Virginia Governor Seeks to Revive Climate Fears

Va. gov revives climate change panel, cites threat

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has resurrected a state climate change panel to come up with ways to blunt the impact of rising seas in highly vulnerable Virginia.

McAuliffe said Tuesday he’s restoring the climate panel, dormant for the past four years, to deal with the “growing threat” of climate change to the state’s coastal communities, among the most threatened in the U.S.

McAuliffe said the state has an opportunity to be a leader in finding creative ways to mitigate climate change.

I just checked my wallet; how about you?

Climate scientists have long warned that rising seas pose a serious threat to the Virginia coast, in part because land is sinking around the Chesapeake Bay from the meteor that gouged out the estuary eons ago. But they’ve complained their warnings have not been heeded.

That's because climate scientists have been warning about a problem that, simply put, isn't getting any worse.  Look at this graph of sea level from Sewell's Point Virginia, which shows absolutely no increase is sea level rise since the beginning of measurements (longer records from Baltimore et al show the same rate of sea level rise since the before the turn of the 20th century

Yes, the sea is rising, and the land in the mid-Atlantic is sinking, as land settles back into the meteor crater, and as we withdraw fresh water from the spongy ground.

One year ago, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science submitted a report to state lawmakers on the consequences of rising seas along the coast. In Hampton Roads, including cities such as Norfolk, flooding is commonplace during major storms and is expected to worsen over the next 20 to 50 years.

The VIMS report anticipates a sea level rise in Virginia of roughly 1.5 feet during that time period.

4.4 mm per year, over a 50 year span yields 8.7 inches of sea level rise.  For their prediction to come to pass, an extreme increase in the rate of sea level rise would have to occur.  Yes, you have paved over salt marshes that would have kept up with sea level rise. But it's unlikely, if even if global warming climate change climate variability continues at its current rate, that any substantial increase in this rate will happen.

The report also says 26 percent of Virginia Beach’s land mass could face flooding over the next 50 years, waterlogging 289 miles of roads in the tourist city.

The report called for the state to coordinate planning efforts, review local governments’ authority to address projected flooding risk and enable them to do so, and determine by urgency areas for flood mitigation, among other measures.

More money needed to be able to give to friendly interest groups.