A Climate Plan in Texas Focuses on Minorities. Not Everyone Likes It.

 

Jordan Silva

Environmental Economics

Dr. Eubanks

Blog 5

 

A Climate Plan in Texas Focuses on Minorities. Not Everyone Likes It.

 

            This article is about severe flooding in the Houston area of Texas. For years most of the money that was spent on flood protection went to the wealthier areas and severely neglected the poorer areas. The old approach was based on protecting the most valuable property and the poorer areas suffered greatly. Since Hurricane Harvey hit the are in 2017, flood protection has been more focused on the areas that have less resources to make a full recovery. “Environmental policy experts say it makes no sense to decide which people get protection based on which property is more valuable. That approach reinforces historical discrimination, which contributed to minority neighborhoods having lower property values in the first place. And it doesn’t address the deeper question of who needs the most help, or why.” (Flavelle, Christopher). Making sure wealthier areas are taken care of first is just keeping the status quo, the poorer areas will continue to be devastated and a full recovery will remain out of reach.       

            A wealthier opponent of this spending to help poorer areas, Beth Guide stated that, “She rejected the idea that priority should go to people who would have the hardest time bouncing back from a disaster. “The fact that you decide that you want to have a Netflix account versus whether you want to pay for your flood insurance is not my problem.” (Flavelle, Christopher). This approach is not only degrading to poorer people but a total disregard of the less fortunate areas of Houston.

            Helping a community protect itself from a flooding disaster is what the allotted 2.5 billion in tax dollars is supposed to go to. Making sure the money is spent only in wealthier areas because the average property value is much higher is wrong. Taxes are paid by both poor people and wealthy people so why should the money only be spent in wealthier areas of the county? An equal spreading of the 2.5 billion throughout the county to fix drainage systems and ditches is the right approach.