Yesterday, The Washington Post reported that there is new advice
for vulnerable coastal communities on how to adapt to risings
seas: move away from the shore. The Post report explores the
implications of sea-level rise for the Hampton Roads area, home
to Norfolk Naval Station, cautioning that traditional methods of
holding back the sea could fall short. “The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency published the first manual on how not to hold
[the sea] back, arguing that costly seawalls and dikes
eventually fail because sea-level rise is unstoppable,” the
report cited. “The federal Global Change Research Program
estimates that the sea level will rise 14 to 17 inches in the
next century around Hampton Roads.” Instead of investing in
massive (expensive) infrastructure projects to hold back the
sea, the EPA hopes that its new report will encourage coastal
communities to enact new city ordinances and development laws
that prohibit new coastal construction, and devise incentives
for already vulnerable commercial busi