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Hurricane Florence’s Impacts on Military Installations and Missions in the Southeast

Fort Bragg Hurricane Florence

U.S. Army personnel head out from Fort Bragg to provide aid to North Carolinians flooded by Hurricane Florence, Sept. 15, 2018. ANDREW MCNEIL/U.S. ARMY

By John Conger

When it comes to climate change, there are some issues (sea level rise, Arctic ice melt) which it doesn’t take a science degree to get one’s head around.  Extreme weather, on the other hand, is highly complex and there isn’t always a simple way to characterize changes in a way that doesn’t spur debate.

Nonetheless, it is widely acknowledged by scientists, based on decades of rainfall data, that climate change is significantly increasing the frequency of weather events that deliver extreme rainfall, such as hurricane Florence. And what’s entirely beyond debate is that in addition to the climate risks civilian populations and infrastructure faces in the region, the Department of Defense has multiple important installations in areas that are vulnerable to extreme rainfall events, and Hurricane Florence just slammed into several of them.   (more…)

Release: Mayors, Military Leaders and City Officials Raise Concerns about Sea Level Rise Threats to South Carolina’s Military and Civilian Communities

SC Fact Sheet Cover ImageEvent: “Sea Level Rise & Security in South Carolina: Implications for Military and Civilian Communities”
Date and time: August 7, 2018; 2-7pm ET (Video available here)
Location: The Citadel’s Holliday Alumni Center, 69 Hagood Ave, Charleston, SC
Hosts: The Center for Climate and Security in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and the Charleston Resilience Network
Agenda and speakers:  Here.
South Carolina fact sheet: Here.

Charleston, SC – In a 2018 Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on ‘Current Readiness of the U.S. Forces,’ General Glenn Walters, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, said “I’ve taken two briefs in the last eight months on what I consider our most critical vulnerability, and that’s Parris Island, South Carolina.” A new Military Expert Panel report from the Center for Climate and Security, Sea Level Rise and the U.S. Military’s Mission, 2nd Edition highlights risks to all of South Carolina’s key coastal military sites, including to the energy and transportation infrastructure that these installations depend on (see here for a South Carolina fact sheet from the report). This clear reality has brought together the Mayors of Beaufort and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as military leaders and city officials, to urgently discuss risks and solutions in Charleston. (more…)

Upcoming Event: Sea Level Rise & Security in South Carolina – Implications for Military and Civilian Communities

South_Carolina_flood_151005-Z-II459-017

U.S. Soldiers from the 59th Aviation Troop Command, South Carolina Army National Guard, provide airborne support during flood relief operations in Columbia, S.C., Oct. 5, 2015. Photo by Staff Sgt. Roberto Di Giovine

 “I’ve taken two briefs in the last eight months on what I consider our most critical vulnerability, and that’s Parris Island, South Carolina.” Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Glenn Walters  

The Center for Climate and Security’s Military Expert Panel, including senior retired flag and general officers from each of the Armed Services, recently issued the 2ndedition of a report concluding that sea level rise risks to coastal military installations will present serious risks to the military mission, underscoring a ‘Responsibility to Prepare.’ The report includes new information regarding military installation vulnerabilities, including to the energy and transportation infrastructure that these installations depend on, showing significant risks to high-value military sites – in South Carolina and across the country. The report asserts that policies for addressing climate change risks must go beyond military infrastructure resilience, to include the resilience of surrounding civilian infrastructure, as well as the resilience of military operations in the face of these rapid changes.

Please join the Center for Climate and Security, in partnership with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and the Charleston Resilience Network for a discussion about those risks, and the opportunities in South Carolina for addressing them. Full agenda below.

The main event will take on place August 7th from 2-5:00pm, followed by a film screening of Tidewater from 5:30-7:30pm at the The Citadel’s Holliday Alumni Center, 69 Hagood Ave, Charleston, SC 29403. Parking available in the Congress Street Lot.

To RSVP, send your name and affiliation to events at climateandsecurity dot org. (more…)

Bob Inglis: The Conservative Case for Addressing Climate Change

NPR recently interviewed former South Carolina Republican congressman Bob Inglis about his new “free enterprise” initiative for addressing climate change, and promoting clean energy. In making the conservative case, he states:

It’s not conservative to waste stuff…and to cause somebody else’s kids to go on the sands of the Middle East to fight for that stuff that we’re wasting.

The full transcript of the interview is here.

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