Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Another Local Meeting to Take Up the Threat of Rising Sea Levels in Hampton Roadss

Even as Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli - Virginia's insane theocrat Attorney General - denies that global warming and attendant rises in sea levels is something real, some local Hampton Roads cities are accepting the fact that sea levels ARE rising and that some sort of planning needs to begin. It's truly a serious issue because Hampton Roads is rated as the second most vulnerable region in the country to higher water, behind only New Orleans. Objective reality can just be so inconvenient when one is a Virginia Republican whose primary objective is pandering to the Christian Taliban in the state lead by The Family Foundation and its truth deniers. The projections in sea level increases is not good and having had our home flood in the November 2009 severe northeaster, the boyfriend and I know first hand the seriousness of the threat. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:
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Rising sea levels have been described as the big environmental issue of the next generation, especially here in flood-prone Hampton Roads. With that in mind, area residents are invited to four public meetings this week, all in Virginia Beach . . .
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Sponsored by the University of Virginia, Wetlands Watch, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and the city of Virginia Beach, the meetings are intended to educate residents about sea level rise and let local folks voice their concerns and offer ideas for how this vulnerable region should tackle the problem, if at all.
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In its 2009 Comprehensive Plan, Virginia Beach cites scientific estimates that sea levels are predicted to increase between 2.3 feet and 5.2 feet by 2100, putting waterfront areas at risk of flooding and storm surge.
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Skip Stiles, executive director of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk-based environmental group, said the sessions are part of what he and others involved in the project hope will become a series of community conversations along the Virginia coast.
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Obviously, in order for Virginia to take proactive measures, we need to get loons like Cuccinelli out of public office.

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