As the sea level continues to rise as a result of global warming, US energy facilities that reside close to sea level are in ever-increasing danger of being swamped by rising seas and storm surges.
According to a new report from Climate Central, sea level rise is close to doubling the risk of coastal floods that are 4 feet or more above high tide by 2030 all along the US coastline. As a result, nearly 300 energy facilities across the contiguous US are at risk, including natural gas infrastructure, electric power plants, and oil and gas refineries.
Unsurprisingly, as the years pass by, more and more facilities will end up being placed in danger of a similar fate.
These results come from a Climate Central combined analysis of datasets from NOAA, USGS, and FEMA.
Climate Central has created an interactive map that lets users see threats from sea level rise and storm surges over 3,000 coastal towns, cities, counties, and states in the Contiguous US. The full map with access to individual states and zip codes is available on Climate Central, or there is the simpler version here:
The authors of the report note the limitations of studies such as theirs — pointing out that there can be incomplete or inaccurate data in datasets, and that the “results for any individual facility should be viewed cautiously.”
Source: Climate Central
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