NASA Program Enhances Climate Resilience at Agency Facilities

A new study in the latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society provides an in-depth look at how NASA facilities have been affected by climate extremes and climate change in recent years and how the agency is preparing for the future. Using a blend of weather data, global and regional climate model outputs, and advances in the understanding of the climate system, the study finds that many types of extreme events are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude in the future and pose hazards to NASA's mission, infrastructure and workforce. The study found that by the 2050s, sea level rise alone could lead to an increase of 50 percent or more in coastal flooding frequency with varying impacts to NASA facilities, a high percentage of which are located near coastlines. In total, the agency has approximately $32 billion in constructed assets and about 64,000 employees, contractors and partners.

Corps of Engineers releases Climate Change Adaptation, Strategic Sustainability plans

The United States Army Corps of Engineers today released its Climate Change Adaptation Plan and annual Strategic Sustainability Plan in response to Executive Orders 13514 and 13653. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been factoring climate change and its impacts in to all its missions and operations for decades," said Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers senior sustainability officer. "The Corps of Engineers is working with the Obama Administration to identify and address the existing and future risks and vulnerabilities of climate change and ensure that communities and ecosystems are protected and flourish." "We are making sustainability a part of all the decisions we make in designing, constructing, and managing water infrastructure," she explained. "In the coming years we will reduce greenhouse gas emission, reduce non-tactical vehicle petroleum consumption, and increase renewable electricity consumption."

Governor Cuomo Announces Actions to Strengthen Coastal Resiliency Against Future Storms on Long Island

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a series of actions to bolster coastal resiliency against future storms on Long Island by improving local water quality and reducing harmful nitrogen pollution. Superstorm Sandy significantly impacted Long Island's wastewater treatment facilities and highlighted how vulnerable the region's bays and salt marshes are to excessive nitrogen pollution. To help address these recovery needs, Governor Cuomo announced the State has identified $383 million in funding for proposed sewer projects in Suffolk County and that the State will advance $97 million to Nassau County for upgrades to the Bay Park sewage treatment plant.

Conservation project hopes to bring back New York's oysters

Live oysters were what this small group of volunteers, scientists and activists fervently hoped to find in this distant corner of New York City, called Soundview, on that crystal clear morning in May. The volunteers wore borrowed waders over old sneakers. They ventured out into the dark water, using walking sticks to avoid stumbling in the deep mud that coated the bottom of the river. Reaching down into water, about 20 yards offshore, they pulled out baskets of oysters and carried them carefully back to the riverbank to check for winter survivors. This was phase two of something known as the Oyster Restoration Research Project, run by the New York/New Jersey Baykeeper program, the Hudson River Foundation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other partners, to restore oysters to an ecosystem they once dominated. Attempting to restore oysters to New York City's harbor and rivers and inlets has almost no downsides. They are natural and efficient water purifiers - studies have shown each one can filter 50 gallons of water each day. "They actually pull the sediment and particles out of the water and deposit them on the ground," Fitzgerald said. "They clean the water column as they're eating."

Jersey City eyes $2 billion coastal defense plan to prevent catastrophic flooding

Jersey City is planning to embark on a $2 billion coastal defense plan along its eastern Waterfront, one that would that radically alter the city's so-called Gold Coast and, city officials hope, protect it from the kind of massive flooding it experienced during Hurricane Sandy. The plan, in its initial stages, is to construct a nearly two-mile long sea wall that would create a "seal" from the city's border with Hoboken all the way south to Liberty State Park, according to an architectural firm that discussed the plan with the city Municipal Utilities Authority last night.

Norfolk District reassures islanders of its commitment to them

A cadre of Norfolk District leaders and staff, accompanied by Deborah Christie with Congressman Scott Rigell's office, journeyed by boat 14 miles in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay Monday to reaffirm their commitment to assisting in Tangier Island's subsistence and erosion issues. In a town hall-style meeting, Col. Paul Olsen, Norfolk District commander, addressed members of Tangier's town council, including Mayor James Eskridge, about the status of the jetty project and other concerns the residents have.

Hundreds turn out for meeting on Cherry Grove dredging project in South Carolina

North Myrtle Beach city officials held a meeting at City Hall Saturday to inform property owners of a dredging project in Cherry Grove. More than 300 people turned out, filling up two rooms, including an overflow room. The city's consultants provided information on the scope of the proposed dredging project, its potential time line, and the proposed special assessment district associated with the project. The public also had a chance to ask questions at the end of the meeting.

