EDITORIAL: ‘Resiliency’ is a wise investment

Nov. 16--Gov. Roy Cooper went to Washington this week to pass the hat. He met with the state's congressional delegation and asked for help in getting an additional $5 billion in federal aid to help with recovery from Hurricane Florence.

Cooper isn't talking about just replacing flooded-out homes and buildings, or replacing washed-out dams. the governor says he wants to "build back smarter and stronger," making changes that will help the state better withstand future disasters. Two record storms in two years, and three within 20, have left Cooper and many other state leaders believing there's a trend, that we're likely to see more such damage within our lifetimes.

So he wants to buy out some home and business owners in especially flood-prone areas (something that needed doing in many places even before we were hit by Matthew and Florence), help cities in "strategic retreat" from rising sea levels, create more basins that could help absorb flood water and other measures.

Cooper also met with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, seeking help in streamlining HUD block grant approvals and getting some of that money to use in his resiliency-building plans.

What Cooper wants to do makes great sense, and it would be wise to adopt some of his ideas on the national level, because especially across the Southeast, there are plenty of other states who need to do the same. It would be a good way to revive plans for the national infrastructure program that President Trump pushed hard as one of his initial goals.

In the long run, building resiliency will save a lot of taxpayer money. It's a wise investment.

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