Senator: NFIP needs bipartisan solution

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy was the guest speaker Friday at a luncheon hosted by the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce at the Petroleum Club in Morgan City. One of the topics he addressed was the National Flood Insurance Program.
Cassidy is working with other senators, including Bob Menendez, D-N.J., whom he named, in creating a long-term solution for the program.
With the Senate’s filibuster rules, legislation needs 60 votes to assure passage.
“You can’t just do it with one party, and you can’t do it with just one region,” Cassidy said.
The senators working on this issue are reaching out “on a two region, two party, you name it type system to try to get our 60 votes.”
The goals for the legislation that Cassidy is working toward getting passed include a National Flood Insurance Policy that is more affordable, more sustainable and more accountable.
“It is a bipartisan [issue] because when you flood you’re not a Democrat, you’re not a Republican, you’re an American who has flooded. And if you’re an American who has flooded, there is a set of policies that you think should be done and others from each party might find them objectionable, but, when you’re the American who has flooded they just make sense,” Cassidy said.
The National Flood Insurance Program has been stung by rising payouts. The federal government has been phasing out subsidies, leaving homeowners to pick up more and more of the cost in their premiums, which can now reach into the thousands of dollars.
In zones identified as flood-prone, mortgages may be unavailable without flood insurance.
Cassidy went on to give examples of how the reforms he is working toward would accomplish the goals he is seeking in the National Flood Insurance Program.
The senator discussed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s policy today is to judge a flood plain on an average risk. Cassidy would like to see FEMA judging the cost of flood policies on a building-by-building risk assessment.
This idea would allow those that take extra precautions to reduce their risk of flooding to pay a smaller premium than a neighbor who has not taken any precautions. “This makes the program more affordable, but also more accountable to the federal taxpayer, and more sustainable,” said Cassidy.
While visiting Morgan City, Cassidy also took a tour of Oceaneering’s facility at 5004 Railroad Ave.
Cassidy was greeted by Oceaneering’s director of ROV North America, Anthony Harwin, and Oceaneering’s Manu-facturing Manager Dave Macnamara.
Macnamara and Harwin took Cassidy to see the outside production and manufacturing floor of the company’s Morgan City facility. They explained what Oceaneering offers to not only the oil industry, but also to defense, entertainment, material handling, aerospace, science, and renewable energy industries.
Harwin explained how an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) is an indispensable tool in deep water drilling.
Cassidy was able to see an ROV on the manufacturing floor with Macnamara, where he was introduced not just to the ROV’s capabilities, but to what the robotics technology in general has allowed the company to be able to offer.
Cassidy continued his tour through the offices at the Oceaneering facility and into the training room where multiple simulators are located to train Oceaneering’s ROV pilots.
Cassidy was able to sit at a station that is an exact replica of what an offshore ROV pilot utilizes to pilot the ROV. Cassidy simulated flying an ROV out of its housing, or cage, and also completed a maneuver known as a “hot stab.”
A hot stab uses the underwater ROV’s manipulators to complete a subsea technique whereby the ROV connects what is needed directly to a blow-out preventer.
Cassidy ended his tour in a room Macnamara and Harwin called the “War Room.” This room had multiple monitors displaying information.
One monitor was devoted to updating the company to Hurricane Dorian’s predicted path. On another monitor, the senator was able to see a live feed of an Oceaneering diver working underwater in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oceaneering was founded in 1964 in Morgan City and has since become a global company.