Posted on 11/11/2012 3:28:13 PM PST by Libloather
Schumer urges weather agency to keep Sandy labeled a tropical storm
By Zack Colman - 11/11/12 04:23 PM ET
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is urging the federal weather agency to avoid labeling super-storm Sandy a hurricane because doing so would raise insurance deductibles.
Schumer sent a letter Sunday to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and insurance companies warning that classifying Sandy as a hurricane could boost deductibles to $20,000, compared with $1,000 for a tropical storm.
Schumer says insurers are seeking to have Sandy labeled a hurricane to cut their losses from the devastating natural disaster.
“Today, we’ve sent a letter to NOAA, the weather agency, as well as to the insurance companies that we’re looking over their shoulder. We want NOAA to keep this classified as a tropical storm and to save homeowners in New York and Long Island thousands of dollars and we don’t want the insurance companies to play any games,” Schumer told WCBS 880.
Early projections have said the toll from Sandy’s damage could total $50 billion for the East Coast. New York’s tab alone could reach $33 billion.
Sandy was classified as a category 1 hurricane until it made landfall, at which time weather forecasters said it became a post-tropical storm.
Interest groups and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are taking a look at private insurers’ role in coastal areas subjected to the effects of climate change. Private insurance firms are growing reluctant to cover those areas, which are expanding because of climate change.
Green groups and Democrats warn that extreme weather, including storms like Sandy could become more common. While climate scientists could not definitively say climate change caused Sandy, they attributed the storm’s intensity to rising sea levels and warmer waters.
Instead, the federal government has often footed the bill for flood insurance in coastal regions — often at the expense of taxpayers. The Hill’s E2-Wire has more on that here.
If he can change the definition of weather for “insurance purposes” then certainly he can change the definition of diseases for Obamacare. So instead of say cancer, we will just call it an infection.
For “insurance purposes” of course.
Liberals. Stuck on retarded.
Rising sea levels?
Didn’t Barry promise to do something about that? /s
In flyover country they will say it was straight line winds instead of a tornado, so they can avoid any disaster relief.
Actually this is the first thing Chuck the Schmuck has ever said that I agree with.
Nonsense!
Sandy was only a bit of morning fog propelled by a zephyr....for insurance purposes only... /sarc
That’s the problem with electing lawyers; reality is defined by legislation, litigation and literature (bureaucratic pronouncements).
As the Clinton Cronies said, “Stroke of the pen; law of the land! Pretty cool, huh?”
Schumer is obviously Jewish. How else did he get so much chutzpah?
(My apologies to all the decent Jewish folks out there. We Gentiles just don’t have a word quite as good as ‘chutzpah’ to describe the statements of some of these Congress Critters.)
Shalom!
Hurricanes, storms? They are just words that liberals can redefine at will to suit their purposes. There are no facts or truth. There is only the reality that is decreed upon us by our overlords.
Who does he think pays the difference? Mean corporations? Santa Claus?
I thought that this was all settled last week.
Can't Chuck-E-Cheese Schumer read, or did he just need his weekly "fix" of attention in front of the TV cameras?
They should call in the pros from BLS (Bureau of Lying Statistics). Those people can turn a recession into a slow recovery. A simple hurricane to tropical storm could be easily done with statistics to back it up!
And then they turn around and lambaste the insurance companies for high rates....
Were the insurance contracts written to account for this kind of political manipulation?
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