Almost exactly five years after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the Tri-State area, RPA released a report entitled “Coastal Adaptation: A Framework for Governance and Funding to Address Climate Change,” which outlines the environmental challenges facing the region and offers a blueprint for a new regional governance structure and a funding mechanism to address this challenges in a comprehensive and continuous manner, RPA leadership announced today.
Over the next 30 years, 59% of Tri-State energy capacity-- as well as four major airports, 21% of public housing units and 12% of hospital beds-- will be in areas at risk of flooding. But too often, our region’s climate change planning is reactive and local rather than pro-active and regional, according to the new report.
Op-Ed
"Hunker Down for Future Storms by Investing Beforehand"
New York Daily News
Op-ed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Former NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman
The RPA report recommends a Regional Coastal Commission (RCC) similar to ones already in existence in the Chesapeake Bay area and the San Francisco Bay area. The RCC would prioritize projects to be paid for by new state adaptation trust funds, which would be built on surcharges on property and casualty premiums across the region. The commission would produce and update a regional coastal adaptation plan to align policies across municipal and state boundaries, and set a long- and short-term regional plan.
Read the full report.