Infrastructure protectionMassachusetts takes steps to withstand climate change impacts
Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts earlier this week unveiled a $50 million plan to help prepare Massachusetts for the challenges climate change poses to energy supplies, public health, transportation, and basic infrastructure in his state. A $40 million grant from the state’s Department of Energy Resources will help cities and towns develop protections around energy services, and $10 million will go toward shoring up critical coastal infrastructure and dam repair.
Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts earlier this week unveiled a $50 million plan to help prepare Massachusetts for the challenges climate change poses to energy supplies, public health, transportation, and basic infrastructure in his state.
A $40 million grant from the state’s Department of Energy Resources will help cities and towns develop protections around energy services, and $10 million will go toward shoring up critical coastal infrastructure and dam repair. This includes $1 million in municipal grants to reduce or eliminate the risk associated with coastal storms and sea level rise. About $1 million will be spent on “green infrastructure” projects, including beach and dune enhancement and salt-marsh retention.
“The question is not whether we need to act. We’re past that,” Patrick said. “The world’s climate is changing and human activity is contributing to that change. Massachusetts needs to be ready.”
The Seattle Post Dispatch reports that the proposal requires the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to collaborate with utilities to determine ways “to accelerate storm hardening and deploy micro-grids and resiliency projects.” This will help secure transmission and distribution of energy during emergencies. Rick Sullivan, state energy secretary, noted that recent storms and power outages are a reminder that it is critical to secure Massachusetts’s energy grid to withstand more extreme weather patterns.
The proposal calls on the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to conduct a “statewide vulnerability assessment” for all its facilities and adopt climate adaptation plans by 2015. The Department of Conservation and Recreation, an operator of several historic parkways, will conduct a study to identify which of its roadways are vulnerable to flooding and sea level rise.
The plan will also prepare the state for the effects of climate change on public health including infrastructure to protect drinking water and prevent the spread of disease. The proposal calls for the appointment of a state climatologist and an online “portal” for state resources on climate preparedness.
PInotes that Massachusetts is already subject to the effects of climate change. Administration officials refer to the five major storms since 2010; a significant rise in Eastern Equine Encephalitis in mosquitoes, which led to aerial spraying in 2012; and the closure of oyster beds in 2013, the first in state history, because of vibrio parahaemolyticus.
Patrick acknowledges that the goal of the program is to reaffirm that climate change does presently exist. “We’re taking this out of emergency response and putting it into how we plan for the future,” he said.
