Benton County commissioners voted to support Alternative 1 — the ‘‘no action’’ option — in FEMA's draft environmental impact statement for the National Flood Insurance Program and directed staff to finalize and file a county public comment letter by Oct. 6, 2025.

County staff and invited experts presented the DEIS and implementation plan during the commission meeting. Toby (Speaker 5), the county's floodplain staff lead, outlined the three alternatives: "The options are alternative 1 is take no action," and described Alternatives 2 and 3 as proposals that would impose "no net loss" habitat standards or require all floodplain development to meet specific habitat-protection standards, respectively. Staff also flagged that projects already subject to state or federal permits would be exempt under some proposals.

Why it matters: commissioners and staff said the proposed changes could impose substantial new mitigation requirements on homeowners and local builders, increase consultant and construction costs, and complicate public-works projects. Toby provided Benton County context: the county has about 434,000 acres total and roughly 59,000 acres mapped as floodplain — about 14% of county land — and noted roughly 3,000 structures in the unincorporated floodplain, about 700 of which are likely dwellings.

Commissioner discussion focused on balancing environmental protection with feasibility. Chair (Speaker 1) said the board wanted to "definitely wanna protect the environment" but questioned whether NFIP was the "correct vehicle" for habitat protections and raised concerns about arbitrary mitigation metrics cited in staff examples. Several commissioners expressed a preference for Alternative 1 or urged FEMA to reconsider the program'level changes.

Formal actions: Unidentified Commissioner (Speaker 2) moved to support Alternative 1; Speaker 6 seconded and the motion passed by voice vote. Later, Speaker 2 moved to "direct staff to submit the final public comment letter signed by the board of commissioners to FEMA on or before 10/06/2025" and to present the letter for ratification on Oct. 7, 2025. The board approved that motion as well.

What will happen next: staff will finalize the draft comment letter, incorporate county-specific data and points from stakeholder submissions (including a sample letter from CFM Advocates and a memo by Laurel Beyer detailing public-works impacts), attach supporting memos as appropriate, and submit comments before FEMA's Oct. 6 deadline. The board will ratify the signed letter at its Oct. 7 meeting.

Board members, staff and outside participants emphasized that Benton County supports protecting species and habitat but questioned whether NFIP is the appropriate place to add those protections given local implementation burdens. The county's comment letter will reflect that position and the local data discussed at the meeting.