States Won’t Wait for Disasters Anymore

By Alex Brown

Following the hottest decade on record, which saw record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, legislators in many states say it's long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly.

"We either invest in efforts on the ground right now or we pay a lot more down the line," says California state Sen. Ben Allen, a Democrat.

Miami saw record-breaking high tides last summer, resulting in frequent sunny day coastal flooding throughout residential areas. Photo by Ellis Rua/AP Photo.

Investing in resilience

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is operating a $16 billion program to help coastal states prepare for natural disasters, a shift from the typical funding model of providing money after disasters have happened. Even states whose leaders don't publicly acknowledge the existence of climate change, such as Texas and South Carolina, have applied for federal dollars citing "changing coastal conditions" or "unpredictability," the New York Times reported in January.

Texas wants to invest the federal money in flood control, removing homes from high-risk areas, and helping local governments pay for projects. The state last year put more than $3 billion from its rainy-day fund toward flood control.

"There's more of an appetite among states for action, because there's an increase in the disasters that we're seeing," said Beth Gibbons, executive director of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, an organization dedicated to climate resilience work.

Jim Murley serves as the chief resilience officer for Miami-Dade County, Florida, which is experiencing flooding caused by sea level rise and increased hurricane threats. Planning for climate change, he says, is a different beast than typical government work.

"Most of what government does is thinking three to five years ahead," he says. "[With climate change], we seriously have to think about 2040, 2060, 2100 — that doesn't happen. We don't do that for transportation planning, water planning — anything. You have to deal with a lot of uncertainty while at the same time believing the science is taking you on some path among these scenarios."

A broader financial impact

States may find it harder to borrow money for future projects if they don't demonstrate now that they're thinking ahead about climate change. Credit rating firms such as Moody's Investors Service have said they are considering the effects of climate change, meaning governments that don't prepare could see their credit ratings downgraded.

BlackRock, a firm that manages more than $7 trillion in investments, said last month that it would make future decisions based on environmental sustainability, signaling an increased awareness in the financial sector of the effects of climate change.

Gibbons, the adaptation expert, says Minnesota is a leader in climate planning, noting that the state now requires local governments to incorporate projected conditions in their hazard mitigation plans. Most disaster money comes from the federal level and is disbursed after calamities take place; states, she says, need to advocate to change that model.

Alex Brown is a staff writer for Stateline. This story was reprinted with permission from Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.