A recent study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science advocacy group, shows parts of Parris Island could be underwater within 40 years if sea levels rise at projected levels. According to the report, with three feet of sea level rise nearly one half of the installation could would be exposed to flooding with each high tide.
Erika Spanger-Siegfried lead the study which focused on 18 coastal military installations including Parris Island. The Marine Recruit Depot is near Beaufort.
“Much of it is low lying enough, that depending on the scenario large parts of it could essentially be flooded on a daily basis from high tide,” she said.
With rising waters, Spanger-Siegfried predicts storm surges would increase the impact and reach of tidal flooding. This potential for water inundation causes concerns for roads, buildings and power sources. Spanger-Siegfried and her team found many of the other bases they studied will likely face similar problems.
“We have been looking at sea level rise in recent years as a growing risk along our coasts. It is really a hidden threat in many regards because it’s happening slowly,” she said.
Researchers at UCS used federal data and local tide gauges to project where the daily high tide line will be. The Low Country saw one of it’s highest tides last fall. After much of the state flooded from heavy rainfall in early October, King Tides at the end of the month in Charleston reached nearly 9-feet, much higher than predicted levels.
Spanger-Siegfried encourages bases to start planning for flooding with infrastructure improvements.
“A very sensible initial step would be for the military to make all of their relevant infrastructure upgrades with sea level rise projections in mind,” she said.
Parris Island did not release details on how it is planning for sea level rise scenarios. A spokesman for the installation said in a statement that it’s accounting for climate change effects in its planning and emergency response plans.
The Department of Defense has recognized climate change related issues are "a threat to our national security."Earlier this year it released a more detailed action plan, but the department hasn’t been able to move forward because the United States House of Representatives blocked it from spending money implementing the plan.
Republican Representative Ken Buck of Colorado introduced the amendment he said in a statement on his webpage: the measure focuses the military on our quote real enemies like ISIS. This spending blockade isn’t set in stone because the defense budget hasn’t been finalized.
Sherri Goodman used to work the defense department as the chief environmental, safety and occupational health officer. She now is a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, a D.C. based research organization. She believes the Pentagon is encountering resistance because the words climate change.
“I’m sure that every lawmakers wants our troops to be properly trained and our forces to be ready and our military installations to be able to support our troops and their training,” Goodman said. “Whether you call it extreme weather events, coastal erosion. It's happening.”
Goodman emphasizes this isn’t a future issue it is impacting some coastal bases right now.
“Already there is regular flooding that occurs in Norfolk that makes it difficult if not impossible for some employees to get onto the military bases where they work,” she said. “This has a direct impact on our troops, their training and their readiness.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists assessed a fraction of the more than 1,000 domestic military installations. The report acknowledges each location will be impacted differently, but says the time to start and planning is now. Card