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AMERICA’S ENERGY COAST LEADERSHIP FORUMS. Mobile, AL January 25, 2012. RATIONALE FOR ACTION. Response to growing vulnerabilities along the Gulf Coast in the wake of coastal land loss, degrading landscapes and coastlines
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AMERICA’S ENERGY COAST LEADERSHIP FORUMS Mobile, AL January 25, 2012
RATIONALE FOR ACTION • Response to growing vulnerabilities along the Gulf Coast in the wake of coastal land loss, degrading landscapes and coastlines • Recent natural and man-made disasters demonstrate what the future holds without planning, adaptation and investment in resiliency • New data on infrastructure vulnerabilities based on comprehensive five-state study and science showing advanced degradation • DELTAS2010: World Delta Dialogues recommendations to build local solutions
LEADERSHIP FORUM PREMISE • ✓ Convene non-partisan, balanced regional dialogue on local coastal issues • ✓ Identify specific vulnerabilities of Mobile • ✓ Bring in unique expertise to address the issues • ✓ Honor core values and build local pride • ✓ Serve as a catalyst for empowerment of individuals and communities
DATA SOURCES • NOAA –How Resilient Is Your Coastal Community? • A guide for evaluating coastal community resilience vs. hazards • A blueprint for establishing resiliency factors and web • Entergy/AWF – Building A Resilient CoastStudy • $350 billion in economic damage by 2030 • Provides detailed economic forecasting and future at-risk infrastructure • in the region
THE PROCESS • Pre-Forum: • Environmental scan of previous initiatives & studies • Meeting with local policy leaders • Individual interviews with diverse stakeholders • Focus group with diverse stakeholders • Forum: • Research findings & expert presentations • - Working sessions • Post Forum: • Solicitation of public input • Report of Findings • Follow-up on recommendations for action
DEFINING RESILIENCY “RESILIENCY” Resiliency is defined as the ability of a community to adapt to change – including environmental, social and economic change. “CORE VALUES” Core values include what makes up the core of a community’s identity. These could be cultural values that exemplify lifestyle or way of life or what determines the economic prosperity of the community. “COMMUNITY” Community is defined as where you might live or associate in the the Galveston area.
FINDINGS: Awareness • Katrina and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill made people more aware of the environmental and economic threats, but understanding generally depends on how close people live to the water or if their livelihood depends on it. • Very few understand that increasingly powerful and more frequent storms could be a bigger problem in the future. “Certain segments of the community are aware, but overall the community is very uneducated about future threats. There is a tendency to live day-by-day and to not worry about tomorrow.” “There is a small but growing awareness that they are vulnerable to hurricanes, But, history tells us the frequency of a Category 2 hurricane hitting within 60 miles of Mobile is about one every four years.”
FINDINGS: Awareness • While there is optimism in the tourism industry, fishermen and others are concerned whether there will be enough quality jobs in the future. • The importance of the barrier islands and the wetlands to seafood, economy and storm protection is not very well understood. “I think it is a fairly low percentage of the community that connects the importance of the barrier islands to protection against hurricanes.”
FINDINGS: Values • The community values its faith, families, hard work, landscape and safety and takes pride in its Southern charm, hospitality, and sense of history. • Tourism, recreational and commercial fishing; outdoor and ecotourism offerings. “Everything revolves around the water and the fish. This region is a working waterfront-based region. Whether it's shipbuilding or fishing or coastal tourism or oil and gas, we're a working waterfront industry.” “It doesn’t matter what your economic standard is, so many of us are connected to the beach or the bay or a creek or the delta in some way.”
FINDINGS: Values • Even with only 30 miles of shoreline, more than 45% of the state’s economy is generated by the coast, but there is concern this fact is being lost on those without a vested interest in its future. • There is a belief the economy and people will be strengthened by better planning and by focusing on jobs connected to the water and the environment. “Oil and gas revenues and oil and gas taxes are extremely important to the State of Alabama, and our ports, Mobile Bay Port, and businesses, like ship-building, are extremely important.” “I am convinced a coastline occupied purely by short or long-term visitors is a coastline that is in decline. It is critical to have people who make a living on the water be invested in the water and being productive out there.”
FINDINGS: Strengths • Disaster recovery and emergency response for Mobile was rated high based on post-hurricane organized planning, training, and coordination. • Lessons have been learned from last storms, like pre-positioning of equipment and gas powered stoplights at important intersections. “There's a big difference between natural disaster and emergency preparedness and technological disaster emergency preparedness. And it's all about who is in control. When we have hurricanes, it's at the local level, which is very effective.” “When there is a storm in the gulf, we start planning 5 days out. We pre-position equipment – where we know that the streets will flood. We have installed gas-powered generators for 50 of the most vulnerable intersections.”
FINDINGS: Strengths • The Port and offshore oil and gas are large economic engines for the state. • Resiliency of the population and strong social networks “Oil and gas revenues and oil and gas taxes are extremely important to the State of Alabama, and our ports.” “One of the best indicators of a community's resilience is the social networks. All the different groups in Bayou LaBatre are very resilient - not because of the economic income level, but because of their social networks.”
FINDINGS: Threats & Vulnerabilities • Alabama thinks of itself as a “state with a coast” rather than a “coastal state.” Even though the coast is a huge economic driver for the state, coastal issues are all but ignored by state government. • Building codes and structural modifications need to be strengthened when building in vulnerable areas. “We have 67 counties in this state and only two have saltwater footprints and it generates 45% of the state’s budget. Yet it’s hard to get the votes you need from the other 65 counties.” “Unless you protect the island, you are going to lose the island, and then everyone loses. As Dauphin Island goes, so goes South Alabama.”
