historian patrick o'donnell and his book about the untold story of america's unknown soldier and world war i's most decorated euros who brought him home -- heroes who brought him home. alaska.four films about >> watch "american history tv," this weekend on c-span3. on capitol hill yesterday federal and state emergency management officials talked about the lessons they learned from the 2017 hurricane season and the efforts to improve disaster response in puerto rico. this has transportation and infrastructure subcommittee hearing runs about an hour and 45 minutes.

>> without objection, so ordered. from hurricanes to floods and wildfires, our country was not immune from the impacts of last years disasters. we saw 10 hurricanes in the atlanta of the region -- atlanta region alone. we also had one of the worst wildfire seasons on record with over 66,000 wildfires that burned nearly 10 million acres of land. disasters caused an estimated

in damages in 2017. the purpose of these hearings is to see where we are in recovering from these disasters. understandt to state, local, and federal efforts to prepare for and respond to the 2018 hurricane season, which began on june 1. additionally we will discuss reforms needed to incentivize and encourage mitigation and the reduction of disaster costs and losses across the country. 2017 disaster season devastated communities, and highlighted challenges and how we respond to and recover from disasters. we have a ways to go in rebuilding, especially in puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. it is critical we do what we can to help communities rebuild smarter, and better.

in november this committee came bipartisan craft legislation, the disaster recovery reform act. legislation includes reforms that would change fem a's disaster recovery programs to make them more effective and efficient. this legislation is now overwhelmingly -- has now overwhelmingly passed the house twice. there are communities impacted by the 2017 disasters, and preparing for future disasters that would benefit today from ddra.forms in

some reforms were signed into law as part of the bipartisan act of 2017. we need the other critical reforms, including key wildfire mitigation -- and additional resources to state local governments -- state and local governments. various studies have shown that every one dollar of federal investment in mitigation, there is four dollars-eight dollar amount of return. mitigation practices are a wise investment in federal dollars. the only way we can change the is toion of federal loss do this. it makes no sense to keep

rebuilding disaster after disaster. thank you all for beginner. -- being here. i now recognize the ranking member of the committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for holding this important hearing on recovery efforts from 2017 and looking forward to the 2018 hurricane season -- 2018 season. we already have fires burning in the west. it will be another bad fire year and we don't know what will happen with hurricanes. on friday we finally got the disasterster -- fema's actual report for 2017. the agency's response was inadequate, to put it mildly.

in the case of puerto rico and the virgin islands, outrageously inadequate. they admit that they did not pretty position enough commodities -- pre-position enough commodities. acknowledge they experienced delays in delivering supplies to territories, despite the fact that in 2014 they led a national level exercise indicating that delays could be a problem during a disaster and should be a just. that is 3 -- addressed. that is three years before this disaster. president trump ignored the obvious failures in the response efforts on the ground. he called it fake news and went to puerto rico and bragged about what a great job they had done, and through paper towels at people. at risk in people died after his visit who should

have been receiving assistance. his boorish behavior went beyond to attacking him a year of the san juan, who is representing her people who were suffering horribly. administrator did the same thing, although later admitted that was inappropriate. trump never admitted that. fema acknowledged its failures, it was acknowledging its failures that other people on staff busy eradicating any trace of any consideration of climate change and its strategic planning. that will work out real well. we have to pay attention to things that are important. also needs tot it collaborate more with state, tribal, local governments.

president trump proposed cutting five preparedness grants in his million, or 29%. he also proposed reducing education exercises. what is going on here? are we going to take this seriously or not? throughout the after action report fema discussed the need to make the nation more resilient to disasters. the administration again rescinded an existing executive didn't --use of obama because obama did it. we are not going to build any federally funded facility in a flood prone area. if we build in those areas, special construction techniques would be used to protect the structure. now that has been illuminated. we were not -- eliminated.

we were not even consider those kinds of things -- we will not even consider those kinds of things, because i guess we don't believe in climate change. the president proposed cutting funding for predisaster mitigation. it is now an absolutely pathetic $39 million, which could be spent in one city. the after action report identifies specific improvements needed. the president in his budget says no, none of that, we don't want that. .e in congress have responded as a chairman mentioned, we have moved forward in a bipartisan way. we are moving forward in ways that deal with disasters and potential disasters more properly. which -- thoughtfully.

we took up a bill in the house this week to say we were not rebuild someone's house 20 times or 30 times. it is a very small percentage of there cost 4%out 2%?- cost 25% -- is it 4%, never mind. a very small percentage caused about a quarter of fema's budget. we passed a bill to get a study to see if entering into agreements with people in structures that have been repeatedly destroyed to agree to pay them for market value the next time it is destroyed. i think it is a no-brainer. some people have been rebuilding multiple times. so we needed to do better.

when he to act smarter. when it -- we need to act smarter. we need to do all of these things in congress is the hope of delivering on that reality. >> i now recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee, ms. titus for an opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i apologize for keeping you waiting. i will not make a habit of that, i assure you. i thank you for holding this hearing. the hurricane season began on june 1, and already we have had to hurricanes form in the hurricanes form in the atlantic ocean. one was downgraded. that point it was no longer considered a hurricane, tropical storm beryl caused over 40,000 homes and businesses to lose power temporarily in puerto rico, which highlights the fragile

state of recovery. in the midst of hurricane season we see that numerous homes in both puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands still have blue plastic tarps as roots due to due to damages caused by last year's hurricane. the territories are not the only ones in the midst of recovery from the 2017 disasters. much work remains to be done to solve those problems as well as prepare for 2018. in addition to the ongoing recovery issues and preparedness , fema has released its 2017 hurricane season after action report. in it they noted several failures, as you have heard mentioned, in their preparedness includingr 2017, inadequate staffing, lack of sufficient commodities emplaced, and logistical failures.

in this after action report fema notes it had exhausted its predisaster contracts for commodities. the post-katrina emergency management reform act requires that fema have contracts in place for recurring disaster response requirements before the disaster strikes. over the years fema has failed to procure new contracts or renew existing contracts for such commodities in advance of a disaster, therefore contributing to the state of unruliness. ricanall the puerto entered power authority into contracts.

