1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,160 Speaker 1: For more on the president's visit today and the damage 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: caused by these deadly Texas was and what needs to 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: be done. Next, we turned to George P. Bush, the 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: former commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. Commissioner Bush, 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bloomberg. 6 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 2: It's good to see you. 7 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: Everyone's been an expert on response and rescue operations over 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: the past couple of days. I'm wondering what Texans actually 9 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: want the extent to which they want the government to 10 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: be involved here enhancing infrastructure for early warning. 11 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 3: Well, I suspect that in July twenty one, when the 12 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 3: special session gabbles back in, that the legislature will go 13 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 3: back to the bill that was administered this past session. 14 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 2: But was unsuccessful. 15 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 3: It was a half a billion dollar package to create 16 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 3: an early detection and warning system with respect to a 17 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 3: state that, unfortunately, is subject to the most amount of 18 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 3: natural disasters than any other state in America. 19 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 2: People forget, since. 20 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 3: Nineteen eighty our state has had more federal declarations in 21 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 3: any other state, and then ranges from flat floods such 22 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 3: as the one that we've seen in Curville to devastating 23 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 3: storms like Hurricane Harvey, which I happen to preside over 24 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 3: as the Land Commissioner, leading the state's largest housing recovery, 25 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 3: and I think it was the second largest in American 26 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 3: history behind Katrina. This storm is nothing short of devastating, 27 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 3: but as you know, politicians typically respond after the fact 28 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 3: instead of preparing before the devastating events. 29 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 2: But we need to focus on the positives here. 30 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,199 Speaker 3: I believe legislators will reconvene past that half a billion 31 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 3: dollar package that will implement early communication and warning systems 32 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 3: along the Guadaloup, similar to what was done in the 33 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 3: Wimberley storms from twenty sixteen, where the Blanco River Authority 34 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 3: did set aside the dollars to create that early detection 35 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 3: system that com mitigate lives that we need to prepare 36 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 3: better for these storms. 37 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 4: Well, when we consider the preparation and you speak to 38 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 4: some of the recent natural disasters that the State of 39 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 4: Texas has experienced, does it also need to be better 40 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 4: adaptation and mitigation to what is a changing environment. 41 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 2: Absolutely. 42 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 3: When I was Lank Commissioner, I advocated for the largest 43 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 3: storm surge barrier in American history. After Katrina, New Orleans 44 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 3: and Louisiana were successful in obtaining a federal appropriation to 45 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 3: create two swinging levees that now largely protect New Orleans 46 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 3: from a devastating Category three plus storms. In fact, they've 47 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 3: had a few storms and this system has actually worked. 48 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 2: It's been accomplished. 49 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 3: Before in American history, and we can do it again 50 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 3: as Texans, whether it's flash floods or devastating storms that 51 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 3: could hit the Galveston area. 52 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 2: But I'm a big. 53 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 3: Believer if you look at the economics of natural disasters 54 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 3: and the recovery, it's so much cheaper at the federal 55 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 3: level to allow states, counties, and cities to come forward 56 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 3: to the federal government with well thought out plans that 57 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 3: are NEPA compliant and working with the US corp of 58 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 3: Engineers to. 59 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 2: Help mitigate those future storms. 60 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 3: Because, believe it or not, our climate is changing and 61 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 3: violent storms like this will continue happening. So we can 62 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 3: choose one path, which is to respond and ask taxpayers 63 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 3: from other parts of the country to fund it, or 64 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 3: we can come together as a country and put together 65 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 3: those plans and better prepare and develop that infrastructure beforehand. 66 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: Stories like these, unfortunately have a way of falling off 67 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: the front page pretty quickly. Commissioner Bush once that's the case, 68 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: and we're onto other things and whatever the crisis of 69 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: the day may be in politics, what will be happening 70 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: on the ground in Texas? 71 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 2: How long will it take to clean this up? 72 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 3: Man? I'm hearing estimates of several months, if not yours. 73 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 3: I mean, going back to the experience at Hurricane Harvey, 74 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 3: we were cleaning debris for over a year, attaining federal 75 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 3: waivers and permits to allow us to just burn the trash. 76 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 3: I remember an estimate that every single landfill in the 77 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 3: state of Texas was inundated with debris. 78 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 2: And if you look at just these images. 79 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 3: That are occurring on the Guadalupe River, and if you 80 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 3: can visualize a wall of water in excess of thirty 81 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 3: feet in all the debris that are along the Balconi's 82 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 3: escarpment along that way, this is going to take a 83 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:19,799 Speaker 3: long time. 84 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 2: But as a former leader. 85 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 3: In Texas, I can tell you that the people of 86 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 3: Texas are so resilient and strong. There are tens of 87 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 3: thousands of volunteers, including my church River Bend, which is 88 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 3: on the ground in a church in curable helping people 89 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 3: respond and getting badly needed supplies. And what's crazy about 90 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 3: this Joe is that there are still over one hundred 91 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 3: people missing. I mean, we are still in the search 92 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 3: and rescue aspect of what's occurring here, and it's been 93 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 3: a week, so recovery is never easy. Unfortunately, we're already 94 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 3: pointing fingers at one another. But first things first, we've 95 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:55,559 Speaker 3: got to save lives. 96 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 4: That is absolutely true. We should keep that in before 97 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 4: we let you go, Commissioner. We just have a minute 98 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 4: left here. But if a state like Texas, with its 99 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 4: size and capacity, still needs the support of the federal 100 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 4: government to respond to a disaster like this, what does 101 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 4: it tell you about changes that should or should not 102 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 4: be made to FEMA. 103 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 3: I've long been an advocate for reorganizing FEMA and consolidating 104 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 3: the disaster recovery components of what it does, along with 105 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 3: the numerous other federal agencies in. 106 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 2: Washington, DC that responded disasters. 107 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 3: To make it simple, cut through the bureaucratic red tape 108 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,920 Speaker 3: for local, county and state wide officials. Just one quick 109 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,799 Speaker 3: example from Hurricane Harvey. To rebuild a home, it required 110 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 3: over sixteen permits from different agencies underneath the National Environmental 111 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 3: Protection Act. And if we can just cut through the 112 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 3: red tape, essentially block rant the dollars down to the states, counties, 113 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 3: and cities to allow them to adjudicate the recovery process. 114 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 3: I assure you that most states are going to do 115 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 3: it better than the federal government. Are certain just jurisdictions 116 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,359 Speaker 3: that don't have that experience like we do in Texas, 117 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 3: But there's a lot that we can do at the 118 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 3: federal level, all right. 119 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 4: George P. Bush, former Commissioner of Texas General Land Office, 120 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 4: thank you so much for joining us.