EDITORIALS

Friday Editorial: Florida is Ground Zero for impacts of sea level rise

Times-Union editorial board

With its long coastline and its billions of dollars of property values, Florida is Ground Zero for climate change.

Evidence is around us, with flooding on sunny days in Miami, an increase in nuisance flooding in St. Augustine and Mayport, and severe storm surges during Hurricane Matthew.

Another bit of evidence that the planet is warming at extreme levels is found in the coral reefs off the South Florida Keys.

When the water heats up, disease follows with coral turning a bleached white.

This 360-mile-long reef is the third largest in the world. But less than 10 percent now has living coral, reports The Washington Post.

Other evidence is found with a rising ocean moving inland, swallowing beachfront. In Key Largo, king tides brought water in front of a house for 34 straight days. The salt water ruined cars, destroyed landscaping and led to a mosquito infestation.

What else is being affected?

And what can we do about it?

Unfortunately, President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate the funding that’s needed to answer these questions.

Meanwhile in Coral Gables, the mayor is looking into the impacts of sea level rise. Its 47 miles of coastline has property valued at $3.5 billion, reports Bloomberg News.

Will rising seas mean that bridges are suddenly too low for certain masts?

Once those boats can’t travel under the bridges, will property values fall? And will that start a run?

NOAA predicts sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet in Miami by 2060.

Forget politics or ideology, this is risk management. And it’s big for Florida’s economy and quality of life.

By the end of the century, according to Zillow, about 934,000 Florida properties worth more than $400 billion could be submerged.

In response, Monroe County plans to raise some roads.

An economist at Freddie Mac warned of a housing crisis for coastal areas worse than the Great Recession.

One Coral Gables homeowner described the real estate market as “pessimists selling to optimists.”

Eventually, the homeowner sold his home in order to protect his life savings.

Currently, however, optimists dominate as housing prices are increasing in much of Florida.

RENEWABLES SURGE

Solar energy employs more people in the U.S. than coal, oil and gas combined, reports the U.S. Energy Department in the Renewable World publication.

Employment in the solar energy sector increased by 25 percent last year while employment in the wind sector increased by 32 percent.

Yet G20 governments continue to subsidize fossil fuels at four times the rate as renewables, reports the Guardian.

If there are going to be subsidies, there ought to be equity.

HOMEOWNERS

A solar electric panel on a home — that’s a sight we’re seeing more and more these days. Last year more than 1 million homeowners installed solar panels, and the numbers are increasing, reports Time magazine.

As battery technology improves, it means utilities like JEA will have to adjust to a new decentralized power setup.

In Georgia, customers can even buy solar panels from Georgia Power.

SOLAR IN COAL COUNTRY

As coal has been hit by a rise in the use of natural gas, Eastern Kentucky has turned to solar energy along with drone testing and a high-tech greenhouse.

Coal extraction there fell from 23 million tons to 5 million tons from 2008 to 2016. Mining employment fell from about 14,000 to 4,000. And a solar energy project is being built on the site of an old strip mine, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Even if coal can be brought back, there won’t be many jobs, certainly not as many as the diversified additions to the Eastern Kentucky landscape.

Yes, there is hope for new jobs.

But it means embracing new realities.

ENERGY REVOLUTION

Fracking has unlocked vast quantities of natural gas, part of an energy book, reports the Hamilton project.

Shale oil has pushed global oil prices to their lowest levels in a decade.

Oil imports have been cut in half.

Meanwhile, the cost of renewables has been dropping, now representing the majority of new electric generation.