a coalition attorney.

FEMA says the subsidized insurance program has rescued taxpayers from the cost of flood disasters and has actually steered development away from floodplains.

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