both contracts indicated that fema approved the contract terms. the office of the inspector general is investigating these contracts to determine the accuracy of allegations. i want to be clear, fema should never approve contracts that limit any oversight over disaster funds. oversight does not mean exercise undue influence. they entered into a new contract with cobra acquisitions. we have heard since then a potential interjection by fema into that contracting process. diligenta needs to be and ensure that they comply with federal laws while agreeing to contracts. that does not mean that fema

should improperly interfered in the local contracting process, including the selection of the winning bidders. the after action report also notes insufficient staff. fema needs to address these issues in a comprehensive manner and i look forward to hearing about your plans. fema acknowledges the need to invest in mitigation. 2018-2022 strategic plan all references to climate change are removed. conducts thisa behavior they will fall behind in their preparedness efforts. i think we have to be realistic. i would just mention that pets are something missing from our report and from our plans. i would like to see some discussion of the pet emergency, transparency, and accountability

act that we have introduced. chairman, and i look forward to this discussion. >> today we are joined by mr. -- unassociated -- an associated fema.strator of the -- joined by a chief of the office of homeland security army corps of engineers. we have the director of the tennessee emergency management ofncy testifying on behalf fema. we have an emergency management coordinator for the city of -- from a city in texas. the honorable dave policy and who has -- the honorable fema

administrator from -- until 2009. i ask unanimous consent that are witnesses. be recorded for the record. toit your oral testimony five minutes. you may proceed. >> chairman, ranking member titus and members of the subcommittee, good morning. administratoriate from the office of response and recovery from fema. thank you for the opportunity to discuss lessons learned from the 2017 historic hurricane season and are ongoing progress. as mentioned, hurricanes harvey, irma, maria devastated the

nation at a time when fema was already dealing with multiple disasters across the country. we also responded to historic wildfires in california. 15% of the entire u.s. population was affected by wildfires and hurricanes. we have reviewed preparations for the immediate response and initial recovery with the goal of identifying lessons learned. last week we released a 2017 hurricane season after action report. it captures transformative insight that will help us, that art emergency management community -- the emergency management community porridge forge age a path --

path to the future. we took a hard look at ourselves, pointed a finger at ourselves, and we released that report. we hear terms like failure and admission. we look at that as leadership that not only helps our agency, but helps the directors, and many others. the minute we stop looking at balllves, we have lost the and lost leadership. aligned with key focus areas in the after action report, our strategic plan builds on the existing best practices, and has new initiatives. the three main goals to our plan are to build a culture of preparedness, ready the nation for catastrophic disasters, and reduce the complexity of fema.

this is how we react and how we stabilize our country in the event something that happens -- bad happens. we are emphasizing stabilization of critical lifelines and coordination across critical infrastructure sectors. continue to focus on state locals. lifelines provide indispensable services that enable the operation of critical business and government functions. they can risk national economic security if not restored. solutions to stabilize lifelines do not fit in a single construct like our existing emergency support functions. food,itical lifeline of crossesnd shelter and

many agencies, community partners, and emergency support functions. we must address holistically in order to support the community. this will allow decision-makers at all levels to move rapidly and allow better utilization of limited resources towards restoration of critical infrastructure. as we look at 2017 we are taking immediate steps in 2018. we have updated our plans and procedures, made logistical have increased from thousands of bottles of where we hadions, one warehouse and the commonwealth we now have five. we have redefined our disaster communications, have coordinated exercises and trade with multiple partners -- trained with multiple partners. i would like to take a moment to highlight one of our initiatives. what we clearly learned is we have to increase our --

locations. that gives us better time to coordinate with the private sector will we have limited shipping, air, and receiving capabilities. establishing larger footprints in the caribbean will allow us days and not ours to establish that better serve our citizens. i am pleased to be here today to represent the dedicated men and women of fema. i'm happy to take any questions the committee may have. thank you. >> mr. alexander, please proceed. >> chairman, ranking member titus, distinguished members of the subcommittee, good morning. i am honored to testify you before today. you today.before conducts its emergency

response and recovery activities under two basic authorities, the stafford act and public law 8499. the core works under the direction of fema serving as a torchordon aging agency -- leading coordinating agency for --. public law 8499 provides a separate source of authority for s to respond to natural disasters. than 50ain more specially trained response teams supported by emergency and pre-awarded contracts to perform a wide range of public works and engineering related mentions -- missions. we continue to identify lessons learned in an effort to improve

performance. the extraordinary impacts of the hurricanes resulted in this response. issued 23, fema mission assignments totaling over $140 million. in response to hurricanes irma and maria, fema issued 49 mission assignments totaling over $3.3 billion for puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands. we deployed thousands of personnel and today 369 core employees remain engaged executing recovery operations. we received a 43 mission assignments in florida and georgia, totaling approximately $45 million. mission assignments encompassed a range of activities including removal of debris, generator installation, and the construction of temporary

bloomers -- blue roofs. in response to hurricanes irma and maria, we were tasked with repairing segments of the puerto rican power grid. over 99.9% of the nearly 1.5 million customers who had power before the storms now have power. the court responded in total to tocorps responded in total 32 events in 2017. this included the wildfires across northern california. fema issued seven mission assignments for debris management and technical assistance. additional wildfires inventor -- santa barbara counties inventory county and santa

barbara county -- in ventura county and santa barbara county, we helped remove mudslides and debris. other events we exit -- assisted on include the central u.s. blizzard, the ice jam, numerous flooding, and other severe weather events. the bipartisan budget act of 2018 appropriated money for rehabilitation projects across the nation. we recently identified specific projects that will receive these funds and a working as quickly as possible to complete this work. combining the lessons learned and best practices from 2017 we have taken immediate action to prepare for this year. we completed several hurricane exercises along with federal state, and local partners.

we have participated in fema's 2018 intergovernmental and private sector natural level -- national level exercise and have updated our hurricane plans and standard operating procedures. based on lessons learned we have worked with fema to update and refine pre-scripted mission assignments. we are developing an acquisition center of excellence to create a robust and agile contracting capability to support large and complex missions. in addition to our involvement in these and future response recovery missions, we remain fully committed and capable of executing our other civil works activities across the nation. this concludes my testimony. i look forward to answering questions you may have. thank you. >> thank you for your testimony, mr. alexander. you may proceed. >> thank you for holding this

hearing. in my statement for the record i explain in detail the hard work of my agency and my partners in 20 -- tennessee. andmately the droughts wildfires have injured more than 134 and resulted in 14 deaths. these fires were merely a precursor to a year in which the nation saw tremendous losses in damage from severe weather. costliest disaster year in our history. emergency managers constantly review our actions and work towards making continuous improvements, building learning organizations, and giving knowledge isn't important -- is important to our profession. we must remember that all the

various policies, processes, and programs of emergency management are interwoven with each other and extend far beyond what we see happening. at fema we are in the headlines everyday. much of what happens to prepare the nation happens in the states, counties, and cities of our nation. beyond any of the federal disasters in 2017, an eventsnal 22,000 plus were handled. local governments handled events. dera is not a first respon during disasters or otherwise. events likely would not have received the type of response that they needed. a culture of preparedness and timely response capabilities are