FINDINGS: Threats & Vulnerabilities • Lack of smart land use planning and out-dated flood maps leads to new development in locations that are not sustainable and high insurance premiums. • Mobile has not subscribed to the FEMA community rating system, and therefore has no benchmarks to meet in order to lower insurance premiums. “We just built a new sewage treatment facility one mile from due east from the one that was flooded by Katrina in the same flood zone, in the same longitude. It shocks me every day.” “I find it unbelievable that Mobile is not a member of the community rating system. And that boils down to economics. Because if you're a member and you achieve certain benchmarks, then insurance premiums for the residents of those communities goes down. So I don't understand why Mobile is not a part of it.”
FINDINGS: Threats & Vulnerabilities • “Water wars” in Georgia threaten the future of the Bay. • Community is not aware of the interconnectedness and the reliance of the local and regional economy to the health of its ecosystems and environment. “The water volume that they are talking about to sustain Georgia is astronomical and not sustainable. To meet their 50-year plan, they could take all the water out of Mobile River with their concept of cutting off the Chattahoochee.” “There's always that tension between economic development and environmental protection. The environment drives the economy and not the other way around.”
FINDINGS: Overall Resiliency • Determine mechanism for ecosystem valuation and apply cost benefit accounting for the economic loss caused by coastal land loss and erosion. • A long-term vision is needed to guide the community in a planning process that can be implemented to ensure community resiliency in the future. “The people who make their living in the areas know, but the general public is not aware of it; they are blinded about it. We need to educate the public about what they can do to connect the dots of resiliency and make us less vulnerable.”
FINDINGS: Overall Resiliency • A campaign to educate and involve the public to the risks of more frequent and more powerful storms would help them be more resilient. • Need to bring groups together, like the environmentalists and fishermen, to plan for the future. “In order for us to be effective, resilient and strong, and have a clean and healthy environment, and to make us a phenomenal and resilient community, it requires us to work together” “We’d like to see a fully involved public. Most people don't realize just the extent of the impact of an event.”
FINDINGS: Resiliency Opportunities • Amend U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers Principles and Guidelines to include restoration and create three equal priorities: navigation, flood protection and coastal restoration to allow for “multiple lines of offense” in the region. • BP oil money provides an opportunity to do shoreline restoration and to push efforts to focus more attention on land use and zoning. “One of the problems is that Congress stipulates to the Corps of Engineers that you have to dispose of the material in the most economical manner. That makes sense on the surface, but too often they only look at the short-term costs and not the long-term cost benefits.
FINDINGS: Resiliency Opportunities • Using dredge materials from the ship channels will build land and reduce waterway widening occurring as a result of a degraded Gulf coastal region and in areas of most immediate need based on coordination with approved restoration plans. • Establish parameters for building a regional resiliency plan that addresses adaptation strategies based on each area – Dauphin Island, Mobile County and Baldwin County. “What we can do better is the use of dredge material and put it in a place that is going to be the most beneficial. We are not doing that right now and we need to change that.” “There are vast differences between the Mobile and Baldwin communities and to some degree Dauphin Island. At times, I think the only similarity is the bay/coast. Whatever the plan looks like, it will almost have to be split to gain support.”
FINDINGS: Resiliency Opportunities • Address insurability issues in Mobile by joining the FEMA community rating system and adapting building codes. • Encourage diversity of business interests so area it not so dependent on the seafood industry. • Review and reconcile conflicting and contradictory federal policies that impede coastal restoration and delay efforts of the states. “Insurance is one of the quickest ways to change a community’s culture in thinking more about resiliency and durability.” “The fact that there was a lost market share due to the oil spill for the seafood industry implies to me that something was wrong, there was a vulnerability to that seafood industry prior to the oil spill and it really was manifested during the oil spill. To be that vested in a single business does not necessarily make you resilient. Diversification in businesses and markets and those sort of things really make you more resilient.”
FINDINGS: Resiliency Opportunities • Develop a general emergency permit for restoration projects that can be fast-tracked and meet priorities of approved coastal plans, while preventing environmental degradation caused by lengthy delays and cost overruns associated with regulatory delays and impasses. “And it's so hard to work your way through the political process, to get a law changed or to get a regulation changed, or get a permit to do anything. We're having to spend two years to do studies and demonstration projects to develop guidelines to hopefully maybe five years from now, you know, have living shorelines be the status quo, and bulk heading be not acceptable. Government gets in the way of these timelines.”
Task Force Recommendations America’s WETLAND Foundation Recommendations to the EPA Gulf Coast Ecosystem Task Force
Task Force Recommendations The recommendations represent the ideas of hundreds of leaders from local, state and national arenas drawn from diverse leaders of environment & conservation, industry, science, academia, civic, and culture. They fall under several broad categories: ✓ Funding for Coastal Restoration ✓ Policy Changes at the Federal Level ✓ Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials for Coastal Restoration Projects ✓ Emergency Rule to Expedite Permits for Coastal Restoration Projects ✓ Changes to Environmental Mitigation Polices for Restoration Projects ✓ No Net Loss of Culture
Next Step: Working Sessions Discussion Questions: • How do we protect what we value based on how vulnerable we are and the risks we face? • Aligning with what we value, how do we prioritize solutions based on our values? • Where do we start?
