Early this summer, Congress attached an amendment to the Housing and Community Development bill¹ eliminating restrictions on federally related mortgage and construction loans in flood hazard areas in communities which choose not to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.² The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Eagleton (D-Mo.) and Rep. Taylor (D-Mo.), disappointed environmentalists who view the program as an important mechanism for promoting wiser land use in flood plains. The new provisions substitute a denial of all flood disaster relief for the present controls on lending by federally assisted, supervised, or approved lending institutions.³ If a developer and his banker in a non-participating community choose to take on the risk of being denied disaster relief in the event of a flood, they will now be allowed to build in a flood hazard area without having to comply with the land use and construction restrictions imposed by the flood insurance program.