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Portsmouth Shipyard underwater?

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On July 27 the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report on how climate change and projected sea level rise might threaten military bases, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

According to the report, by 2050 the shipyard will experience between 80 and 190 floods per year.  The report also predicted that more than a quarter of the shipyard’s property will become part of a tidal zone.

The report concluded, “In order to plan effectively for the long term, military decision makers with authority over Portsmouth NS need to understand how sea level rise may permanently alter the landscape of this coastal installation and where the threat of storm surge may become intolerable.”

The report modeled its predictions based on the 2013 National Climate Assessment, a massive study prepared by many government agencies and researchers predicting climate change over the next century.

However, the National Climate Assessment has its detractors.  According to the Cato Institute, “In the Assessment’s 1200 horror-studded pages, almost everything that happens in our complex world — sex, birth, disease, death, hunger, and wars, to name a few — is somehow made worse by pernicious emissions of carbon dioxide and the joggling of surface average temperature by a mere two degrees.” 

The Union of Concerned Scientists also based their predictions for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the two highest projections for sea level rise.  The National Climate Assessment allows for scenarios with lower sea level rise.

Are you concerned about the impact of sea level rise on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard?  Let us know in the comments.

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