After Hurricane Michael, activists request BP money to combat climate change

John Bowie with the U.S. EPA (left) talks with Ben Scaggs, executive director with the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council during a public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, at the Spanish Fort Community Center in Spanish Fort, Ala. Seated to the far right is Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

With Hurricane Michael serving as a sobering illustration, environmental advocates urged a group of state and federal bureaucrats Thursday to utilize BP oil spill settlement money on projects which can combat rising sea levels.

"This is the kind of money that can change the game to make sure we're resilient with the next disaster that affects us," said Casi Callaway, executive director of Mobile Baykeeper.

Said Renee Collini, program coordinator for the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative: "Let's aim to be better for what is coming next."

Casi Callaway, executive director with Mobile Baykeeper, talks during a public hearing into future restoration program spending on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, at the Spanish Fort Community Center in Spanish Fort, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

The messages were delivered during a public hearing at the Spanish Fort Community Center as a contingent of state and federal officials took notes during a Restoration Summit. The Summit had a two-fold purpose: To gather input on how future settlement money should be spent, and to provide the first comprehensive update on the 122 projects already in line for funding.

The Summit was held one day after Hurricane Michael, packing 155 mph winds, slammed into the Florida Panhandle, causing widespread destruction in cities like Mexico Beach and Panama City.

Gov. Kay Ivey, who serves as chair of the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council, had to cancel her to speech before the Summit in order to spend time in the hurricane-ravaged Wiregrass region.

National media reports have linked the storm's fast development and severity to global climate change, the warming and rising surge of seas.

Climate scientists, however, have been cautious not to make such direct connections, although most underscore a basic premise that as the world heats up, stronger storms can be expected.

Callaway pointed to major storms Michael and Florence coming in rapid succession, just a month apart, and only a year after Hurricane Harvey.

"Before that, it was Ivan and Katrina. Before Ivan and Katrina, we weren't thinking of storms anymore. And then we just had Michael, which not only got up to a Category 4 at landfall, but it went back to the same areas devastated by Florence," she said.

She added, "Sea level rise is vitally important."

Thus far, according to the report on the oil spill restoration efforts, $711 million in projects for Alabama have been committed.

The range of projects is diverse, with substantial funds dedicated toward: improving shorelines sensitive to storm surge and erosion from tropical weather events; improving stormwater sewer systems that are often inundated with water during heavy rains; and restoring islands and dunes.

But Callaway and others have criticized the process for allowing new road projects, such as extensions to the Baldwin Beach Express, as well as underpinning the $56.3 million new Gulf State Park Lodge.

"There are some great wetland projects and living shoreline projects and restoration projects that are awesome," said Callway. "But there is also $50 million in paving roads. They are not vitally necessary for the community, they are just some roads."

Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said that the settlement from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster will continue to be paid out to affected Gulf states - Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas - until 2032.

Alabama is expected to receive a minimum of about $1.4 billion resulting from the payment of claims and penalties associated with the oil spill, paid out in 15 annual installments.

Blankenship said an estimated $330 million will go toward Alabama projects by 2020, and that state and federal officials are soliciting comments on how that money should be spent.

Asked if rising sea levels are a focus in the decision-making process on where to apply funds, Blankenship said: "A lot of that information goes into the planning process. After a project is approved for funding, we then look at the possible sea level rising and how we can make those projects more resilient for our coast and to protect our estuaries. It's a source of conversation and contemplation."

Collini said she can understand the difficulty officials have in determining where the money goes considering the variety of environmental and economic interests applying for funding.

Her group is attempting to communicate the concerns about unmitigated seal level increases, and is pointing to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration model to illustrate those concerns.

The interactive digital sea level riser shows the affect of the rising Gulf and rivers by the year 2100. In a 'intermediate scenario" in which sea levels increase 3 feet, water begins to inundate coastal cities like Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. In Gulf Shores, under this scenario, attractions like Waterville USA would be nearly flooded.

The simulation also includes an "extreme" model, which shows sea levels inundating almost all of downtown Mobile.

"It's not really about what happens in 80 years, but these more subtle things that are happening now that will start affecting us," Collini said. She cited the propensity for overflowing stormwater systems in the area, which can be affected "if the Gulf is higher."

Water and sewer improvement projects are part of the restoration funding process. For instance, the city of Satsuma is set to get $1.8 million to improve water quality and to remove approximately 100 septic tanks.

The concern about rising seas comes after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest major global analysis.

The IPCC, in its findings, urged nations to take "unprecedented" actions to cut carbon emissions over the next decade. The group predicted weather crises around the world if action isn't taken to curb greenhouse gases fueling the Earth's warmth.

Hurricane Michael, meanwhile, reinvigorated discussion in recent days about the impact of warming ocean temperatures and rising seas that could lead to more so-called "extreme" storms.

"I don't know if we can protect ourselves against a Cat 4," said Callaway. "That's not reality, especially one that came in as fast as (Michael). But we can handle the storm surge, and we can handle the water invading into (stormwater) systems. There is a lot we can sustain if we were planning for those kind of disasters before they came."

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