Monday letters: Why should FEMA pay for faulty dams?

I was taken back to learn that there are 2,300 mostly earthen and privately owned dams in South Carolina. Likewise I was appalled to read that we rank 47th nationally in the money spent to inspect and maintain them.

How many citizens will see this as a shirking of our responsibility?

In a state that routinely decries the federal government and spending money generally, it is interesting to watch how eagerly our people clamor for federal designations of disaster and a spigot of FEMA funds.

It appears that a significant amount of the flood damage resulted from decisions that private property owners carelessly made about land use and development: They dammed water without rigorous state requirements or inspections or enforcement. Why should a select few citizens, with tacit state support, be allowed to wreak such havoc?

Why should the federal government, which we say we despise, foot the bill for our blatant negligence?

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 2:40 AM with the headline "Monday letters: Why should FEMA pay for faulty dams?."