Environment
Trump Rolled Back the Government's Best Flood Protection Standard
Two weeks before Harvey hit Texas, a little-noticed executive action removed rules that would have held new infrastructure projects to a higher storm-proofing standard.
During a press conference two weeks ago, President Donald Trump largely skipped over an executive order on infrastructure to focus instead on the fatal white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence. The media followed his lead, focusing on his incendiary comments instead of the order at hand.
Little noticed at the time was an item that now belongs at the forefront. On August 15, Trump signed an executive order rolling back various environmental rules in order to streamline approvals for infrastructure projects. One of them was an Obama-era order that established a federal infrastructure standard to reduce the risk of flooding damage.