vitally important to states and local communities. we create this thriving emergency management system by fostering a culture of preparedness to address threats and risks, building capacities and capabilities. beyond specific preparedness that may strengthen people or policies, mitigation strengthens our infrastructure. the subcommittee has taken bold steps to fostering a culture of preparedness. theprogram included in disaster recovery format will change how we prioritize and manage mitigation in this nation. 60% oflity to utilize the total disaster cost in the mitigation toward projects will fundamentally shift the preparedness paradigm and drive down future disaster

response costs. we are pleased to support the dr -- drrat provision dish provision. increase however must be tied into the flexibility to roll over these costs for one disaster to the next. we developed a proposal explaining this concept which has been submitted to theme a, and what -- fema, and was submitted to the record for my testimony -- for the record with my testimony. we come together every year to voluntarily submit a report to congress. this report demonstrates the

hard work that goes into supporting these 35,109 events i mentioned earlier. enpg funding has her made stagnant since 2012 -- remained stagnant since 2012. while we were not successful in 2018, we repeat that request again for the 2019 omnibus, and trust congress will find a way to prioritize this program. of programs like this and efforts to increase management costs can be multiplied several times over when states are empowered to assist one another. the best way we do this is through the emergency management assistance of programs like this and efforts to increase management costs can be multiplied several times over when states are empowered to assist one pact -- compact. capacity built throughout the system's capacity able to be shared across the country. the national guard is a vital part of that capability.

and oury managers partners continue to work on improving the speed and availability of the system. as we examine the 2017 disaster year and look ahead to the rest of this year, even when fema is not actively responding to a disaster, state and local emergency managers are still recovering from past events, and setting the stage for the next storm to approach while working diligently to manage, located programs. distinguished members, congressman titus -- ranking member titus, thank you. i'm happy to take any of your questions. >> thank you for your testimony. you may proceed. >> good morning chairman, ranking member titus, and members of the subcommittee. thank you for this opportunity to testify on lessons learned from the historic 2017 hurricane season.

i have worked in public safety for 23 years, 10 of which i have been a certified emergency manager. local governments serve as our nations first line of defense when disaster strikes. emergency managers play a role in coordinating local response recovery efforts, looking to mitigate further damage. most consequential work at local emergency managers do actually happens before the disaster. we wake up thinking about planning for and mitigating for all types of emergencies, because we do not have the benefit of knowing what may occur next. a public health emergency, tornado, hurricane, active shooter, the list goes on. most of those things happen with

little to no warning. everyday emergency managers are hard at work behind the scenes at all levels of government coordinating with partners from of the nation helping communities become better prepared. with the 2018 hurricane season already upon us, i want to take and moment to look back at lessons learned from last year by sharing these observations. i hope to contribute to the discussions we are having about reforming the nation's disaster recovery system. it is my hope that congress will pass the disaster recovery reform act as a demonstration of your commitment to helping develop a culture of preparedness. 2017august through october i worked on three deployments in response to hurricane harvey. i served as the emergency operation center manager for the city of dallas and an effort to

shelter more than 5000 texas citizens. from there i was called to work in the state operation center to help coordinate public works resources statewide. mr. chairman, as a matter of practice emergency managers continually evaluate what works while actively seeking opportunities to improve in recovery efforts. and my written testimony submitted to this subcommittee i outlined some of the lessons learned during hurricane hurry -- hurricane harvey experiences. i would like to highlight some of those key points. information sharing challenges were an issue yet again. we cannot adequately communicate with the public and coordinate an effective recovery if we do not have access to key

information that the nonprofit and federal partners we invite him to assist have. this must -- emergency managers must be included through federal policy. thirdly, we lack adequate shelter capacity to meet the needs of -- meet the needs. allowing locals to partner and utilize free disaster mitigation funds to build shelters closer to communities, even though the cost benefit analysis may not meet the current threshold, that builds resiliency. benefit analysis alone does not adequately represent the roles environmental and social impacts plate. -- play. we must allow for inclusion of multiple factors when

determining project eligibility. to showi urge congress its commitment to disaster resilience -- preparedness and resiliency by --. for harvey alone the state of texas has been allocated $1 billion. doesn't it make more sense to invest in predisaster mitigation efforts? on behalf of all local government emergency management professionals across the country , i sincerely appreciate this country to share my experiences. i hope my testimony fosters further discussion as we strive to improve the way we as a nation frame disaster resiliency. 2017,e opportunities in those lessons learned help us build a generation of americans who anticipate needs and resolve to make actions -- take action before disaster.

you, chairman. i look forward to any questions the members of the subcommittee have for me. >> thank you for your testimony. you may proceed. >> chairman, ranking member titus, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing today. as communities around the nation continued to recover in the wake of last year's devastating catastrophes, i remain grateful for the leadership demonstrated by this committee, the chair man, and ranking member. coalition is a group of firefighters, emergency responders, as well as consumer organizations, and many others committing to build a more resilient america. during my experience in dealing with natural disasters i have gained a deeper appreciation for the tremendous service our

nations first responders and emergency management officials. i served as administrator of fema from 2005-2009. -- director of preparedness for fema and fire chief of miami-dade rescue department. responding to many major hurricanes, including katrina and andrew, has provided me with a unique understanding of how we can better position fema to respond when disaster strikes. there were 17 storms during the , $200 billioncane in damages, and ductal and the thousands -- death toll in the thousands. challenges this

entire team face. time to get serious consideration to why we continue to leave lives, homes, communities vulnerable. the evidence is simply overwhelming. better land-use, increased mitigation can help recover from these disasters. as lives are on the line we must provide incentives for states to promote --. the cost chair provision included in the bipartisan budget reform act signed by president trump earlier this year as part of the disaster recovery form act represents a to creatingorward these incentives. the work of this subcommittee as well as a work of other leaders

serves a tremendous -- deserves a tremendous amount of credit. thank you for that. it is more urgent than ever that congress and the entire disaster recovery reform act to the president's desk. we need to mitigate against the risk of wind damage, flooding, and wildfires. let me make it clear that i applaud fema for taking up this challenging task and offering up recommendations that i believe will have ensured that the incentive is implemented in a way that will protect homes and lives from future storms. a minimum standard should be established such that in order to be eligible for any enhanced federal cost share a state must

