The week ahead: Flood relief bills head to House floor

The House is scheduled to vote on a pair of Hurricane Sandy bills this week, one of which requires recommendations for creating a national extreme disaster resiliency plan.

The Sandy Recovery Improvement Act would require the Federal Emergency Management Agency to submit recommendations on how to minimize damage from those events. The bill is separate from the Hurricane Sandy relief package.

Environmental, spending watchdog and insurance groups all have pushed for a national resiliency plan. They contend climate change’s impact on sea levels and water temperatures is exacerbating extreme weather events and putting more coastal communities in floodplains.

Those groups say the federal government will continue to be on the hook for pricey disaster relief until it bolsters infrastructure and makes changes to the federal flood insurance program.

Some Republicans have resisted spending on flood relief because the insurance program is nearing its $20.75 billion debt limit.

The green, spending and insurance groups say the federal government can reduce the stress on the insurance program by updating floodplain maps and accounting for climate change in risk assessments.

While Capitol Hill will still be relatively quiet, energy and environment events abound elsewhere in Washington.

Sustainable urban transport is the topic of a 1 p.m. Monday panel at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Panelists will discuss ways to adapt transportation systems to rapidly urbanized centers as a way to enhance sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Speakers include Shin-pei Tsay, director of cities and transportation in the energy and climate program with the Carnegie Endowment, and Vincent Leiner, a policy officer in the directorate-general for mobility and transport of the European Commission.

The World Resources Institute will take a look at which energy and environment stories might play out in 2013. The group’s president, Andrew Steer, will head a forum at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the National Press Club.

The next day, the National Press Club will also play host to the U.S. Energy Association’s annual energy outlook forum.

The noon event will feature the heads of various energy trade organizations, including American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Marvin Fertel, Edison Electric Institute CEO Tom Kuhn, the Solar Energy Industries Association’s Rhone Resch and American Gas Association CEO Dave McCurdy.

EMBARQ and the World Bank will hold a transportation conference Thursday and Friday at World Bank headquarters.

The two-day event will hit on topics such as improving health and safety in cities and sustainable transportation. Speakers include World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.