FEMA Supports University of Iowa in Request to Fund Flood Rebuilding with Federal Dollars

You'd have to imagine there are a few University of Iowa officials breathing a little easier today as positive strides were made to securing funding for flood reconstruction.

Officials today reacted to the decision from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA), which created a report that was a official response to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The report indicated that it believes the federal government should help pay for the replacement of the University of Iowa’s Hancher, Voxman, Clapp, and Art Building East facilities. 

Mark Schouten, Administrator of the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division voiced his support for the decision.

“We appreciate that FEMA leadership has reaffirmed previous decisions by FEMA Region VII to replace the Hancher, Voxman, Clapp, and Art Building East facilities.  This brings the University of Iowa one step closer to moving forward on replacing these important facilities," he said in a statement. "We stand ready to answer any questions from Secretary Napolitano and we stand firm in our belief that the FEMA interpretation is sound and the most cost-effective path forward."

The full funding of the projects has been in question after there was degreement between federal agencies of whether funding should be provided for the buildings, which were damaged in the floods of 2008. The recent report cleared up this ambiguity.

Judging by her statement, University of Iowa president Sally Mason was pleased with the decision:

“Speaking for the entire University, particularly our 31,000 students, we are very pleased with the forceful reaffirmation from FEMA’s national leadership to replace Hancher, the School of Music, and Art Building East," Mason said in the statement. "We continue to be extremely grateful and thankful for the support of Governor Branstad, our congressional delegation, the Board of Regents and the Office of Iowa Homeland Security.”

Now with FEMA's support, the decision will be appealed to a higher power within Homeland Security where the funding issue can be hopefully resolved one way or the other.

Federal funding for Iowa's rebuilding is still being lobbied for hard by Iowa's national legislative delegation, and by Gov. Terry Branstad.

“Today we wrote Secretary Napolitano asking for a final decision from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to end this Federal bureaucratic squabble soon and allow the University of Iowa to fully recover from the historic 2008 floods,” Branstad wrote in a statement.