Tropical Storm Arthur

We now have the first tropical storm of the 2008 Hurricane Season.

From NOLA.com

"At 1 pm edt, 1700 utc, the government of Belize has issued a tropical storm warning for the coast of Belize, and the government of mexico has issued a tropical storm warning from Cabo Ccatoche southward to the border with Belize. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area, in this case, within the next 6 to 12 hours."

Florida and Climate Change Redux

On Thursday, I had a posted here on the release of the document "Preparing for a Sea Change - A Strategy to Cope with the Impacts of Global Warming on the State's Coastal and Marine Systems."

Yesterday, Miles Grant posted over at Gristmill on the same subject. This will be a huge topic in the future for a state like Florida because the natural environment plays such a large role in its economy. Like many policies, action often produces winners and losers. A well developed climate policy would definitely benefit Florida more than your average state.

Army Corps News Release on New Orleans Levees

Here is a quote from the release:
“Let me get this straight here and now - hurricane protection in New Orleans is better now than ever before but some risk will remain,” O’Dell said. “It’s a top priority for every level of government to be open and transparent with the good people of the New Orleans area about the risks they may face this hurricane season and in the future.”

I saw this news release and thought I would comment on it. I am currently contributing on some research related to individual's willingness-to-pay for rebuilding New Orleans. One aspect of this research is related to individual's willingness-to-pay for levee repair. I thought this quote was interesting because it makes me wonder about the specifics of the existing protection. The levees may be better than ever before, but what does that say? Sounds like a relative measure. What type of storm can New Orleans withstand? This article states that New Orleans is currently at pre-Katrina strength or better and that the Corps will meet its goal of completing 100-year protection by 2011. What does that mean if a high Category 3 storm hits New Orleans this year?

Ecology Links

In a continued effort to include a variety of coastal and marine related tools. I have just added a link to ecological tools and resources. Like other links, this will be a work in progress.

Marine Impacts via Google Earth

The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis has a great site depicting human impacts in marine ecosystems. Above is one of their embedded kml files. Here is a jpeg.

The site also lets you look at maps depicting individual impact types including fishing, invasive species, acidification, etc. This was part of a project published in Science.

Special thanks to TakItWithMe for giving code to embed GE in this post.

Shipping Woes?

From Environmental Capital:

It appears that many shippers are struggling to find ways to deal with rising costs as well as meeting environmental standards. It appears that shipping companies are planning to build bigger ships and shift their fuel sources over to diesel. This would most likely have substantial impacts on other diesel users since supply is already tight. Anyone filled up with diesel lately? It is brutal. I wonder how this change would impact small trucking companies who are already getting squeezed. Seems like a good time to be a railroad company!

Off-Shore Wind

Since wind farms are cost competitive sources of energy, they appear to be an excellent alternative energy source for many areas. One issue critics point to is the obstruction large turbines have on people's views. I am skeptical that this type of externality has an impact anywhere near the impact from the byproducts of other energy sources such as burning coal, but that is a discussion for another day. In addition to costs associated with the obstruction of views, in many areas, land is scarce, so there may not be sufficient space for large wind farms. Additionally there are issues associated with the intermittent nature of wind sources and transmission. Conceptually, this makes offshore wind farms a good alternative for many coastal areas. Many offshore areas have considerable sources of wind and lots of space. At this point however, it appears that costs may be too high (hat tip Environmental Capital). Costs are being driven up by high demand for turbines and high material costs. That being said, wind, waves, and tides should provide a plentiful source of energy for many coastal regions, so once these technical and scale issues are accounted for, I wouldn't be surprised to see offshore wind farms become a part of the US energy portfolio.

On a side note, ecogeek has a post on floating turbines here.

Global Warming in Florida

The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition, a group of environmental, civic, business and outdoor organizations, has just released a document titled "Preparing for a Sea Change - A Strategy to Cope with the Impacts of Global Warming on the State's Coastal and Marine Systems."

The Oceans Act of 2008

Gov. Deval Patrick of Mass signed the country's first comprehensive offshore ocean resource bill, titled The Ocean Act of 2008.

From the AP

"The management plan will cover everything from cruise ships and recreational sailing to commercial activities like liquefied natural gas terminals, wind turbines and the sand and gravel industry — even the cod, a fish so central to the state's early development that a carving of the "sacred cod" still hangs in the Massachusetts House chambers."

I have not had a chance to look at this law very closely, but I am impressed that comprehensive legislation gained traction. With marine and coastal resources, management responsibility is often spread among numerous players, thus fragmenting the effectiveness. In many cases, more comprehensive measures are needed.

