Lobbyists and agencies revisited
Let's examine an example of how the invasive reach of lobbyists is destroying government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was created by Congress in 1979 to provide a national preparation and response to natural disasters in the United States. Since 2003 it has been included in the Department of Homeland Security. The popular perception thinks of FEMA as grossly failing after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and performing well in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012; this perception completely ignores the legislative mandate of FEMA. FEMA is charged with creating an intricate system of mapping areas of potential flooding disaster for the entire nation. The mapping system creates tiers of federal flood insurance requirements for buildings in areas prone to flood destruction. The concept of the legislation attempts to accumulate capital reserve for disasters that cost the nation billions of dollars. Low lying coastal areas and particularly coastal barrier islands are not good areas for building construction and these areas are also the most attractive to real estate developers because customers desire ocean front property.
Science predicts that sea level will rise dramatically in the near future and the likelihood of extreme coastal storms is increasing. The new FEMA maps of flood danger reflected these facts and the new mandatory insurance rates for building in these areas described the risks associated with this construction activity. At this moment the lobbyists for all the real estate development interests enter the picture. The real estate lobby informed staff of members of Congress that these insurance standards worked a hardship on the recovery of the real estate sector of the economy and all the jobs associated with home and office building. Further the legislation no longer grandfathered existing buildings at reduced insurance rates and this fact made it impossible to sell expensive existing shore front property.
http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/11700-lobbyists-and-agencies-revisited