New York’s Next Superstorm Threatens Our City
In this NY Times article, Hillary Howard projects what could happen to New York City in our next superstorm, like Hurricane Sandy. Climate change is increasing flood risks for New York City by causing more dangerous storm surges due to sea levels rising and severe flash floods from heavy downpours. A model projects that a Category 1 hurricane with high tide and heavy rain could produce a storm surge higher than Sandy’s, potentially flooding 25% of the city—a scenario expected to become more frequent with our changing climate.
I know plans are in the works to build a wall around lower Manhattan, but it is a multi year project and will still leave many areas vulnerable. These impending storms threaten many neighborhoods across all five boroughs, highlighting the urgent need for large-scale climate adaptation planning.
Environmental Protections Under Siege Under Trump’s Administration
Trump’s administration has enacted sweeping rollbacks of environmental regulations while promoting an aggressive expansion of fossil fuel development. It has delayed requirements for oil and gas companies to reduce methane emissions, despite methane’s outsized impact on near-term global warming. This postponement is expected to allow millions of additional tons of methane into the atmosphere, even as the administration works to limit federal authority over pollution from vehicles and power plants.At the same time, the administration has moved to weaken core environmental protections, including narrowing the scope of the Clean Water Act, altering Endangered Species Act procedures to account for economic impacts, and opening more than a billion acres of U.S. coastal waters—along with ecologically sensitive areas in Alaska—to new oil and gas drilling. These changes could remove safeguards for vast expanses of wetlands, increase risks to endangered species, and put marine ecosystems under heightened pressure, even as industry groups praise the shift toward “energy dominance.”
Despite these expansive deregulatory efforts, the promised boom in fossil fuel production has been limited. Oil output has risen only slightly and largely due to improvements in efficiency, while tariffs and market conditions have hindered major new investment. Energy costs for consumers have increased in some sectors, and projections show that dismantling climate and clean-energy policies could lead to tens of billions of additional tons of greenhouse gas emissions and significant public-health impacts. Meanwhile, major oil and gas companies have already benefited from substantial tax breaks and expanded access to public lands and offshore leases.
This administration is doing everything it can to reverse any regulations or laws that were put in place to help protect the environment and as a consequence our health and the health of our planet.
The NYT has published a few articles on this topic recently, check them out:
In One Week, Trump Moves to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy
E.P.A. Delays Requirements to Cut Methane, a Potent Greenhouse Gas
Trump Vowed Fewer Regulations and Lots More Oil. He’s Delivered on One.
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