At the Rising Tides Summit we emphasized the impacts that these issues and events are having on all our communities. With more than 123 million Americans living in coastal counties and generating nearly half the country’s GDP, coastal flooding and sea level rise have become a national concern. Coastal flooding is causing increasingly costly impacts on homes, businesses, infrastructure, and property along America’s shorelines, not to mention affecting tourism that many communities rely on.
With more than 40 local leaders in attendance, we found that communities around the country are facing similar issues as we fight to improve resilience to coastal flooding and sea level rise. The attendees particularly cited how it can significantly impact revenues from tourism and economic development. In 2010, economic activity in shoreline counties accounted for more than 66 million jobs and $3.4 trillion in wages. Coastal recreation and tourism account for roughly 85 percent of the U.S.’s annual tourism related revenue.
We were joined at the Summit by leading members of NOAA, FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers who all play a crucial role in helping communities address the urgent challenges of coastal flooding and sea level rise. They also came to hear local concerns while discussing tools their agencies have recently developed. Part of flood preparation is working with federal agencies to both improve the way they deal with flooding disasters and make federal funding for the issue more proactive. Participants noted that funding and planning dollars should be aimed at preparing for the next flood rather than reacting to the last one.
“There are several federal and state level issues that need to be resolved to protect our coastal communities,” said Jonathan White, rear admiral (retired) and former director of The Navy Task Force on Climate Change, U.S. Navy. “Voices from the local level are essential for gaining traction at the national level on this issue. These elected officials need support to effect change in state and federal legislatures.”
“Major flooding is not once in 100 years anymore…These are real intrusions into people’s homes, these are real disruptions of businesses, these are real public safety and national defense disruption issues that are happening every day,” said Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA administrator. “What happens on our coasts doesn’t stay on our coasts; it ripples through our entire country and our society and economy in countless ways.”
At the conclusion of the Summit it was agreed that we need to have a national strategy to address these concerns and we called upon all the Presidential candidates to address this concern in their upcoming campaigns. We cannot fight these issues alone but together we can seek help from federal agencies, Congress and other national leaders to make policy changes to support flood resiliency measures and avoid the serious economic impacts of flooding throughout the country. I plan to use this experience in the state legislature to better address these issues facing my community and many others throughout the State of Maine.
— Rep. Robert Foley represents Maine House District 7, which includes Wells.
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