FEMA

The GAO said that the $10.5 billion from the FEMA Public Assistance program might cover only about half of the $20.3 billion identified in Puerto Rico’s Grid Modernization Plan as necessary to repair the grid and make it more resilient.

The bill would increase the federal share cost of disaster relief for the COVID-19 pandemic to 100% from 75%. It is unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Firefighters are waging battle against an estimated 7,000 fires of varying sizes throughout the state; nearly 1.5 million acres have burned.

Santa Rosa escaped flames this year but still bears costs related to the nearby Kincade Fire.

The House Natural Resources Committee, meanwhile, is meeting Oct. 22 to consider removing the infrastructure revitalization section from the federal legislation that established the Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board.

States and cities have begun to factor climate risk into budgetary and other planning.

FEMA denied California reimbursement for a portion of Oroville Dam repairs, saying the state failed to maintain it.

Sergio Marxuach and other officials of the nonpartisan, San Juan-based Center for a New Economy said federal spending on disaster recovery has been slower than in other areas also struck by hurricanes in 2017.

Included in the FAA reauthorization package is $1.68 billion in supplemental disaster funding that would help cover the cost of recovery and rebuilding from Hurricane Florence last month.

The three islands of the USVI have received more than $1 billion in federal disaster assistance through March 27, according to FEMA spokesman Manuel Broussard.