Ernst seeks equal opportunity flood controls for rural communities

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Dec. 18 introduced a bipartisan bill that continues her fight to provide flood relief and support to Iowa’s rural flood-ravaged communities.

Sen. Ernst on Wednesday cosponsored the Local Expertise is Vital for Effective Embankments (LEVEE) Act, S. 3082, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that would create a program to establish permanent features for flood control in areas where temporary features have been constructed, according to the congressional record summary of the bill.

“Rural communities like Hamburg, Iowa, deserve the same flood protection as any other community across the country,” Sen. Ernst said. “Iowa’s communities, regardless of their size, should be able to get the flood protection they need, and our bipartisan bill helps them do just that.”

During an April field hearing held in southwest Iowa by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Hamburg Mayor Cathy Crain said the town needs to make its heightened levee permanent, but can’t afford to pay for it, according to information provided by the senator’s office.

Sen. Ernst, who chaired the hearing, questioned witnesses from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has authority to construct temporary flood structures and in 2011 raised the Hamburg levee by about 8 feet to improve the town’s flood controls.

While the temporary structure worked successfully, Corps policy dictated that it had to be either taken down or built to Corps specifications — at a cost to the town, according to the information, which noted that Hamburg could not afford to make the levee permanent so it had to be removed.

If enacted, S. 3082 would give the Corps authority to review whether temporary flood control structures should be made permanent, and would permit the local cost share for making the structure permanent to be waived for communities with populations less than 10,000, or that are financially disadvantaged or at risk from recurring flood events, according to a summary provided by Sen. Ernst’s staff.

The bill has been referred for consideration to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.