Now we need a similar federal measure.....

Comprehensive Florida GIS Links

Since I am moving to St. Petersburg, Fl, I will be shifting some of my research focus to the surrounding area. For anyone interested in Florida GIS sites, the site findgis has links to state, county, and city level data from Florida.

hat tip (geochalkboard)

Ocean Power

Here is a post from ecogeek showing two different products which develop energy from either wave or tidal processes. I am not sure how cost effective these types of technologies are, but there should be a tremendous future energy source for many coastal communities. I love these types of technologies, but I do not have enough expertise in this area to make an intelligent prediction on when (or if) they will be competitive energy options. It seems like an intelligent energy policy would be able to take advantage of local and regional environmental conditions such as abundant wind, geo-thermal, or solar energy. In some areas you would think that wave and tidal energy would be one such option.

This Week's RFF Policy Commentary

Resources For the Future has a weekly policy commentary series related to environmental and natural resource issues. This week's commentary is titled "Evaluating Climate Risks in Coastal Zones" by Gary Yohe.

Gary Yohe has conducted a considerable amount of research into risks associated with rising sea levels as a consequence of climate change.

Here are some Bulleted Points from the article:

Coastal zones will become increasingly vulnerable due to

1. increased storm risk
2. increased sea level temp
3. changes in the water cycle (rain, runoff, etc)
4. acidification of the ocean

People will have varying ability to respond to these changes. Adaptation is a function of

1. individual from developed or developing country
2. availability of social and political capital
3. ability to manage risk

Should we consider beaches and inlets critical infrastructure?

The N.C. Coastal Resources Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) recommends that beaches and inlets be treated as critical infrastructure (see Wilmington Star article). This raises some important research questions such as how to raise funds as well as methods for choosing optimal management strategies.

From the article:

"The N.C. Division of Water Resources currently funds the work on a project-by-project basis. But the money, roughly $22 million a year, wouldn't be enough if the state begins taking on a larger share of the cost of maintaining beaches, inlets and the Intracoastal Waterway."

These are areas of research that are gaining attention. One important point of emphasis should focus on the level of change a specific policy allows. These are highly dynamic environments where inlets and beaches sometimes exhibit considerable natural migration. What costs, if any, should be acceptable for keep these locations relatively static? By what criteria should we make determinations?

Many different people live, work, and recreate at these locations. There is no doubt that they are valuable. A good policy should incorporate the needs of multiple users, not just one type of user.

Here are a few papers related to this topic:

Kriesel, W.A., A. Randall, and F. Lichtkoppler. 1993. “Estimating the Benefits of Shore Erosion Protection in Ohio’s Lake Erie Housing Market,” Water Resources Research 29(4):795-801.

Landry, Craig E. 2006. “Optimal Management of Coastal Erosion on Developed Barrier Island Beaches,” Working Paper, Department of Economics, East Carolina University.

Landry, Craig E., Andrew G. Keeler, and Warren Kriesel. 2003. “An Economic Evaluation of Beach Erosion Management Alternatives,” Marine Resource Economics 18:105-127.

Parsons, George R. and Michael Powell. 2001. “Measuring the Cost of Beach Retreat,” Coastal Management. 29: 91-103.

Pompe, J.J. and J.R. Rinehart. 1995. “The Value of Beach Nourishment to Property Owners: Storm Damage Reduction Benefits,” Journal of Regional Studies 25(3) 271-86.

Smith, Martin D., Jordan M. Slott, and A. Brad Murray. 2007. "Beach Nourishment as a Dynamic Capital Accumulation Problem." Working Paper, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University.

Case Studies and Data Sources

I have begun to collect different data sources related to coastal and marine issues. You can get a direct link here. You can also find it on the right under the heading EEZ Rider Pages.

And #8 is...

Dr. Beach has a new top 10 list for America's best beaches! Last year Ocracoke was #1 and this year Cape Hatteras is #8. I am somewhat biased since I am a North Carolina native, but I love the Outer Banks, especially Ocracoke where my family has a condo.

I should also note that Caladesi Island State Park is this years #1. Caladesi Island State Park is relatively close to my new job at Eckerd, but I can't claim any personal knowledge of this beach since I have never been there. That can soon be remedied!

Regulations? I don't need no stinkin' regulations!

