TRUMP’S DISASTER PLANNING MAY BE DISASTER

Just 10 days before Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Gulf Coast, President Donald Trump issued another executive order adding to his “undone” list: He revoked a set of Obama-era regulations that would require the federal government to take sea-level rise and flooding into account when building and refitting federal infrastructure.

Harvey’s slowly unfolding aftermath should make it clear why Trump’s action was misguided and why he should immediately restore those life-saving and cost-saving flood protection rules, along with a slew of other environmental protection and climate rules he has trashed.

Last weekend, even before the worst of the hurricane hit Houston, residents near the Houston Ship Channel were complaining of a strange, unexplained smell, according to the HoustonPress.com. By Wednesday, there was still no official explanation, but state and federal regulatory reports filed by multiple refineries in the channel provided clues.

“Essentially, it could have come from any of the dozens of refineries along the Houston Ship Channel, or possibly from all of them,” the Houston paper wrote. “So far almost every major company with refineries on the Houston Ship Channel has filed notifications” of emission events. The channel is where a third of America’s refining capacity is located.

Meanwhile, in Crosby, Texas, emergency officials ordered evacuations in a 1.5-mile radius of the Arkema Chemical plant. Compromised by high water and no power, plant officials correctly predicted the organic peroxides onside, without refrigeration, would inevitably explode.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen more about this, thank the Trump administration’s blase attitude about disaster and environmental regulation — coupled with Texas’ acceptance of refining risks. The Houston Press noted that Gov. Greg Abbott has suspended a slew of state rules governing everything from air emissions to how companies deal with spills and waste. And EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had signed off on another Clean Air Act waiver to make it easier for the Texas oil industry to pump out fuel so the refineries can cut corners while getting back up to productivity — all with the full blessing of federal environmental regulators.

Visiting Texas on Tuesday, Trump didn’t put his arm around a single flood victim, but he praised first responders: “It’s a real team, and we want to do it better than ever before. … We want to be looked at in five years, in 10 years from now as, this is the way to do it.”

Time will tell. So far rescues — helped by Texas neighbors and Louisiana’s volunteer “Cajun Navy” — seem to have gone well.

But the recovery aid — other than letting the oil industry cut corners — looks to be in trouble.

Harvey — now a tropical storm — is still causing misery as heavy rain and tornado threats crawl inland on a path through Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Even at mid-week this storm was in a class of its own: the most extreme rain event in U.S. history. And perhaps the most costly.

With the a large portion of the nation’s oil and gas-industry infrastructure among Harvey’s wreckage, the estimated financial damage appears headed toward $20 billion. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster fund contains more than $3 billion, and FEMA on Monday said response to Harvey is “quickly drawing down” disaster balances.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s 2018 budget raises the Department of Homeland Security by nearly 7 percent — but mostly for immigration patrol. He found the money for that and his border wall by cutting roughly 9 percent in disaster-relief programs across the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.

His budget would eliminate $667 million from FEMA for state and local grant funding, according to the Washington Post. The proposal also would require local and state governments to match 25 percent of the federal dollars they receive, and it would cut by 20 percent an emergency management grant program that helps train local officials.

Money to help homeowners and businesses rebuild goes through HUD’s $3 billion Community Development Block Grant Program. Trump’s budget would zero it.

What about weather watching? NOAA would lose about $200 million in a handful of programs that help coastal states brace for climate change and future adverse weather events.

The Weather Service would lose $62 million — money it now uses to update its weather models and predict changing weather further out. The National Flood Insurance Program would lose $190 million for mapping flood-prone areas, information that can affect flood insurance premiums.

The Agriculture Department would lose $114 million in disaster assistance to help farmers recover livestock, crops and equipment. In the Department of Health and Human Services, a national hospital preparedness fund would be cut by $27 million.

Trump also proposes to cut the Corps of Engineers by 16.3 percent, cut the Environmental Protection Agency by 31.4 percent, and the Department of Transportation by 12.7 percent. And have we mentioned that Trump has said he’ll shut down the government if he doesn’t get money for his border wall?

So much for cleaning up and rebuilding.

We hope the president meant it when he told Harvey victims: “We are 100 percent with you.”

But just in case, call your senators and congress members. Trump’s budget is in their hands now.