Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumCorps Of Engineers Plan To Protect Norfolk From Sea Level Rise; $1.8 Billion w/o Naval Base
To get a sense of how much it will cost the nation to save itself from rising seas over the next 50 years, consider Norfolk, Virginia.
In November, the Army Corps released a proposal for protecting the city from coastal flooding that would cost $1.8 billion. Some experts consider the estimate low. And it doesn't include the Navy's largest base, which lies within city limits and likely needs at least another $1 billion in construction.
Then consider the costs to protect Boston, New York, Baltimore, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Houston and the more than 3,000 miles of coastline in between.
Rising seas driven by climate change are flooding the nation's coasts now. The problem will get worse over the next 50 years, but the United States has barely begun to consider what's needed and hasn't grappled with the costs or who will pay. Many decisions are left to state and local governments, particularly now that the federal government under President Donald Trump has halted action to mitigate climate change and reversed nascent federal efforts to adapt to its effects.
EDIT
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28122017/sea-level-rise-coastal-cities-flooding-2017-year-review-miami-norfolk-seawall-cost
matt819
(10,749 posts)If we hadnt spent more than $2,000,000,000,000 on perpetual so far this century, perhaps we could meet these challenges.
Oh well.
Girard442
(6,086 posts)...true conservatives stand to make a killing buying undervalued coastal real estate from pants-wetting snowflake liberals. Let's help them.
Irish_Dem
(47,518 posts)And related storm damage as there will be a lot more flooding after storms.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)quartz007
(1,216 posts)What year was it predicted to melt?
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)it's a little cryptic I admit, but folks here know I sniff around and I don't usually say anything unless there's I other sniffworthy stuff.
NickB79
(19,276 posts)And that doesn't take the melt in 2017 into consideration.