Retired General: 'Our Bases and Stations on the Coast Are Going Underwater'

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This past July, in a Congressional hearing on โ€œThe Status and Outlook for U.S. and North American Energy and Resource Security,โ€ retired Marine Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney offered a direย warning for many current military bases in coastal locations.ย ย 

โ€œFrom the tactical side our bases and stations on the coast are going underwater. Norfolk [in Virginia] is the prime example. Itโ€™s closed dozens of times a year now because of flooding both from rain and sea level rise,โ€ Cheney explained. โ€œWeโ€™re going to have to talk about relocation of our bases and stations that are on theย coast.โ€

Cheney also made it clear that he believes in climateย change.

โ€œClimate change is already affecting security both at home and around the world, so we must make sure that we take the greenhouse gas emissions from energy into account, lest we trade increased energy security today for a warmer, more unstable world in theย future.โ€

General Cheney certainly isnโ€™t the first to warn of the security implications of climate change. Trump’sย Secretary of Defense James Mattis admitted as much in written testimony to Democratic Senators, writing, โ€œClimate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today.โ€ย An article in Navy Times last year noted that 128 military bases are at risk from sea levelย rise.

Sea level rise and coastal flooding representย a well-documented threat to national security. Yetย less than a month after General Cheneyโ€™s testimony in Congress, the Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era regulationย designed to โ€œimprove the resilience of communities and federal assets against the impacts ofย flooding.โ€

Rafael Lemaitre was the the public affairs director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Obama administration and criticized this latest regulatory rollback in comments toย Theย Hill.

โ€œEliminating this requirement is self-defeating,โ€ Lemaitre said. โ€œWe can either build smarter now, or put taxpayers on the hook to pay exponentially more when it floods. And itย will.โ€

While Trump Denies Reality, Flooding Makes Believers Out ofย Many

Though climate science denial is the rule in the White House, some Republicans who represent coastal districts have been swayed by the recurring floods. Representative Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) represents southern Florida, where the region’s regular flooding has him convinced that climate change is happening now.

โ€œSea level rise and the risk of severe flooding are a reality for communities across the country,โ€ Curbelo said in a statement in response to Trump rolling back the regulation. โ€œThis Executive Order is not fiscally conservative, it’s irresponsible, and it will lead to taxpayer dollars being wasted on projects that may not be built to endure the flooding we are already seeing and know is only going to getย worse.โ€

The draft climate report recently published by The New York Times estimates that sea level rise of 4 to 7 inches is โ€œvery likelyโ€ by 2030. This would makeย a noticeable difference in southern Florida. Theย same draft report estimates a potential for up to 8 feet of sea level rise by 2100. That would eliminate a lot of Rep. Curbeloโ€™sย district.

The city of Miami has been very proactive in dealing with the very real issue of sea level rise and is spending approximately a half billion dollars on new pumps to address flooding. Despite this investment, a recent heavy rain storm, combined with high tides, left streets flooded. The Washington Post reported it as an โ€œabsurdโ€ amount ofย rainfall.

However, similar โ€œabsurdโ€ rainfall events have happened recently across the country, including one that flooded New Orleans โ€” another city staring down the reality of sea levelย rise.

As General Cheney pointed out in his Congressional testimony, they certainly believe in the issue in Norfolk, Viriginiaย โ€” home to the largest U.S. naval base in the world. A recent featureย in Trust magazine notes that the city of Norfolk hired a Dutch consulting firm to design a plan to address sea levelย rise.

However, the plan would require $1 billionย investment and would only protect against one foot of additional sea level rise, which is the best-case scenario for the year 2100ย in almost all predictions. No one is even talking about what it would cost to prepare for the worst-caseย scenarios.

Tangierย Island: Canary on theย Coast

As the scientific evidence continues to warn us of devastating sea level rise and the military counsels us that coastal flooding is shutting down naval bases, it doesnโ€™t seem like many people โ€” including the U.S. President โ€” are taking itย seriously.

Tangierย Island in Chesapeake Bay sitsย on the leading edge of this issue. Bay waters have steadily eroded away the land on which this small communityย has lived for hundreds of years. Since the 1850s Tangier has reportedly shrunk in size by about two-thirds. The Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that the island might have as little as 25 years left. But the islanders famously donโ€™t believe in sea level rise. And the President has told them not to worry about aย thing.

Residents of Tangierย are pretty confident that erosion, not climate change, is the cause of their woes, as island resident Lonnie Miller explained to Public Radioย International.

โ€œSo are we going to get more street tides, tides on the street?โ€ Miller asked ย โ€œYes. But is it global warming?ย No.โ€

This โ€œhead in the rapidly washing away sandโ€ approach has opened up the residents of Tangier Island to ridicule from some โ€” but arenโ€™t they just doing what much of the rest of the country is doing? Asking for a wall to keep the ocean at bay while not acknowledging thatย the ocean isย rising?

Perhaps not surprisingly, the mayor of Tangierย Island is a Trump supporter โ€ฆ but notย scientist.

โ€œIโ€™m not a scientist, but Iโ€™m a keen observer,โ€ Mayor Eskridge said. โ€œIf sea-level rise is occurring, why am I not seeing signs ofย it?โ€

His island is literally being washed away by sea level rise and he canโ€™t see any signs of it. And yet while he canโ€™t see signs of sea level rise, he is asking for the government to pay for engineering solutions to protect his island โ€” from sea levelย rise.

David Schulte, a marine biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers, explained the situation to The New York Times last year, saying,โ€œThe Outer Banks, the Delmarva Peninsula, Long Island, the Jersey Shore โ€” theyโ€™re in the same boat. Itโ€™s going to just take a little longer for them to get to where Tangier isย now.โ€

While it may beย easy to point a finger at the mayor of Tangierย Island, it might be better to take a hard look at the many other, larger coastal communities struggling to keep up with rising seas โ€” and schedule that Hawaiian vacation for sooner, rather thanย later.

Main image: Tangier Islandย Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program,ย CC BYNCย 2.0

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Justin Mikulka is a research fellow at New Consensus. Prior to joining New Consensus in October 2021, Justin reported for DeSmog, where he began in 2014. Justin has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

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