have a statewide building code with an enforcement mechanism, a strong one. third, states have a working mitigation plan. in order to receive any funding above 75% minimum amount states must implement action that is identified in this plan. it would be critical to push for incentives offered to the house and -- building codes. this would mean the adoption of the most recent recommended code. as the 2018 atlantic hurricane season gets underway the time is now to put predisaster mitigation at the forefront and protect our nations communities from the next storm. there is a critical piece of unfinished business from disaster legislation pass by this committee and the house of representatives this year. a key provision puts 6% of

annual disastrous punting on the budget for predisaster negation spending. without this people are left vulnerable to losing her life, property been distorted, and it simply does not -- being destroyed, and it simply does not have to be this way. i look forward to hearing your questions. >> i will now begin the first round of questions limited to five minutes for each member. if there are additional questions following the first round will have additional rounds of questions as needed. i was glad to hear ranking member titus mentioned the importance of of the needs of pets during the disaster, a tropic -- topic of great importance. we included a provision that authorizes fema to set up a veterinarian pilot program that

will help communities get the help they need in setting up shelters that include facilities for pets. thank you for bringing that up. i will begin. twice this congress -- the house has overwhelmingly passed the disaster recovery reform act which includes key provisions that will help speed up disaster recovery and mitigate disaster risk. the legislation changes and n drra.ties i n will save lives the senate has yet to act on this important legislation. 12 witnesses here, how important -- to all witnesses here, how important do you think it is that congress and the the provisions contained in this act? >> we appreciate the committee's commitment to improving our nation's resilience, and response to disaster. rra will incentivize that

investment in predisaster mitigation there is some or to what the administrator just laid out. building a nation of resilience is one of the administrators top strategic goals. thank you. engineersps of certainly supports any effort to increase the resilience of the nation's infrastructure, and to promote safety measures. we also support investments in mitigation upfront. we're working on a mitigation function leadership group with agency partners. if you take a look at the dollar amounts associated with supplemental's of storms since hurricane katrina, if you took a fraction of that amount and invested it in mitigation, perhaps we would be able to mitigate the damages we see today in our response and recovery operations. thank you.

>> the national emergency management agency association supports this legislation and remains active in helping towards this passage. the national public infrastructure predisaster hazard mitigation is most important to us. that is a game changer in terms of our nations resilience. support also for the management cost, the ability to change that current level of funding from to 12%. to 12% -- 3.34% that allows us to find that capability and build a more collaborative emergency management system. we oppose the duplication of benefits provision.

we think the ability to waive some of these things could lead to other agencies trying to reach into the disaster relief fund. that could create potential problems in funding streams for funding the nations disaster readiness. >> building on the discussion, the international association of emergency managers also supports , and we urge everyone to remember that this policy saves lives. if it is not saving a life it is impacting quality of life. for those that are less willing to look at passing such legislation, remember it may be your family that is dealing with this legislation and policy in the future. make sure you can live with whatever that comes to be.

incentives for states and locals are imperative. it helps us to continue to drop on mitigationaw in our communities. consider the possibilities of additional he adding that benefit and incentives to the local citizen. the private sector partners we have become a the nonprofits, and the other nongovernmental agencies within those jurisdictions. >> as you are sitting here listening, and you see that almost every agency that response to disasters recognizes clearly clearly -- very that predisaster mitigation works. it saves lives and saves property.

after hurricane andrew we made significant changes in our building code. you saw hurricane irma go through the keys. thehouses built their under code are fine. no damage at all. if you look at last year's disaster spending, over 200 million -- $200 billion spent on disasters. take 6% of the and apply it to predisaster mitigation. can you imagine the impact this will have across the entire country as far as building resiliency in our system? barletta, the question that you asked, will it have an impact? of course it will. it will have a very positive impact. i believe it is a portent -- important we get this to the senate. >> the chernow recognizes this

titus for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a big part of recovery after a disaster is contracting with the private sector to give assistance with some of the efforts. aboutd like to ask you some disaster contracting with fema. of 2016 the puerto rico electric power authority awarded a small company with just two full-time employees located in montana a $300 million contract to restore electricity on the island in the aftermath of hurricane maria. according to the washington whitefish received the $300 million contract. the only thing they had done was a small effort in arizona to repair a 4.8 mile transmission line for $1.3 million.

they eventually canceled their contract with whitefish but they received a payment of over $30 million to work with puerto rico and whitefish claims puerto rico owes them an additional $100 million.- $100 request anydid they guidance from you before making the award? are you planning to reimburse them for their expenses? i wonder if you are cooperating with the probe. i understand the department of homeland security is conducting it. can you provide a detailed justification or project worksheet for what was actually done to merit this kind of payment of taxpayer dollars? ma'am.

we have to look at the context of where we work. disaster devastating in october of 2017 when the legal responsible entity to restore power for the just as most of our crops around our nation, just as our private electric providers are around our nation. was the entitya tasked with providing power to the citizens of the commonwealth. as we have had many storms prior to that and made disasters prior to that, standard practice is mutual aid crews will come in to assist. that did not occur at that time. prepa elected to do a contract. fema does not get involved in the contracts between legal applicants.

of how that works. at the time, we had to make some very quick crisis action planning decision on the ground, some of which we have not been faced with in any disaster, for , the generation and distribution of power in the commonwealth was devastated. in most cases, we turn to the corps of engineers, which is a vital part to what we do for emergency power restoration.

at this time we knew we had to have more than that so we asked the corps of engineers to step up. >> i am not interested in the corps. i want to get back to the whitefish. >> as far as whitefish, that is a prepa question. eligibleo is reimburse applicants for eligible work done. >> do not think fema ought to put greater checks on the work before you just pay out this kind of money? even i would have reservations about such a major job and over time it was shown there were not up to the job. don't you think that is your responsibility? >> the responsibility is always pass to the locally executed state-supported. all disasters begin and end locally. do we support the locals in one

and dictate how the contract and the other? >> i'm asking you to provide some oversight for $30 million of taxpayer money. >> i believe the total bill was over $300 million. i feel certain we have strict oversight on what the taxpayer dollars are going to. there are oversight measures in place with white fish and other contractors. >> is that part of your after disaster report to have greater oversight? >> i never said i did not think it should be. i said we have current oversight and current policies and procedures in place to ensure federal dollars are spent wisely and that they are spent for the allocation set forth in the stafford act. we also have contract teams that will assist local governments. have done that in texas and florida.

