House Democrats: Naval Academy Climate Forum Lends a Military "Voice of Credibility'
News Article
By Josh Hicks
The U.S. Naval Academy knows about the impacts of climate change.
The school spent about $120 million repairing storm damage and preparing for future flooding after Hurricane Isabel slammed into the East Coast nearly 13 years ago.
In Annapolis, where the academy is based, the frequency of serious flooding has increased from four times per year to 40 times per year in the past half century, according to the city.
House Democrats on Friday hosted a climate-change forum at the campus to encourage greater urgency from Congress in addressing the issue.
"One way of lighting the fire under our colleagues in Washington is to point out to them that the Defense Department and the military are concerned about this at the most fundamental level," Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) said after the event.
[Most coastal cities will face routine flooding in our lifetimes, NOAA says]
As it happens, about two inches of water covered a road that morning beside Alumni Hall, where the event took place.
Vice Adm. Walter E. Carter, the Naval Academy's superintendent and a panelist at the forum, said the water came from an especially high tide, noting that rain hadn't fallen there for several days.
Since Isabel happened in 2003, the Naval Academy has moved heating and air-conditioning equipment to rooftops, raised electrical outlets on ground floors and made plans to construct its future cyberwarfare building in a position to serve as a flood blocker. The school has also formed a Sea Level Advisory Council to identify and minimize its vulnerabilities to rising waters.
But the Navy's interests in climate change stretches well beyond the historic grounds of the academy. They're global.
Carter recalled operating with the USS Enterprise's strike group in the Persian Gulf region three years ago, with water temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees. "That's a very difficult place for anybody to operate, regardless of what type of equipment you're working with," he said.
During the journey home across the Atlantic, Carter and his crews had to navigate three tropical storms, including one that evolved into Hurricane Sandy. At one point, water crested over the bow of the Enterprise at 60 feet above the ocean surface, according to the admiral.
"I saw firsthand what it's like to try to deal with a storm of that magnitude and what that impact is for my role as part of that national security apparatus," Carter said.
Other panelists at the forum included Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides, Chesapeake Bay Foundation president Will Baker and Brenda Ekwurzel, a senior climate expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
[What it's like when your job is to predict the end of humanitty?]
Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee organized the event, with members Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Sarbanes joining the discussion, along with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is not a member of the panel.
No congressional Republicans attended the meeting.
Many GOP lawmakers and Democrats from coal-producing states have resisted efforts to stem the carbon emissions, which much of the scientific community has cited as a human contributor to climate change.
[EPA proposes cutting carbon emissions from coal plants 30% by 2030]
Some opponents think the economic costs would be too high, while others question whether burning fossil fuels has really added to the problem or doubt altogether that a problem exists.
Ekwurzel said climate change is real and that the cost of not acting will outweigh any impact on businesses.
"These are impacts that we're feeling already, and we're playing catch-up, she said. "We've only barely tasted what's in store."
Democrats at Thursday's forum said they hoped the experts on the panel could change a few minds.
Van Hollen specifically pointed to the admiral's remarks and the setting of the event as possible persuaders. "The military can speak with a voice of credibility," he said.
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