While it doesn’t yet appear to have appeared on bookstore shelves (Amazon has it listed as “temporarily unavailable”), the $35, 80-page How to Maximize FEMA Funding After a Natural Disaster is already gathering attention, including an article in the Times Picayune and many “reviews” on Amazon (though few, if any, of the reviewers appear to […]
Archive | National
New Publication Guides Climate Change Outreach and Communications
Posted on March 18, 2009
Trying to figure out how to build support among your citizens for preparing for climate change? ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability’s new “Climate Change Outreach and Communications Guide” (39 pp.) claims to be a tool to help local governments effectively communicate climate information to their constituencies. The guide contains an array of steps and methodologies for […]
Report Calls For Federal Assistance For Local Planning for Climate Change
Posted on March 18, 2009
Last week the National Academies released a report calling for new federal efforts to identify local officials who need assistance in planning for climate change impacts. According to a press release by the National Academies, “The report recommends six principles that all agencies should follow in supporting decision makers who are facing the effects of […]
FUNDING/ASSISTANCE: Smart Growth Implementation Assistance
Posted on March 12, 2009
EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance 2009 program is seeking applications for technical assistance from communities that want to incorporate smart growth in their future development to meet environmental and other community goals. Eligible entities are tribal, local, regional, and state governments, and nonprofit organizations that have a demonstrated partnership with a governmental entity. Applications are […]
Trim Your Trees, Protect Your Utilities?
Posted on March 9, 2009
A report commissioned by the Public Utility Commission of Texas recommends a relatively inexpensive means of protecting the city’s utility lines: trim back dead and diseased trees — even those on private property. The article in the Houston Chronicle notes that the report argues that 96% of all damage to the city’s utility company’s infrastructure […]
Town gets ~$11 million in FEMA funds to move utilities underground
Posted on February 16, 2009
FEMA today released a case study outlining how a town secured $1.5 million through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grants Program (HMGP) to convert over 1,200 residential utility services underground. The utility-lines had been repeatedly damaged by storms, and the town recognized that simply repairing them again and again made little sense. (more…)
EPA releases new report on effects of sea level rise on Mid-Atlantic region
Posted on January 29, 2009
The Department of Environmental Protection has released a new publication called Coastal Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region. The lengthy report (784 pages!) covers ecological and economic implications of sea level rise, and while it focuses on the Mid-Atlantic portion of the US coastline (New York to North Carolina), it […]
FEMA releases Hurricane Ike Impact Report
Posted on January 29, 2009
FEMA today released the Hurricane Ike Impact Report, documenting the effects of Ike on the social, economic, built, and natural environments. While the report is described as a “living document” that is likely to be continually updated, it aims to provide an overview that will help everybody involved in the recovery process to work efficiently. […]