Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, June 25th, 2016

What it might take to protect the world’s biggest naval base from rising seas

Author:     Carolyn Beeler
Source:     PRI
Publication Date:     June 23, 2016 · 4:30 PM EDT
 Link: What it might take to protect the world’s biggest naval base from rising seas
Stephan:   The Virginia Legislature may not be clear whether climate change is real, but the U.S. Navy has no doubt. Several years ago I went to Virginia Beach and Norfolk and talked with a senior officer and a city councilman and both told me that the largest Naval harbor in the world was already experiencing climate related stress, and that it was going to take 10s of billions to correct the infrastructure that supported the fleet. Well, it's actually turning out to be worse than that. Here's the story. Sea rise is going to impact 400 American towns and cities, its economic effects are going to be cataclysmic.
Naval Station Norfolk may experience as much as six feet of relative sea-level rise by the end of the century. Defense officials are beginning to work with nearby city governments to ensure vital infrastructure is protected. Credit: US Navy

Naval Station Norfolk may experience as much as six feet of relative sea-level rise by the end of the century. Defense officials are beginning to work with nearby city governments to ensure vital infrastructure is protected.
Credit: US Navy

Norfolk Naval Station is the biggest naval installation in the world. But, Kerry said last November, “the land it is built on is literally sinking.”

That was just weeks before the big United Nations climate change conference in Paris, and Kerry was framing climate change as a national security issue.

“By fueling extreme weather events, undermining our military readiness, exacerbating conflicts around the world — climate change is a threat to the security of the United States,” Kerry said.

Norfolk is the home port for the cruisers, destroyers and battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. Rising sea levels and increasing storm […]

Read the Full Article

2 Comments

  1. marsharebel on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 6:38 pm

    Maybe I’m just dense. It seems to me that all of the predictions about sea level rise go from on extreme (current conditions) to the other (where will we be in 2100). Well, I don’t know about you, but the sea level is going to be rising steadily, all during that period. While I think it’s smart to make these predictions, these changes aren’t going to happen in a second. We are going to have to address climate right along the next 70 years or so. I’ve never seen an article treat this subject this way. HOW do we need to be planning NOW, not in 2100?

  2. Stephan Schwartz on Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 4:47 pm

    If you read SR regularly you know that I encourage local communities to become aware of specifically what is coming in their locale and to begin a sensible non-hysterical program to prepare for that. Different regions have very different issues although generally it centers around water, water is destiny. There is either going to be too much or too little.

    — Stephan