Infrastructure protectionMaryland preparing for sea level rise

The debate about climate change and its consequences goes on, but the State of Maryland is taking no chances. The state government is taking steps to prepare the state and its residents for one consequence of climate change – sea level rise.

Maryland Secretary of Planning Richard Hall and Maryland Secretary of the Environment Dr. Robert Summers spoke at the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s 14th Eastern Shore Planning Conference: The Unsinkable Eastern Shore – Regional Resilience and Prosperity.

The event was opened by Dr. Don Boesch of the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory. The Star Dem reports that Boesch and Horn Point Laboratory led a panel of scientists who earlier this year publisheda scientific report which predicted a one-and-a-half-foot sea level rise along the  Eastern Shore  by 2050. Maryland has 3,100 miles of tidal shoreline, and the the report recommend that it would prudent for the state to prepare for a sea level rise of 1.4 feet. The panel said that 1.4 feet was best estimate, and that the sea level rise would be at least 0.9 feet and no greater than 2.1 feet by 2050.

 “This is something we’ve got to be taking seriously,” Summers said. “I think a lot of our friends and neighbors out there are just going about their business and are not really concerned about it.”

The population of the Eastern Shore is expected to change by 2050. “Currently, there are about 450,000 people on the Eastern Shore right now,” Hall said. “It’s projected to go to 595,000 people by the year 2040.” The anticipated growth  in population, and the potential of rising sea levels, have led to the creation of state agencies and initiatives aimed for the purpose of preparing Maryland for any eventuality.

“The State of Maryland is committed to taking the necessary actions to adapt to the rising sea and guard against the impacts of extreme storms,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “In doing so, we must stay abreast of the latest climate science to ensure that we have a sound understanding of our vulnerability and are making informed decisions about how best to protect our land, infrastructure, and most importantly, the citizens of Maryland.”

The Maryland Climate Change Commission was established in 2007 to develop strategies related to storms, impacts on health, water resources, structures, Bay, and aquatic resources. . The Star Dem notes that O’Maliey signed an executive order in December 2012 whicht directed state agencies to consider climate change in the capital programs they propose and seek funding for. The new order requires a two-foot freeboard or two feet above the floodplain elevation for a state building.

Maryland’s CoastSmart Communities Initiative (CCI) provides grant funding for coastal communities which want to reduce their vulnerabilities to the effects of coastal hazards and sea level rise by becoming ready, adaptive, and resilient.

“The things we need to do are very difficult,” Secretary Summers said. “We’ve just revised our flood maps, the floodplain levels. And they are higher here on the Shore.

“People need to build higher or build on higher ground,” he said. “We need to be changing our ordinances, not only for homes and businesses, but for water systems.”

— Read more in Updating Maryland’s Sea-level Rise Projections (Scientific and Technical Working Group Maryland Climate Change Commission, 26 June 2013)