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Consistent with President Biden’s Executive Order on Climate Related Financial Risk (E.O. 14030), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes to amend its regulations at 44 CFR part 9 Floodplain Management and Protection of Wetlands to incorporate amendments to Executive Order 11988 and the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS).  The FFRMS is a flexible framework allowing agencies to choose among three approaches to define the floodplain and corresponding flood elevation requirements for federally funded projects. 44 CFR part 9 describes FEMA’s process under Executive Order 11988 for determining whether the proposed location for an action falls within a floodplain and how to complete the action in the floodplain, in light of the risk of flooding.  The proposed rule would change how FEMA defines a floodplain with respect to certain actions. Additionally, under the proposed rule, FEMA would use natural systems, ecosystem process, and nature-based approaches, where practicable, when developing alternatives to locating the proposed action in the floodplain.

Statement of Need:

The United States is experiencing increased flooding and flood risk from changing conditions.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not made significant updates to its regulations governing floodplain management to reflect the challenges faced because of increased flooding and changing conditions since initial publication in 1980.  As a result, FEMA is now proposing to amend 44 CFR part 9, Floodplain Management and Protection of Wetlands, to implement the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard (FFRMS) and update the agency’s 8-step process.  The FFRMS is a flood resilience standard that is required for federally funded projects and provides a flexible framework to increase resilience against flooding and help preserve the natural values of floodplains and wetlands.  A floodplain is any land area that is subject to flooding and refers to geographic features with undefined boundaries.  44 CFR part 9 describes the 8-step process FEMA uses to determine whether a proposed action would be located within or affect a floodplain, and if so, whether and how to continue with or modify the proposed action.  Executive Order 11988, as amended, and the FFRMS changed the Executive Branch-wide guidance for defining the floodplain with respect to federally funded projects (i.e., actions involving the use of Federal funds for new construction, substantial improvement, or to address substantial damage to a structure or facility).  This proposed rule would ensure that actions subject to the FFRMS are designed to be resilient to both current and future flood risks to minimize the impact of floods on human health, safety, and welfare and to protect Federal investments by reducing the risk of flood loss. 

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

FEMA estimates that this rulemaking would result in benefits to grant recipients (States, Local, Tribes, Territories, and Individuals) and to FEMA, mostly through the reduction in damage to properties and contents from future floods, potential lives saved, public health and safety benefits, reduced recovery time from floods, and increased community resilience to flooding.  FEMA estimates project cost increases for FEMA and grant recipients due to increased elevation or floodproofing requirements of the proposed rule.