Barry Gardiner Quotes

We owe it to the flood victims of New Orleans to give them truthful answers as to why this event took place and to assure our citizens that tragedies like this will never happen again.

Flooding is the costliest and most common cause of property damage, which is why federal flood insurance should be affordable and accessible to all.

My thinking is, government is really there to do the things that people absolutely can't do for themselves. And that's mostly involved with the things that might kill you. And what might kill me? The environment and terrorism.

The federal government needs a strategic approach that includes strong leadership and the ability to manage weather related risks. The challenge of developing such an approach is complex: It must not only encompass all levels of government but must also be developed in a bipartisan manner.

In my view, it is important that our national government exercise leadership to improve the resiliency of the entire nation in the face of continuing extreme weather.

One of the essential elements of government responsibility is to communicate effectively to the American people, especially in time of a potential terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

NBC News found that FEMA has redrawn maps even for properties that have repeatedly filed claims for flood losses from previous storms. At least some of the properties are on the secret 'repetitive loss list' that FEMA sends to communities to alert them to problem properties.

We've had hurricanes in Florida forever. And the question is, 'What do we do about the fact that we have built expensive structures, real estate and population centers, near those vulnerable areas?'

What was once a 100-year flood will happen every 3 to 20 years. And truly catastrophic storms will do damage unimaginable today.

After the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the shutdown of much of New York City by Sandy in 2012, and now the devastation wrought on Texas by Harvey, the U.S. can and should do better.

One can only hope that America, and other countries, will not need more natural persuasion before taking to heart the lessons of Hurricane Harvey.

No matter the natural disaster I've covered, whether it's a wildfire or flood, I always come back with a much greater perspective.

Years of government inaction on air pollution has got people thinking that the state cannot even protect basic public goods like clean air.

It seems like every week we are considering bills that would make it harder to limit the amount of carbon we are dumping into our atmosphere, and prevent implementation of clean technologies. The voters who sent us here deserve better.

I think there are steps that can be taken that haven't been required or energy to make that fight more secure and we are going to continue to push the federal government to do that.

Homeowners and business owners across the country agreed to pay premiums, communities agreed to adopt building codes to mitigate flood dangers, and the Federal Government agreed to provide insurance coverage to policyholders after a disaster.

I know the government needs to ensure economic growth... we just hope it takes care of the environment, too.

You know, we lose more homes every year to flooding than we do any other event in America.

I believe that climate change represents one of the greatest threats to our national security and our planet.

This Time, Let's Build a New Venice and Not Another New Orleans

The object of government is the protection of person, property, and reputation from the foes which assail them. Government may do other things: it may carry the mails, run the express, own and operate the railroads; but its fundamental function is to furnish protection from open violence or secret fraud. If it adequately protects person, property, and reputation, it is a just government, though it do nothing else; if it fails to protect these primary rights, if the person is left to defend himself, his property, his reputation by his own strong arm, there is no government.

This was the most anticipated natural disaster in history.

No government ought to guarantee perfect security because no government can provide it.

If there is one thing BP's 'watery improv act' made clear, it is that, as a culture, we have become far too willing to gamble with things that are precious and irreplaceable, and to do so without a back-up plan, without an exit strategy.

We can be thankful President Barack Obama is taking aim at one of the prime causes of climate change and extreme weather: air pollution. The EPA's carbon pollution standards are the most significant step forward our country has ever taken to protect our health by addressing climate change.