ASP’s Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate Andrew Holland wrote an OpEd article for The Hill’s Congress Blog on how the damage of Hurricane Sandy is a harbinger for what we have in store due to climate change – damaged coastlines, crippled infrastructure and billions in economic losses.  However, he notes that if we fail to take action, things will only get worse. What is needed is investment in adaptation measures – seawalls and flood barriers in some areas, and natural protections like wetlands in others. From the article:

In the age of climate change, our policy of responding to disaster has to change. As Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But, in an age of deficits, austerity, and national debt, we will have to be smart about it.

We will of course need to spend vast amounts of money to help New York and New Jersey rebuild. We spent more than $16 billion helping New Orleans to rebuild after Katrina and $20 billion in federal aid to help Lower Manhattan rebuild after 9/11. But, we should also spend to protect them – and the rest of the country. We closed the barn door by upgrading the levees in New Orleans after Katrina blew all the horses out, and now there should be a debate about whether to build a flood barrier for New York harbor, at a cost that could be $15 billion or more.

After the devastating floods of 1953, the Netherlands committed to building the Delta Works and Zuidersee Works, a battery of flood protections from the North Sea that protects the low-lying country from damaging storm surges. This project took 50 years and cost over $10 billion. But, America is not the Netherlands – a small, densely populated nation living with about 300 miles of coastline.

To read the full article, click here.

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