Texas’ Losing Fight With Rising Sea Levels

In a previous essay on this blog I raised the concern about the misinformation and misunderstanding that various individuals convey to a poorly informed public.   It bears repeating here to address the recent damages that Tropical Depression Imelda had on Texas’ Gulf Coast 

Following Trump’s absurd notion to buy Greenland earlier this year, Trump apologist and Conservative columnist Marc Thiessen expressed a view typical of people who display little to no knowledge about human actions and their impact on global warming.   “What makes Greenland particularly valuable to the United States is global warming”,  Thiessen dismissively stated.  “The unavoidable receding of Arctic sea ice will open a new sea route in the Arctic that can be used for both commercial and military vessels." 

This near-sighted view that arctic ice receding is “unavoidable” is only because humans are doing very little to stop what’s causing it.  Thiessen and every other individual who looks at man-made global warming as an economic opportunity ignores the larger view of how increased green house gases (GHGs) in our atmosphere are doing far more to destroy life as we know it than adding to it.

Sea level rise (SLR) from global ice melts is just one of the destructive results of a warming planet.  With arctic and glacier ice melting at record rates, where does all this melted ice go?

Ask the people who live along the Texas Gulf coast.  After suffering catastrophic damages from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 they were hit this September with Tropical Depression Imelda that wreaked havoc on the area that some said was “worse than Hurricane Harvey.”  These storms have become more deadly in part from rapidly rising sea levels effected by melting ice and warming sea waters.

As sea ice melts and polar snow cover recedes, some of the water is released into the sea. In addition, it causes the Earth to become less reflective, which in turn allows the surface of the Earth, including oceans, to absorb more sunlight and become warmer. Warmer water temperatures will cause water to expand taking up more space in the ocean basins.

Sea level is rising more rapidly along the upper Texas coast than worldwide because some coastal lands are sinking. Studies by the EPA have estimated that along the Gulf Coast 1-foot rise in sea level is likely by 2050.  In general, for every 0.39 inches that sea level rises, 3.28 ft. of coastal land could be lost.  According to SeaLevelRise.org, “The sea level off the coast of Texas is already up to 18 inches higher than it was in 1950.

SLR will create irreparable damage to fragile ecosystems and Texas taxpayers will be faced with a $12 billion outlay just to push back on rising water along our coast in the form of “storm surge protections, flood mitigation projects and strategies to mitigate beach erosion, protect wildlife, and fortify sea walls.”

And if you think population growth around you is moving too fast for comfort now, look at how one study predicts rising sea levels in two Southern states will impact Texas communities.   Rising sea levels in Florida and Louisiana will create forced evacuations of upward to 3 million people moving to inland communities in states like Texas, according Mathew E. Hauer, the study's author.

Hauer says that “unmitigated SLR is expected to reshape the US population distribution, potentially stressing landlocked areas unprepared to accommodate this wave of coastal migrants—even after accounting for potential adaptation.”

Take note Marc Thiessen, et al.  The need then for more accessible shipping lanes in the Arctic Sea will seem frivolous at best.