WASHINGTON - Today Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) delivered a letter to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, requesting an oversight hearing on the dangers of sea level rise and recent proposals in state legislatures to ignore sea level rise science.
Markey, the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, noted that reports released last week by the National Research Council and the U.S. Geological Survey both show that sea level has risen significantly and will continue rising on the U.S. east and west coasts. However, both Virginia and North Carolina lawmakers have been parodied by national and international media for attempting to deny and politicize science.
“There is no time for political games when our homes, ports, and naval bases could soon be submerged. In this case, playing with water could be far more dangerous than playing with fire," said Markey. “Congress needs to throw a life raft to coastal communities, not stand idly by while they drown."
Sea level rise has already has costly impacts on coastal localities, and those impacts are expected to increase. For example, the port city of Norfolk, Virginia - home to the world’s largest naval base - anticipates costs upwards of $1 billion over the next 10 years to address the symptoms of sea level rise.