i believe we have adequate oversight in place. >> thank you. >> the chair now recognizes mr. crawford for five minutes. >> are you aware what percentage of homes flooded by hurricane harvey have flood insurance policies? >> i do not know the percentage. i could get that back to the committee. i would hate to guess or estimate. >> i am looking at a washington post report on an analysis of fema data shows only 17% of homeowners, does that sound accurate to you? to judge theant accuracy of the post. what i will say is insurance is the first and best line of defense. if 17% is what they had, i say that would be low. >> are you aware that fema is required to assess the accuracy and need to update a flood map covering an area every five

years? >> i can get you information on the national flood insurance program. it is not under my purview. i am under response recovery. i handle stafford act programs. i can get you information and i would be happy to provide anything everything on the national flood insurance program . i do not want to over speak. ofthat said, the line questioning i have is better directed for someone else in your agency. you do not have any issues with flood control or flood mapping? >> it is not under my responsibility as laid out by the administrator. we will be happy to work with you. i do not want come across like i'm dodging the question. >> i understand. do you have any knowledge of that five-year requirement, is that accurate that you have to update every five years? >> i hate to look to my left, but our state and locals may

have a better understanding of the mapping requirements. i do not want to put them on the spot. you are in the area affected, correct? texas.tually am in north i responded to the area in support. i am asking you to speculate. i have concerns about the accuracy of fema flood mapping and how current they are. i'm just wondering if you could opine on whether you think fema is the best agency to engage in flood mapping. >> i will give you my opinion based on my experience that be a lot of speculation. i have not looked at the flood

maps for that impacted area. that is another piece i'm not aware of. i will tell you that fema has played an active role and they engaged actively other partners such as the national weather service and other partners that deal with flooding on a regular basis. because they are used to doing that, i do not see a reason to change that process because we have seen it and it has worked in our communities. because oflood mitigation efforts we have taken in the past. we do not see the same flooding issues and we use those maps. >> let me ask mr. paulson because you've been a former fema administrator. would you be able to speak to it is required every five years to update the flood maps? >> i know what i was the fema administrator we had started doing flood mapping in the eastern part of the united

states and north carolina was one of the first states we started. i'm not sure how fall -- how far but i know fema had started that process of trying to do the entire country to get more accurate flood maps. >> i appreciate you all being willtoday and i think i have to submit my questions for the record for someone else in your agency to answer but i appreciate your cooperation. thank you. the chair recognizes the gentleman for five minutes. >> just backed the line of questions by the subcommittee ranking member. i asked similar questions at an earlier hearing and what we have is a contradiction. the two contractors claim that fema reviewed the contract and signed off on excluding oversight. that has been denied by fema and again today.

the inspector general is going to try to get to the bottom of these the rather fishy contract and what role fema played. we cannot resolve that into we have the report. let's get issues we might be able to resolve. titus and i sent the administrator a letter expressing concern about your personnel for emergencies. your own standards say you should have 10,928 reservists. yearad 6749 on call last and you still have 2383 deployed. that seems to leave us with something around 4300 reservists. how are you going to deal with this issue? that is a very good question and as we outlined , we face personnel shortages in 2017.

the agency faced personnel shortages and 2016, 2015, 2014, you can go back, and we will face shortages in 2019. how do we publish our mission without saying we need new fema employees? first of all, change our national doctrine and revising our national response framework. more players at the table so the resources and personnel we have we can better utilize by including the private sector in what we do daily, in our deliberate planning and our operational planning, by incorporating our critical infrastructure nodes and cross sector planning with those. if a problem hits, we do not hit one bucket. we task organize around the

clock. we are making hiring in critical areas, we are hiring in logistics. we had issues with the last logistics in the commonwealth of puerto rico. we will have teams that get on the ground anywhere, not just in the commonwealth and help with logistics. in texas, robust capabilities on that end from the state and local side of things. the other thing we have to do is if you look to the left or right, our best emergency managers do not wear fema shirts. they are our state and local partners. , the emergencym management assistance compact from state emergency management. i've assisted states and i brought in states. when we talk about a national catastrophe similar to what we saw in 2017, we need the ability to rally those resources, those well-trained professionals that

put those resources to reduce. that will increase our staffing and we are doing that through a national qualification system. we feel like we will have great buy in from our state and local partners. i did that in 2012 when hurricane sandy hit. i let a team of eight under fema's direction to help out the efforts in new york city. not only did that benefit us at the federal level but you bring those lessons learned back to the state. a have to look at -- and perfect world i would love to have 20,000 reservists ready to go right now and any other federal agency in front of me love to say they have x amount of people. the reality is we have to look outside our traditional means. we talk about state and local governments and mitigation but that is not working. concern in puerto rico about reimbursement to the state and local if they provided

mutual aid? >> there may have been. how does fema get involved in that? we expedited category b which would reimburse the commonwealth to do that type of payment. we expedited that. that was our priority at the time. there were concerns but that is a question better asked to the commonwealth or to others. that, what we have done in 2018 is hired over 1500 local hires on the island. they are fema employees. they're going through the national qualification system. we have 4600 staff on the ground. we have people embedded with every municipality. enormous effort 2017 into 2018. we put that to the test with wepical storm earl where

could take that recovery operation enter that machine into response organization in 14 hours. we increased the number of commodities fivefold. generators are still connected to critical infrastructure. we know we will lose power in a storm but we will be able to power emergency power. >> my time is expired. i was going to ask regarding the removal of the large generators, if i could. i do not know if they have been removed or just planning to remove them and i guess i would question why you would do that now with the beginning of the hurricane season since their grid still seems fragile? >> there were three mega generators rented and brought to the territory. two to help stabilize the grid, there are no plans for demobilization.

>> that may have been bad information. >> there is one that will be demobilized effective midnight tomorrow. that is a decision that was reached waste upon assessment by prepa of the status of the grid in that area and it was concurred by the unified coronation group, which has representative from the governor's office there who concurred with that. is betterly prepa manage than it was before. >> thank you, chairman. thank you mr. alexander for representing the corps of engineers at this hearing on hurricane preparedness. my community dreads hurricane season not just because of impending storms but because year after year as a result of the risk management through the corps of engineers, water is discharged out of lake okeechobee.

hundreds of billions of gathers of water often laden without she and bacteria -- often laden with within mybacteria community. this leads to a number of human health hazards. 15 times greater than what any human being should be exposed to. this is all note aim of -- this is on the aim of risk management for the dikes around lake okeechobee. the risk management of the potentially failing dike around lake okeechobee. what is the level of water in inches or feet that lake okeechobee should be act going into hurricane season so that there is not a risk of failure? >> thank you for the question. going into the beginning of the aason, we strive to maintain lake level of approximately 12.5 feet.

