TY - JOUR
T1 - Coastal Defense Megaprojects in an Era of Sea-Level Rise
T2 - Politically Feasible Strategies or Army Corps Fantasies?
AU - Rasmussen, D. J.
AU - Kopp, Robert E.
AU - Oppenheimer, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
We are thankful for manuscript comments from two anonymous reviewers and from Hélène Benveniste, Christopher Crawford, and Matt Campo. D.J.R. was grateful to receive support from the High Meadows Environmental Institute, the Karl F. Schlaepfer ’49 and Gloria G. Schlaepfer Fund, and the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. M.O. was supported by the High Meadows Fund and National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant No. 1520683. R.E.K. and M.O. were additionally supported by the National Science Foundation as part of the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) under NSF Award No. ICER-2103754. The authors are grateful for discussions with Karen O’Neill, Bruce Cain, Douglas McAdam, Hilary Boudet, Rachael Shwom, Jeff Gebert, Megan Mullin, Matt Campo, and Daniel Van Abs and research assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration, Boston (Waltham, Massachusetts), the Providence Public Library (Providence, Rhode Island), the Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence, Rhode Island), Providence College for granting access to the personal papers of Representative John E. Fogarty, Senator John O. Pastore, and Governor Roberts (Providence, Rhode Island), the Providence City Archives (Providence, Rhode Island), the US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District Office (Philadelphia), and research assistance from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Office of History (Alexandria, Virginia).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license,.
PY - 2023/2/1
Y1 - 2023/2/1
N2 - Storm surge barriers, levees, and other coastal flood defense megaprojects are currently being proposed as strategies to protect several US cities against coastal storms and rising sea levels. However, social conflict and other political factors add a layer of complexity that casts doubt on their status as practical climate adaptation options. The specific mechanisms responsible for some projects not progressing beyond initial planning stages remains unclear. In this study, we examined the outcome of two USACE storm surge barrier proposals to explore the political reasons why some coastal flood protection megaprojects break ground in the US, while others do not. Using original archive research, we concluded that storm surge barriers are politically challenging climate adaptation options because of modern environmental laws that provide avenues for expression of oppositional views within the decision process and the allure of alternative options that are more aesthetically pleasing and cheaper and faster to implement. To better allocate public resources and utilize the expertise of USACE, future flood protection megaprojects should first achieve broad support from the public, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and elected officials before beginning serious planning. This support could be achieved through new innovative designs that simultaneously address adverse environmental impacts and provide cobenefits (e.g., recreation). New designs should be studied to better understand the level of protection offered and their associated reliability so that USACE has confidence in their use.
AB - Storm surge barriers, levees, and other coastal flood defense megaprojects are currently being proposed as strategies to protect several US cities against coastal storms and rising sea levels. However, social conflict and other political factors add a layer of complexity that casts doubt on their status as practical climate adaptation options. The specific mechanisms responsible for some projects not progressing beyond initial planning stages remains unclear. In this study, we examined the outcome of two USACE storm surge barrier proposals to explore the political reasons why some coastal flood protection megaprojects break ground in the US, while others do not. Using original archive research, we concluded that storm surge barriers are politically challenging climate adaptation options because of modern environmental laws that provide avenues for expression of oppositional views within the decision process and the allure of alternative options that are more aesthetically pleasing and cheaper and faster to implement. To better allocate public resources and utilize the expertise of USACE, future flood protection megaprojects should first achieve broad support from the public, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and elected officials before beginning serious planning. This support could be achieved through new innovative designs that simultaneously address adverse environmental impacts and provide cobenefits (e.g., recreation). New designs should be studied to better understand the level of protection offered and their associated reliability so that USACE has confidence in their use.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142644986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85142644986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001613
DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001613
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85142644986
SN - 0733-9496
VL - 149
JO - Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
JF - Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
IS - 2
M1 - 04022077
ER -