What I Think About What Other People Say (WITAWOPS)

This week marked the tenth anniversary of this conclusion made by the U.S. government against the government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  Let me say this again:  one branch of the federal government found, a decade ago, that another branch of the federal government was jeopardizing 16 species of endangered or threatened salmon in Oregon and the orcas. Image by freepix.com This is not an environmental group or group of activists accusing FEMA. The determination was made in April 2016 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NMFS is charged (by Congress) with recovering marine-related endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages terrestrial, freshwater, and avian endangered species. What does jeopardizing mean? Jeopardizing does not mean that the NFIP (an insurance program) is actively wiping out the species. Rather, it means that the program in ...

I spent four years inside FEMA reviewing the environmental compliance of hazard mitigation infrastructure projects. I’ve seen hundreds of applications for great ideas on paper, such as roads elevated above floodplains, ports wired with backup power, levees, libraries retrofitted for earthquakes, and even entire villages relocating away from flood prone areas. I posit that many states consciously or subconsciously view FEMA’s mitigation programs as a very flexible infrastructure funding stream. A kind of ATM for local infrastructure, one that dispenses billions of dollars each year. Generated by ChatGPT, March 2026 This is how I personally understood the intensity of the current litigation conflict between states and the federal government over FEMA’s mitigation programs. But it also highlights something that nagged at me for four years. Who, exactly, evaluates the efficacy and efficiency of these projects? How do we know whether these billions of dollars actually work? Disclaimer: the ...

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is, I believe, off-track. We are subsidizing (socialism) flood risk using a mid-20th century insurance framework (ancient) against 21st century climate change (reality), local politics (not national), and changing hydrology. FEMA is not actively constricting or guiding development away from high risk areas, despite this being an objective of the law. The NFIP is deeply in debt. Flood water does not care about your mortgage, zip code, income, skin color, generation, or party registration. It only cares about gravity, volume, and contours. Image generated by ChatGPT, March 2026 The NFIP is next in my series of things that surprised me about FEMA. FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I quit FEMA in March and wrapped up 20 years working for the executive branch of the government. See why in my  earlier post .  Flooding Every year, we experience flooding. It’s a global problem...

Update : March 25, 2025: I was wrong, at least partially. Today, FEMA surprised me by publishing a Notice of Funding Opportunity (call for proposals) on grants.gov for the BRIC program. It's for $1 billion covering Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025. The project cap is now $20m. Proposals are due July 23, 2026. Let's see if I was wrong on all my predictions.  Published March 10, 2025: This is my first opinion post on things I learned while at FEMA. Apologies to the States and Cities in advance. I do not believe that the mitigation grant program, the way you expect it, will be re-instated.  Despite the lawsuits, court decisions, supposed wins, and Congressional interest on the topic of FEMA’s mitigation grants, I think it’s over. Image by Freepix What Others Say For a backgrounder on this contentious topic, see this  article . Here are some of the recent headlines, all titled against FEMA. In one sentence, FEMA cut off funding. Multiple states sued FEMA in July 2025, “won” in Dece...

I take on Bill Gates after a two month WITAWOPS hiatus, I checked the blog statistics and found that, surprisingly, it is active. I don’t know why the uptick in traffic this month (see the graph below), but you all have inspired me to start writing again. Lets talk about climate change. Which means I have to start with this: The views expressed are solely mine, published under my 1st amendment rights. They may not reflect the views of the U.S. Government or any of its past, present, or future agencies. Someone sent me Bill Gates’ recent (October) blog post, Three Tough Truths About Climate , in which he appears to argue that we should spend money on malaria and malnutrition and not on climate change. My gut reaction, before reading the post, was shock. Save people from malaria (which Gates and others have been fighting for decades now, in fact, the U.S. military has been conducting research on it in Kenya for over decades. See their latest post “ 20 years of Army research yields hope f...

