Ten states, along with numerous Louisiana parishes, two Louisiana towns, and a number of Louisiana levee and drainage districts, filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana alleging that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had adopted a new methodology for calculating flood insurance rates in the National Flood Insurance Program that would make flood insurance much more expensive . The plaintiffs asserted that this methodology, called Risk Rating 2.0—Equity in Action, “ignores historical observed flood events and demonstrably effective mitigation efforts in favor of future flood hypotheticals to determine the flood risk of each insured property.” The plaintiffs argued that the new methodology was contrary to law; arbitrary and capricious; and unconstitutional. They alleged that FEMA acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to consider the reliance interests of those affected and by failing to take into account important aspects of the problem, including by considering “inappropriate factors” such as “future climate change,” which the plaintiffs alleged “does not relate to the risk a property actually faces today.” The complaint also asserted that the methodology was arbitrary and capricious because it departed from prior policy without adequate justification and that FEMA “acted pretextually” by “tweaking flood insurance rates to meet its separate objective of addressing future climate change.” In addition, the complaint asserted that FEMA adopted the methodology without compliance with notice-and-comment requirements, exceeded its statutory authority, failed to comply with NEPA, and violated the Spending Clause.

Lawsuit challenging the Federal Emergency Management Agency's adoption of a new methodology for calculating flood insurance rates in the National Flood Insurance Program.

Louisiana v. Mayorkas

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Lawsuit Challenged New FEMA Methodology for Setting Flood Insurance Rates, Including for Allegedly Improper Consideration of Future Climate Change

Filed

United States of America

Louisiana

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