“We can do better. We must do better.”
The following is an opinion/commentary submitted to Shen-Valley Times by Peter Hamilton Barlow, of Weyers Cave:
“Helping people before, during, and after disasters.” That’s the mission that took me to the Peace Corps, to work for clean air and water at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to serve overseas with Church NGOs, that took me to nursing school, and that ultimately brought me here to FEMA. Now I’ll be leaving the agency and will miss its important work.
My FEMA family are dedicated, passionate public servants working within complex systems to make things incrementally better for the American people. They spend weeks and months away from their families to serve strangers across this Nation. They don’t deserve to be scapegoated by politicians and pundits who don’t understand the complexities of emergency management.
No agency is perfect, and there are always ways to trim budgets, increase efficiencies, and find ways to do more with less. What I have seen happen to this agency and other agencies over the past months is a disaster in itself, and the damage will take decades to repair.
Indiscriminate staffing cuts, repealing common-sense policies and regulations that protect folks from losing their homes and children, these aren’t efficiency. It’s rich folks with ideological bones to pick, slashing at social safety nets and decades of hard work.
I’ve worked with teams implementing requirements to elevate infrastructures in floodplains. These programs prevent the kind of catastrophic loss of life we saw in Texas. In January, without explanation or a plan to protect vulnerable communities, the administration repealed all of our work and planning.
I’ve led a team researching and developing policies that provide extra resources to low-income communities during post-disaster rebuilding. Building larger culverts under roads, flood-proofing basements and crawl spaces, building tornado safe rooms in schools to protect kids, concrete poles and guy wires for power lines, and shoring up hillsides to prevent landslides and road closures.
Without this help, the most vulnerable communities will continue to suffer the most significant harm. Instead of rebuilding over and over again, we can save money by doing it right the first time. In January, this administration repealed that policy and all the work associated with it. For what? It certainly isn’t saving money, and it puts lives at risk.
I’ve worked with engineers, analysts, and architects to strengthen bridges, fortify potable water and wastewater treatment facilities, and ensure that electrical redundancies are in place in the event of power outages. These are evidence-based improvements learned over decades from hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and thousands of lost lives. It is simply foolish to throw it all away.
This administration’s dysfunction will impact future generations in areas around the Nation that are vulnerable to natural disasters. I’ve watched, over the past six months, as politicians repeal practical policies and regulations so that they can have a couple of talking points.
Let me be clear. This is not efficiency. My work with my colleagues was not “woke.” It was NOT “DEI” and it was not “waste.” It was public service and professionalism.
I’m tired of watching young folks in the FEMA Corps and senior leadership being forced out of this agency without plans to replace them. When senior leaders leave abruptly, we lose decades of institutional memory and knowledge rooted in experience. When FEMA Corps is disbanded, we lose our future public servants and leaders.
I’m tired of watching elected and appointed leaders who should be protecting the American people destroy essential policies to score political points. How will they face their constituents when more people drown needlessly and communities remain in ruins?
I’m tired of wondering what the next disaster season will look like without a strong, empowered Federal agency leading disaster response and recovery efforts. FEMA mobilizes expensive-to-build and sustain elite teams of experts nationwide. No state can match that investment, and it is inefficient and foolish to ask them to do so.
I’m tired of worrying about my neighbors. It is only a matter of time before a disaster strikes in our area.
We’ve had floods and fires before. While we always pitch in to help each other recover, some disasters require more than neighbors can provide. That’s why we invest our taxes in public services that we can call on in disasters. Instead, the leaders in Washington are investing in tax breaks for people who don’t need them and who have enough private resources to protect themselves from harm.
You’re never going to see Bezos, Musk, or the other billionaires digging out their neighbors. They will be long gone on their private jets and yachts.
While I’m just one small piece of a large organization, I see the damage that has been done under this administration and am saddened at the lack of understanding or transparency coming from our political leaders. We can do better. We must do better.
Pete Barlow
Pete Barlow is a native son of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. He was born in Rockingham County, with deep family ties in Page County. As both a scientist and community leader, he understands the critical connection between environmental stewardship and strong rural economies.