We live in a state with rules and those rules guarantee certain freedoms. When put together, some interpret those collective freedoms as sovereignty and what better way to demonstrate ultimate sovereignty than to build and run your own city?  Source: ChatGPT, 10/9/25 Is there really a substantial difference between the 1980s Oregon desert city of Rajneeshpuram and the 2020s Texas coastal flats city of Starbase? If you need a quick refresher on Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the city he legally incorporated in Oregon, read my February 15, 2025 post .  What Do I think I believe they are inherently the same and a precursor of more to come. Cities normally grow organically in that people settle, attract people, jobs, arts, and culture, and then eventually incorporate for self-governance. But both Rajneeshpuram and Starbase were born out of visions from their leaders: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Elon Musk. There was no natural evolution. Sure, the labels are different: religious leaders...

The Supreme Court added another shovel of dirt on USAID's coffin, now more than 6 feet under (see my earlier  obituary ). This post articulates another of USAID’s many little-known accomplishments in Kenya (read about the first one about thwarting politicians and constitutional change here ). Peace and Security in Kenya: The USAID Approach , is now available in paperback and e-book at your favorite bookstore. Please also ask your local library to order it too. “We found an institution so frail in its structures; so thin on resources; so low on its confidence; so deficient in integrity; so weak in its public support that to have expected it to deliver justice was to be wildly optimistic. We found a judiciary that was designed to fail.” —Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, “Progress Report on the Transforma- tion of the Judiciary: The First 120 Days,” speech, Nairobi, Kenya, October 19, 2011 What Do I Think  The 2007/2008 postelection violence in Kenya was triggered by the “massively ...

Having worked on a number of environmental analyses for airports in the early 2000s, I continue to track interesting cases. I am also exploring the limitations of ChatGPT. Several months ago, I learned (thanks to my teenager) the difference between my writing and ChatGPT’s. More recently, colleagues have insisted that ChatGPT 5.0 is much better. So I am putting it to the test.  Below are two versions of the same story. One is mine. The ChatGPT prompt was: “for my blog, witawops.blogspot.com, write a piece in my style on the dissenting opinion in this case . Leave a comment indicating which is mine and which is AI’s. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies. Version 1.0 “Does anyone doubt that this Environmental Analysis would not see the light of day if this project were sited anywhere near the we...

Even Shane knew you can’t run from who you are, and violence—no matter the reason—leaves a permanent mark. Shane is the protagonist of a 1949 book by Jack Shaefer set in 1889 Wyoming. He is the basis of a movie (1953) and TV series (1966) and debuted on stage circa 2023. I saw the play this week in Ashland, Oregon.  This south central Oregon city has a long-standing nexus to theater. Because of its architecture, it became the site of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1935 and is now among the largest repertory theaters in the U.S., drawing half a million visitors each year. “A man’s got to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mold. There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks.” Shane (1953), dir. George Stevens. Joey (Bob in the book) is a young boy who serves as the audience’s eye in the play. However, in the book, Bob is an adult narrating the story from his childhood.  Image by Freepix  What Do I think ...

Most of the world celebrates labor day on May 1st. Ironically, the U.S. doesn't even though the impetus for the day originated in Chicago. Why is this the case and why does Canada follow suit? “This is a day of dedication. It is a day on which America salutes her workers, not with the blare of guns, but with the recognition of honest toil.” -- Woodrow Wilson (1916, Labor Day address in Buffalo, NY) After the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886, May 1st became associated with the international labor movement. The map shows the countries that observe it on May 1st.  World map highlighting countries that observe May 1st Labor Day.  Generated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT (DALL·E), August 29, 2025. Notice Canada and the U.S. stand out: they sidestepped May 1st as an official holiday to avoid the socialist/communist associations with the day. Ask A.I or start here for more information.  As you enjoy the end of the northern hemisphere summer or the southern hemisphere winter, empathize...

Many people think that in following well-established rules and policies, government officials don't have to make difficult business decisions. That is not true. Sometimes they do because of competing interests. Here is one example of a decision that FEMA has to make.  Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies. The material used below is all in the public domain, as published by FEMA in August 2025.  Because of the interaction between the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in Oregon and the Endangered Species Act, FEMA will select from one of three alternatives they have analyzed in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  Here is FEMA's own summary of the impacts of those three alternatives (Source:  https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_r10_oregon-nfip-eis-br...