New effort to clean up undersea tires off Fort Lauderdale

An undersea field of discarded tires off Fort Lauderdale will be attacked again this winter, with a marine salvage company hired to haul them up. About 700,000 tires lie on the ocean floor within a mile of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, dumped offshore in the early 1970s to create a fishing reef, a structure that would attract fish and create surfaces for the growth of coral. But very little coral grew on the rubber surfaces, and the bundles broke apart, allowing the tires to drift onto the natural reefs, turning a 34-acre swath of ocean floor into a waste dump. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection plans to award a $1.6 million contract for removing tires to Industrial Divers Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, with work expected to begin in the next two or three months.

Artificial Reef Development Fund gains constitutional protection in Tuesday's election

Voters told Louisiana's legislators during Tuesday's election that they need to keep their hands off a pot of money established and funded to build and maintain artificial fishing reefs along the state's coast. Amendment 8, which provided the Artificial Reef Development Fund with constitutional protection, passed by a 14-point margin.

The Battle to Control the Story-and Science-of the DeepWater Horizon Catastrophe

BP has a message for you: The impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill wasn't as bad as environmental groups and the media originally predicted it would be. "The damage was of short duration and confined to a limited geographic area," BP senior vice president Geoff Morrell said during a speech at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference last month in New Orleans. "We haven't seen any evidence that there are long-lasting impacts that would result in population-level changes to any particular species." Advocacy groups disagree. 

State seeks input on $12.6 million Bellingham waterway cleanup plan in Washington

The state could tell the Port of Bellingham to start work on a $12.6 million cleanup of the I & J Waterway site as soon as 2016, according to an environmental report by Department of Ecology. The I & J Waterway is a 2.5-acre channel between Hilton Avenue and Bellwether Way on the Bellingham waterfront. Over the years it has been contaminated by nearby industrial tenants, including a pulp and tissue mill, rock-crushing plant, and frozen food and seafood processors. Ecology is currently taking public input on a draft of its report for the area, which lays out a cleanup plan that both the state and the port prefer. The plan would ask the port to remove 18,000 cubic yards of contaminated material to a landfill and cap a 0.7-acre area with clean material to deal with nickel, mercury, carcinogenic hydrocarbons and other contaminants.

An Environmental Setback at Brooklyn Basin in Oakland, CA

In 2011, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) - the local agency charged with protecting the bay and evaluating the impacts of waterfront development - approved a large mixed-use project in Oakland, now known as Brooklyn Basin. The 65-acre development near the Oakland Estuary, just southeast of Jack London Square, will include 3,100 units of housing, 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, a marina, new waterfront parks, and more. When BCDC greenlighted Brooklyn Basin, one of the key environmental features of the plan was the developers' proposal to fund a marsh habitat restoration on the Oakland shoreline. The marsh habitat restoration plan adopted by the developers, led by Oakland-based Signature Development Group, was designed to offset the environmental impacts from building a massive housing development on the waterfront. Known as a "mitigation," the marsh plan won strong support from BCDC and environmental activists. But while the first phase of Brooklyn Basin construction is now moving forward, following a groundbreaking in March, the proposal to restore the marsh on site is in jeopardy - and likely will not happen at all.

Southern California's Hidden Kelp Forests Return

The mounds of kelp that recently washed onto local beaches point to a thriving offshore ecosystem created by restoration efforts over the past decade, experts say. Ten years ago, there was practically no kelp off Orange County's coast. Pollution and an overabundance of predators such as sea urchins had decimated the kelp forests, killing 80 percent of what Southern California had a century ago. But over the past decade, environmentalists and others planted nearly 5 acres of kelp along coastal Southern California. They planted lab-grown kelp, transplanted healthy kelp from existing beds, released kelp spores and removed kelp predators, namely sea urchins, which can take over and obliterate a kelp forest if left unchecked.Those efforts seem to have paid off: The kelp is back.

Hawaii ocean energy project makes progress

Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. reports that its Ocean Energy Research Center (OERC) in Kona, Hawaii, has received two new heat exchangers (2-megawatt thermal duty each), and a 100 kilowatt ammonia turbine-generator for its Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion demonstration plant. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) produces electricity from the ocean by using the temperature difference between deep cold and warm surface seawater. OTEC plants pump large quantities of deep cold seawater and surface seawater to run a power cycle and produce electricity. OTEC is a constant power source 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. It is clean, environmentally sustainable, and has the potential to provide huge quantities of energy.