12.5 feet is the maximum level you want going into hurricane season? >> yes, and up to 15.5 feet in the beginning of the dry season. >> is that for risk management, or are you keeping that 12 to 15 feet on the lake for other purposes? >> that is a combination of trying to meet other purposes and balance the needs associated with environmental >> -- then you gave me -- you gave me the answer to a question i did not ask. >> what is the level on the lake for that dike to be safe. what level do you need the lake at so there is no risk of dike failure? to hurricane season attempting to reach a level of

no less than 12.5 the. -- 12.5 feet. >> how much water do you keep on the lake for these other concerns? how much water in inches or feet is kept on lake okeechobee for the purposes of agreements with the tribes? >> lake okeechobee is not managed like a flood control reservoir. the herbert hoover dike is a levee system that encompasses and contains a prior free-flowing like. the specific question on inches of water is not applicable in the management of lake okeechobee. >> lake okeechobee and the corps of engineers keep track of every inch of water on lake okeechobee. early in the season municipalities were requesting 1000 cubic feet per second for several months hoping to get an inch of water off like okeechobee because they needed that for the ecology of their

waterway. they were denied. the corps of engineers has a call every single week were they pay attention to the amount of inches or quarter inches of level of change on lake okeechobee. absolutely lake okeechobee is managed and regulated in that way. how much water is kept on like okeechobee in the form of what is requested like consumptive use permits for agriculture? how many feet of water except on lake okeechobee for that purpose? >> the corps of engineers does keep track of every inch of water in that reservoir. not haveg said, we do specific allocations for those specific purposes and those consumptive use agreements. it is a balance between those 12.5 and 15.5 feet and it is managed as a system along with other laws that exist down there with respect to the consumptive of the lake okeechobee water input rules. we have to balance the multiple

purposes and potential uses. purposeslancing those -- ida conversation -- i had a conversation with the water management. they said the optimal level for the lake for its apology is at minimum 11 feet. i said of the water level should not be below 11 eight, if -- 11 feet. if someone else needed water for those concerns, if the lake was at 11 feet, would you still send the water to the are daesch and canals. if it was at 10 feet, would you still send the water to the canals? the answer was yes. if the lake was at eight feet, a dangerously low level, the answer was yes. they would still get the water for those purposes. is it right that you keep the

water at the higher level when my community is destroyed because the water is at the higher level when you will still send the water to these other areas for their purposes even when the water is as low as eight feet. >> i've not been privy to any of those conversations. what i will say is i know our jacksonville district is engaged with the community and engaged with you. i'm not a expert on lake okeechobee and the releases. but i will offer is an with the district manager who could walk you through in detail what the levels are. >> i yield back and i do request a second round of questioning. thank you mr. chairman and thank the ranking member for having this hearing. this is very important to me, representing the virgin islands

after we have through the 2017 hurricane season and beginning the 2018 hurricane season and are still looking for ways in which not just to recover but to begin the rebuilding. as some of you are probably unaware, for this entire school year, children in the virgin islands have operated on a four so many ofbecause our public schools were compromised so the children had to share facilities and only participated in school curricular activities for four hours a day. most of our dialysis and inpatient individuals are still off island because our hospitals have been compromised from the hurricane that they have been unable to be at home for those services. i want to thank fema and the army corps, coast guard, and some of the other federal agencies that were there on the ground and are providing assistance.

i know this action report provides a blueprint on how to have improvements and make things better. i'm trusting that fema and the other agencies are taking those things to heart. the sign of maturity is recognizes when you have done things wrong and learning from them in moving forward. things i wanted to ask these individuals about were some of the issues we still have. on april 20, we sent a letter to administrator which i ask unanimous consent to submit into the record. this letter has been signed not only by myself but also the chair of this committee, bill shuster and others, reflecting support of some of the issues we have. objection, and that be admitted into the record? >> yes. >> thank you.

one of the things we are concerned about that i would like to bring to your attention, if you can assist in answering this question, is with regard to debris removal. the u.s. army corps is working under fema designed to remove all of the debris from the territory. this work will be completed in september. however, large stockpiles of debris remaining, with hurricane season almost upon us again is concerning. i know there is been discussion about where this can be capped. -- where this can be kept. we were given an extension of the local share on this but due , a protest corps that was done to the army corps that they believe will be overcome, to paris will not be removed until the end of december. hitvirgin islands will be

with a 10% cost share. my question is will fema support 100% federal share extension since the delay is not in the control of the government of the virgin islands? >> that is a big question. debris has been a difficult task in the virgin islands. i was down a month back and there's still a lot of work to do there. we will definitely work with the governor. , iwe have received a request do not want to sound a merit to that. -- i do not want to sound ignorant to that. i spoke to the federal corning officer -- the federal coordinating officer. >> so you will work with the governor and try to do that if necessary because this is out of our control. any costs share for us is a great burden. this is a question i have is with regard to the step program.

the step program is one which can be supportive of individuals. this is the program that allows temporary repair of homes in the virgin islands. i know there was some back-and-forth with regard to the step program because the limit initially for the step program was 20,000. however the blue roof program ran an average of 25,000. increased,t has been it is now at 25,000. i know the governor of the virgin islands as a request in for 35,000. are you willing to support that request at this time? >> what i do know is we have authorized the use of the step program for any home in the territory. you did that include -- allow that step was used for

rental properties in new york city after hurricane sandy. to date you have refused to allow that for low income renters in the virgin islands. some of those do have blue roofs on them. will you be willing to reconsider that? >> what i would like to do is get back to you. we have the multi-lease repair program under the individual assistance program. i would like to see where that program is when it deals with multifamily facilities and also the step. i will have my staff take that and if it is ok with you to get back to you. i want to make sure i give your comprehensive answer. >> i have run out of time, but since you have said you will get back to me on the record, i will hold you to my office. it is been difficult to get fema -- i have had difficulty getting individuals from headquarters to come and my office and have

conversations. i know we all have the same interests in mind. i am not trying to be the bad guy all of the time. i want to see how we can work together and make this better, particularly as we are preparing people in the virgin islands for the new hurricane season. i know my time is out but mr. alexander i want to thank the army corps of engineers for extending themselves and committing to having biweekly meetings with me. that is been very helpful and i'm happy for the cooperation and the relationship our office has with them. >> mr. gallagher? >> i apologize for being late. i hope we're not going to rehash ground that has already been tread. ,n fema's after action report this is a question for the 27 hurricane season last week.