In a previous post, I discussed the importance of building codes for the protection of property from natural hazards. According to the Wharton School document "Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophies,"

"Based on a sample of over 5,600 homeowners impacted by Hurricane Charley in 2004, residences built under the wind-resistant standards that were enfoced in 1996 had a claim frequency that was 60 percent lower than those that were built pre-1996. Claims for pre-1996 damaged homes resulted in an average of $24 per square foot compared to $14 per square foot for those constructed between 1996 and 2004." p 297

Updated standards should improve the resilency of the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. The Christian Science Monitor has an article "The New Gulf: Safe Enough?"

This article chronicles some of the issues that have risen during rebuilding. To note a common theme, the subheading of the article states "Post-Katrina building is booming. But conflict is rising over safety regs vs economic needs."

I found this part particularly interesting:

"Bay St. Louis is appealing to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reconsider how high off the ground new buildings must be to qualify for federal flood insurance. In certain low-lying places, buildings need to sit on stilts 18 feet high, FEMA has ruled. The town counters that the requirement puts the structures at risk of wind damage and wants a lower requirement. Some say the town's action is rooted more in nostalgia than in science. "People [are] upset because the elevations mean the town wouldn't look the same, and it was a beautiful town, Bay St. Louis," says Steve Champlin, Mississippi's flood-mapping coordinator, in Jackson. "

Just another bad acid trip?

Per NOAA

"Evidence of corrosive water caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide (CO₂) was found less than 20 miles off the west coast of North America during a field study from Canada to Mexico last summer. This was the first time “acidified” ocean water has been found on the continental shelf of western North America."

Here is one topic that has not gotten much time in the popular press. As the climate debate continues, here we can see a direct impact of increases in CO2. Ocean acidification could have serious implications for fisheries and tourism.

Bush the Modern "Teddy Rosevelt of the Seas"?

NPR news reports on the Bush Administration's efforts to create large Marine Reserves within the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is interesting because Bush is generally not perceived as an environmentalist but he has made previous efforts to protect Ocean resources. As mentioned in WSJ's Environmental Capital, Bush already created the world's largest marine reserve off Hawaii.

This will most definitely have some opposition from oil companies and fishermen. It will be interesting to see how the public responds. Ocean and coastal issues have be under-funded and under-represented by the government for years, but in times of rising gas prices and a lagging economy, will this move be well-received?

Hat tip Environmental Capital

As Costs Rise for Building Materials, How Will that Impact Rebuilding

From NPR's Morning Addition: "In Gulf, the Cost of Rebuilding Homes Soars"

Each year we have large storms which cause extensive damage along the coast. As we have more development on the coast, more property is at risk. Building codes should be an important factor in minimizing damage in coastal communities; however, in this story people are having trouble affording new government guidelines as determined by the National Flood Insurance Program. If people do opt out of the NFIP, they will be putting themselves in harms way. This is a classic trade-off between government protecting public welfare and individual responsibility for rebuilding. The question remains, for many poor people, is insurance a luxury or a necessity? If they do opt out of the program, are they mitigating risk some other way? Is there some point at which the unintended consequences of government policies meant to protect public welfare actually lead to those less fortunate being at greater risk?

Continued Updating

While I continue to update this blog, check out the links to the right. I am in the process of including links to government agencies, economics documents, data sources, mapping tools etc...

NOAA National Hurricane Preparedness Week

I just saw a link identifying that May 25 through May 31 is National Hurricane Preparedness Week. I guess it is time to get that Hurricane kit together!

In the next month I will be making my way from Eastern North Carolina to sunny St. Petersburg Florida. I will be beginning my new job as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Eckerd College. I have experienced numerous hurricanes in North Carolina, but it will be interesting to see how things change when I go south. With the exception of maybe Wilmington, population density in Eastern North Carolina is completely different than the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area. There is a lot more infrastructure which will be vulnerable to storms. Recently a team of NOAA scientists predicted more intense storms as global temperatures rise.

For anyone interested in learning more about natural hazards research, check out "Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes: Insuring, Mitigating and Financing Recovery from Natural Disasters in the United States." This publication from the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Process Center is very impressive. It is not exactly light reading, but any students thinking about doing Natural Hazards Research should check it out.

Slow Beginning

This is the first post of the EEZ-Rider blog. This blog will be a work in progress, but its primary goal will be to bring different coastal scientists, managers, students, and the general public together for informed discussions on coastal and marine related topics. Over the summer, in addition to my blog entries, I will continue to update links to various government, academic, and non-profit organizations with coastal and marine focus. I will also be providing links to supplementary materials and data for students and researchers from around the web. My hope is that this blog can become a safe place for people interested in coastal and marine issues to share ideas and debate.