Fred Wagner was quoted by Politico on September 11, 2017, in an article discussing the EPA’s disbanded adaptation office. Work supporting climate adaptation will continue through the Office of Regulatory Planning and Management and the National Center of Environmental Economics. Both offices will work with communities to address precipitation events such as storm surges; work that will be important as Texas and Florida rebuild following recent hurricanes.
According to scientists, addressing the role of climate change in natural disasters will be crucial in receiving aid packages. “Communities that want to spend more to rebuild smarter, with bigger and more frequent flooding in mind, will need to be able to point to climate change, even if they just call it "resiliency." It makes justifying the investment in those features much more acceptable, much more palatable," Wagner said.