the delivery of food and commodities to the virgin islands was recognized as a major challenge to the staffing shortages and logistical failures. can you explain what happened commodities in regards to 2017 and what adjustments you've made in 2018 to a dress the needs of the territories should there be another hurricane? question was the 2017 issue. report,inted out in the all of our national planning, all of the deliberate planning we do is built around a three legged stool. you have local, state, and federal government support. specifically when you talk about logistical movements of commodities. what we found in the commonwealth is two of those lights were not there. i do not mean that to be

disparaging, but we had impacted first responders who were survivors on the commonwealth. we had the ability to get the commodities. we accomplished that. ports taking it from the and getting it out to the more difficult terrain. we did crisis action planning on the ground. you always do that to assess the needs. task organizers move out. that was accomplished. what are we doing in 2018? one of our targeted hiring initiatives is in our logistics. everything is about logistics. we are hiring more teams or more individuals that will staff called incident support teams that we can send to further expand our footprint. caribbean, wehe have about 4600 fema staff that are doing the recovery mission. we have staff in each

municipality, we have communications satellites in each municipality, we have backup generators already installed. we've also done logistical exercises where we have one warehouse going into 2017, we have five now, where we have thousands of marty's, -- of commodities, we have millions now. we moved commodities from the distribution centers out into the more difficult terrain municipalities. we did not take the commodities back. they are safe and secured. we are well-positioned from that standpoint in 2018 then we were in 2017. i appreciate that. administrator paulson, you extensive experience as a firefighter and former u.s. fire administrator. what do you think is the most important things we can do to curb devastating wildfires like the ones we've experienced in

2017? >> thank you for that question. it goes along with the mitigation we talked about earlier about setting aside moneys -- mitigation from wildfires is not any different from mitigating any other type of disaster. it is a look at what are the issues, what are the risks, and having enough funding to deal thatthose risks so i think encourages this committee to look clearly at the 6%. states like your state, all of the western states out there are having a very difficult time.

will go a long way toward resolving a lot of the issues you just talked about of protecting our homes and our businesses from these wildfires. >> thank you and i yield the balance of my time. >> the chair recognizes mr. norton for five minutes. .> thank you very much this is a timely hearing and i will tell you why in a moment. suppose andestion i a suggestion. the question i'm asking implicates the federal presence. with the climate change throughout the country we are seeing increasing flooding that has been alluded to in the hearing. there is sufficient concern about flooding here in the nation's capital. thatve a levy on the mall i think the corps of engineers

was involved with as well to protect the federal presence. , yesterday, wee had a disastrous flood in this -- andand no eddie nobody who lives here or was here in the capital could have happened,t happens -- and it seems to me it raises questions in real time about flood preparedness even in the area of the nation's capital. a portion of the george washington parkway was closed in you directions and to show just how implicated the capital leastter poured into at to beop, that happened capitol south, the one closest to the capital the united states. is anybody protected in the united states if that close to the capital itself we could have had such a flood?

my question goes to a real test. we in the district of columbia are very proud. we have built on both waterfronts. the southeast waterfront and the southwest waterfront. many areas built on their waterfronts. new question implicates york and many other areas of the united states because the waterfront is a right area for revenue. by the way, if you go to the southwest waterfront, we call it onewharf, we finished phase , but phase two is yet to come. we are building on the southeast waterfront, that is ongoing. there will be another 10 years of building. i have to ask you, is it safe to

build on waterfronts. what does fema require? what does support of those were building on the waterfront to make sure those areas are not with a huge waste to the jurisdictions involved, not to mention the private sector. can anyone build on the waterfront? what do you have to do to build on the waterfront? i have no information that the waterfront was implicated. i would be a full does it here -- i would be a fool to sit here and say everything is fine unless you tell me there are regulations or safeguards that have been required or are required for all who built on the waterfront. i would like to hear from both of you since the federal presence is involved. a majority of our population

lives on the waterfront. when i was with the state of alabama, the governor asked me, how do we help hurricane evacuations? dan air-conditioning 50 miles from the coast. air-conditioning 50 miles from the coast. >> you have to build on the coast. >> exactly. me that wheng building occurs on the waterfront, i do not know what you mean by incentives, those who build understand that they are required or there are economic incentives? >> let me rephrase that. authorities that were granted in the bipartisan budget act that was passed where the incentives to build at a more resilient rate. fema has no authority over what

is built. that is a local and state issue. i would also -- as we have a working group -- >> you have mitigation authority. >> we have mitigation authority working with an eligible applicant. there is not mitigation authority that we can tell local business how to build. we would work with the district in that case to see what are the local codes of the district. i do not know that. fema is not in a position to know that. corps talk about that. >> mr. alexander? >> i will be quick. authority in no the district. under which it canunder which it

they can build and what they cannot build. the corps does urge local governments to enforce their zoning and certainly enforce andding to establish codes if you're going to build on the waterfront, whether it is river rain or coastal, you ensure your out of the floodplain. the map to do that by stand up for elevation. it is the major region we do shore protection projects along the beaches. it is for the protection of infrastructure and the economy. >> thank you very much. >> we will now begin a second round of questions. i would like to remind all members that today is the annual lunch lunch and -- hotdog eon so we will hold everyone strictly to five minutes.

in february of part of the budget act of 20, congress enacted a provision that would allow fema to incentivize -- through disaster assistance. what is the status of fema's implementation of these provisions? >> we have a group that is currently looking at how we best implement. as you heard administrator paulson say, we need to look at a pilot program that would allow us flexibility on how we do that. we want to take full advantage of the authority congress granted us in that provision. it fits the administrator strategic plan. definitely we are looking at that but we want to do it right to start with so we have the intent of the provision as laid out by the act. >> thank you. whatistrator paulson, principle do you think should be driving fema's development of

these mitigation incentives? >> i think the most important thing is it is not a giveaway program. the states have to do certain things to qualify for that extra have a statewide building plan in place, have a rocksolid mitigation plan, and have done assessment of the rest and put the mitigation dollars towards alleviating those risks. we not to make sure wasting these taxpayer dollars but are giving the dollars to states have done things to reduce the cost. we had $200 million -- $200 billion last year. we put strong mitigation in place, maybe next year it will not be $200 billion with the same amount of storms. is conversation with fema they are doing a great job getting this thing going. let's make sure the states do what is necessary to medicate the disaster cost. otherwise we are just wasting your money. what you think are the

greatest challenges facing state and local government relating to a cost share adjustment program designed to incentivize mitigation? >> predictability of funding streams is a complicate factor for us. as we look to incentivize mitigation projects we need to be able to plan mitigation measures take a long time to put into place. long'sadministrator priorities is to take the complexity out of fema. anything we can do to reduce the flexibility -- reduce the complexity will help us to be better mitigate or's. and to build on that, we definitely share that concept.

the actions mr. paulson and mr. sheehan discussed are all challenges we face. from the state and local perspective, the more you do to to incentives it helps us reiterate the importance of those mitigation steps and gives us the leverage we need to do those mitigation steps, even though they are lengthy and costly. there are other things to spend that money on. the more incentives that are there at all levels, and as i mentioned early, directly to private sector partners and citizens would also be a benefit , the more incentives that are there gives us more leverage to back up those mitigation projects and hopefully do more in the future. >> the chair recognizes mr. titus for five minutes -- the

chair recognizes ms. titus for five minutes. >> as you noted in your generalized answer, i've specific questions i want to ask. one more for the record. can you specifically provide to the subcommittee a detailed justification or the project isksheets under which prepa requesting reimbursement for power restoration in puerto rico? can you give us that information. >> you're asking for the project worksheets that fema is working with prepa on for the remaining category b work. >> for all of it. for the prior and the remaining. >> for the remaining as we close on the emergency work, the permanent restoration work, which is two different categories of work is done under different authority.

