Thursday, April 19, 2007
WASHINGTON - Federal insurance programs for floods and crops have failed to anticipate more numerous and severe storms expected from global warming over the next century, threatening the government with liability for billions of dollars in claims, according to a Government Accountability Office report to be released today.
Auditors said the problem "may not constitute an immediate crisis," but "does have significant implications" for the federal budget. Private and federal insurers paid more than $320 billion for weather-related losses from 1980 to 2005, with the federal government covering about one-quarter of that total.
The GAO report will be released at a hearing today at the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The top committee Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said the financial implications may get the attention of fiscal conservatives who have been less concerned with the environmental impact of climate change.
"This report shows us that global warming threatens to burden consumers and taxpayers with billions of dollars in additional cost, as insured losses cause increases in federal spending and insurance premiums," Collins said.
Coincidentally, the report is being released the same week as a ferocious storm struck the Maine coast, knocking out power to 125,000 Central Maine Power customers and flooding homes and roads across southern Maine.
"Whether or not this particular storm is linked to climate change, it's a sign of the future if the consensus is correct on what the future holds in store for us," Collins said.
Insurance programs for floods and crops are big business. Since 1980, private insurers paid $243.5 billion for weather-related claims. During the same period, federal crop insurance paid $43.6 billion and federal flood insurance paid $34.1 billion -- programs that generally weren't covered by private companies.
The flood-insurance program's potential claims exposure has quadrupled since 1980 to $1 trillion. Crop-insurance exposure has increased 26-fold to $44 billion.
In Maine, 500 to 600 farms have bought crop insurance each year for the last decade, insuring about 100,000 acres statewide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's risk management agency. Participation quadrupled in 1995 and then held relatively steady.
Last year, nearly all the 58,500 acres planted with potatoes were insured. About half the acreage for blueberries and apples was insured.
The value statewide of what is insured fluctuates from $50 million to $60 million. Claims that tend to cost $2 million to $3 million per year spiked in 2004 at $10 million.
For flooding, Mainers received $29.6 million in 2,687 claims from 1978 through Feb. 28, according to the National Flood Insurance Program.
The GAO report focuses on the concern that earth's average temperature warmed 0.74 degrees Celsius from 1906 to 2005.
Washington D.C. Correspondent Bart Jansen can be contacted at 791-6369 or at
Reader comments
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I've been a Susan Collins supporter in the past, however, if this is the best we can come up with to represent our state in Washington, than this term may be her last. (Please, not Tom Allen)
Is there some kind of consensus about our future that I'm unaware of?!?!?!
The only future that I'm pretty sure about is the part about being taxed to death.report abuse
Mohron, Rushbabie,
Have fun betting that scientists are wrong about a scientific issue. I'm sure Rush and Bill O. know science much better than scientists. Why don't you consult your favorite pundit the next time you need to see a doctor?
Actually, I'm sure Rush would be great at prescribing pain meds....:-)report abuse
Plenty of wacko scientists making predictions way out of their field of expertise...if you have six wackos agree with you, does that count as a peer reviewed paper?....of course it does, esp. if you are a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. report abuse
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