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Editorial: Trump's missed opportunity on infrastructure

 
President Donald Trump is undermining his best chance for a bipartisan legislative victory with a shortsighted approach to infrastructure that is out of step with science, political reality and the dire state of the nation’s needs
President Donald Trump is undermining his best chance for a bipartisan legislative victory with a shortsighted approach to infrastructure that is out of step with science, political reality and the dire state of the nation’s needs
Published Sept. 1, 2017

President Donald Trump is undermining his best chance for a bipartisan legislative victory with a shortsighted approach to infrastructure that is out of step with science, political reality and the dire state of the nation's needs.

The president delivered two new blows to his hyped but still nonexistent infrastructure plan last month, eliminating Obama-era flood control standards for major new public works projects and canceling plans to appoint a council of private sector builders to advise the administration as it seeks to repair the nation's roads, bridges, waterworks and rail.

Trump's announcement that he would repeal the Obama-era rules was overshadowed by his inflammatory remarks about the white supremacists' rally in Charlottesville, Va. Trump signed an order rolling back a federal flood risk standard, established by the Obama administration in 2015, that called for the federal government to account for sea level rise and other impacts of climate change when spending federal funds on infrastructure. That shortsightedness looks even worse following the devastation from Hurricane Harvey in Houston.

The rule makes sense. Why would taxpayers want to commit hundreds of billions of dollars to roads, bridges and water plants threatened by rising floods? The rule gave federal agencies three options for better flood-proofing new projects, requiring that they be built at higher elevations or otherwise strengthened to better protect them. The Obama administration estimated the cost would be negligible and save taxpayers money in the long run. Trump reversed course and leveled a broader attack on the regulatory process, saying it cost jobs and added to the time and expense of rebuilding the nation.

The rule Trump reversed was a commonsense protection, and it came after the United States had suffered more than $260 billion in flood-related losses over the previous three decades. It applied only to federal investment in new public works projects, and provided the flexibility for agencies to work with states, local communities and private partners in carrying out its intent. It also recognized the unique hazard that flooding poses to both life and property and the overwhelming costs for flood-related damages that are borne by the U.S. government. With more than $1 trillion in U.S. property at risk of anticipated sea level increases in the coming decades, it only makes sense to harden these facilities to prolong their useful lives.

Trump also abandoned plans to appoint an infrastructure council. The president's infrastructure plan is sketchy enough; he proposes to leverage $200 billion in federal funds to secure an additional $800 billion in private sector infrastructure spending over the next 10 years. Now he's removed from the decisionmaking orbit the very industry he expects to provide four-fifths of all new spending on public works. That's not very strategic.

Infrastructure spending has long been the sort of pork barrel job-creation program that both Republicans and Democrats have supported. But Trump has polarized the issue by reversing the flood-control standards, even though many states and private developers are already including the impacts of climate change into their planning and designs. Trump's attack on regulation also misses the mark; 95 percent of all federal public works projects, for example, don't require full-blown environmental reviews, and the permitting process for infrastructure projects is largely handled at the state and local levels.

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The president could find a win here if he stops denying science, reaches out to business and puts a more serious proposal on the table.