,he estimates are not there there is no forward project worksheet for the remaining work . >> can you give us an accounting for what they did that you are paying them back for? common sense terms, things people understand. can you give us that? >> i will check with our counsel to make sure, but we have nothing to hide. >> it should be public record. >> it should be. >> thank you, we look forward to getting it. >> i want to go back to mr. alexander. , it letter we got from fema says the two megan generators -- generators will be

demobilized on august 18. is that not accurate? fema toe working with extend the mission assignment for several months, through potentially mid-october. it is the other power plant that will be demobilized morrow evening. -- will be demobilized tomorrow evening. but the other 2 -- you do not make that clear in your answer. -- currently the mission assignment ends on the 18th of august. currently mission officers are working with the corps in puerto rico for extending that into the fall. >> if that does not work out,

the deadline is august 18? be our would not decision, but the current ends augustgnment 18. the other generator ends tomorrow at midnight. >> at us wanted to make sure that was clear. i would now like to go back to the point we were making about animals. we know people are much more likely to leave a disaster area if they can take their pets. disaster, petlast shelters all over texas, rescued animals were taken in, they use but resources to do that there is no reports on how that funding was used. iat is why ms. comstock and introduced a pet a act to do minimum reporting about how

resources are used and how they are reunited and cared for. it seems common sense. i would ask the local and the state emergency management folks what they think about that bill, if they have any suggestions for it, if they can help to work to get that passed, would it make their job easier and with her be more accountability? at the local level, it would help with the accountability and would also help with leveraging and helping us reiterate the need. apathy is the biggest challenge we have with citizens. it takes about seven warning messages to get a person to take an action to protect themselves. problemaccentuate that because they will not leave their animals behind. the more we can do on the front end to explain what will happen

and what that process is going to look like and that their animals can be taking care of, the more willing will be to evacuate when they're asked to enter do those things proactively. we do know that people are less likely to evacuate or there are additional complications if people are not able to take their pets with them. it presents a logistical challenge when people bring pets. our idea of pets is dogs and cats and birds but other people have other ideas on what is a pet and those things require special attention. i do think we have a lack of data around this and reporting would be helpful for us to manage it. we will continue to manage it so people can evacuate. >> thank you. thank you, chairman, mr. alexander, let's get back to risk management of lake okeechobee.

the corps of engineers recently said when they were announcing the releases of water to the treasure coast of florida from lake okeechobee that in their risk calculation was the threat of life to 36,000 people south of lake okeechobee. that is something that goes into that risk assessment matrix. knowing the situation, one inch of water, six inches of water, one foot of water can be the difference of failure or not failure on that 730 mile square lake of lake okeechobee during a storm. the corps of engineers absolutely manages and pays attention to every inch of water that flows into lake okeechobee, sits on lake okeechobee, evaporates off of lake okeechobee or is discharged out of likert chobe into another body of cash lake okeechobee into some other body of water that has no business being in. numbers forave the

how much water is maintained on lake okeechobee for the purposes of drinking water? sir, i do not believe i ever said that corps of engineers does not manage a nose a much water is in the lake itself. that being said, lake okeechobee is not managed like our flood control reservoir. we work on a balance between 12.5 and 15.58 and that balances inmeet multiple purposes water supply and water control and flood navigation. at the end of the day we have to place a premium on risk. >> at the end of the day it is risk. if you're keeping more water on the lake than what should be on at risk 36,000s people south of lake okeechobee. i'm formally requesting from the corps of engineers that you do tell me how much water you keep

on lake okeechobee, or in terms of gallons, for the purpose of agriculture irrigation, for the purpose of drinking water in the communities, for the purpose of the agreements with the tribes. what are the amounts through the consumptive use permits that is kept on the lake. the corps of engineers needs to manage how much water is on the lake for all of those purposes in addition to risk management. how much water for each of those ? i'm making a formal request to get those answers. i want to move to one other question. i recently sent a letter to the corps of engineers asking in the name of hurricane preparation and risk management, does water that is being released into my community -- the corps of engineers has discretion based on pollution concerns that can be in the water and i asked the pacific -- the specific question what level of toxins in lake okeechobee would be considered too great of a level where the

corps of engineers would say we cannot discharge water to these epicenters of human population on the west coast of florida. what level of toxin would be considered too great? the answer was avoided. i want to ask you, if there was cyanide in the water, with the corps of engineers sees discharging the water? i'm not avoiding the question. i do not have the answer. engagement,g whether it is in d.c. or down in your district with the district leadership and experts at the headquarters of the army corps of engineers. i'm not an inexpert in lake okeechobee. i did receive your questions in advance. if i had specifics i would've provided them. in thehere were lead water with the corps of engineers sees discharging the water? >> i cannot answer that.

i do not know what the tolerable levels are. >> if there were arsenic in the water with the corps of engineers sees discharging the water to my community and epicenters of population that are not naturally connected to lake okeechobee? if there discharging water right now, clearly enough water was not discharged earlier in the season. >> i do not have the specific answers. i have to believe that there are other regulating agencies who do pay attention to what those toxic levels are and i am confident they worked hand-in-hand with the corps of engineers as we look at those releases. i would offer a detailed discussion of these matters needs to involve officials beyond the corps of engineers itself. thank you for the second

round of questioning. >> thank you all for your testimony. your comments have been helpful to today's discussion. if there are no further questions, i would ask unanimous consent that the record of today's hearing remain open until such time as witnesses have provided answers to any questions that may be submitted to them in writing and unanimous consent the record remain open for 15 days for any additional comments and information submitted by members or witnesses to be included in the record of today's hearing. without objection, i would like to thank our witnesses again for their testimony. if no other members have anything to add, the subcommittee stands adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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