Earth Protect Blog

Weather Channel: 13 years of military planning for sea level rise

Navy Norfolk Virginia

USS HARRY S. TRUMAN, NORFOLK NAVAL SHIPYARD, VA. (U.S. NAVY PHOTO, MASS COMM SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS TYLER FOLNSBEE)

Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board member, Brigadier General Gerald Galloway, U.S. Army (ret), recently spoke to the Weather Channel about sea level rise risks to military installations along the U.S. coast. When asked where the Department of Defense (DoD) was in its planning for sea level rise (compared to other communities along the coast), General Galloway noted that it has been doing so since the G.W. Bush Administration, and that military bases and their surrounding support communities must build resilience to sea level rise risks in tandem. From the interview:

"Well, the Defense Department has been at this, actually, for about thirteen years. Looking at what are going to be the challenges, and in recent times, a major focus has been on Hampton Roads, obviously. But it’s not just the military. It’s the family that exists out there. Old Dominion University and others that are working. Because the people that work in Norfolk Naval Station, and the people that work at Langley, live off the base. Many of them service members, others are civilians. And we need to make sure the communities and the bases are moving forward together. So, the services have been actively working at it. Now the challenge is to get the funds necessary, in sequence, to do the infrastructure changes that are necessary to make it work."