Tribes Struggle to Adjust After the Largest Coal Mine in the West Closes
Salt River Project-Navajo Generating Station in the red desert of Page, Arizona seen above before it shut down in November 2019.
Members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes are struggling to adjust to a new way of life following the closure of the coal-powered Navajo Generating Station late last year, as leaders look for new sources of revenue and energy.
Both the AP and the Arizona Republic reported last month that Navajo and Hopi tribe members, who had access to coal from the mine to heat their homes, are struggling in their first winter without the mine. Some of the 15,000 families without electricity are traveling for hours to cut wood from forests miles away or rely on local wood delivery service, while others have resorted to burning clothes or furniture to keep warm.
The tribes are also looking to renewables: Earther reports that the Navajo Nation is working with the city of Los Angeles, a partial owner of the former plant, to create a renewable energy hub on the plant's site to help power the city and bring electricity to more tribe members.
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A FedEx truck travels along Interstate 10 by the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm near Palm Springs, California on Feb. 27, 2019. Robert Alexander / Getty Images
FedEx's entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet will become 100 percent electric by 2040, according to a statement released Wednesday. The ambitious plan includes checkpoints, such as aiming for 50 percent electric vehicles by 2025.
<p>To reach this goal, the delivery company will commit more than $2 billion to vehicle electrification, sustainable energy and carbon sequestration, according to the statement.</p><p>"We have a responsibility to take bold action in addressing climate challenges," Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO of FedEx Corp. said in the <a href="https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/sustainability2021/" target="_blank">release</a>. "This goal builds on our longstanding commitment to sustainability throughout our operations, while at the same time investing in long-term, transformational solutions for FedEx and our entire industry."</p><p>FedEx will also continue to invest in sustainable fuels to power its planes -- the biggest contributor to its carbon footprint, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90610719/how-fedex-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2040" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fast Company reported</a>. But switching to sustainable fuel won't be easy, Mitch Jackson, chief sustainability officer for FedEx Corp, told Fast Company. "The question is, will sustainable aviation fuels be here in sufficient quantities for the aviation industry in the near term?"</p>
<p>The news comes just a week after the United States Postal Service announced a 10-year, $485-million contract for new mail trucks, planning to transform only 10 percent of its fleet into electric vehicles, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2021/03/fedex-announces-100-commitment-all-electric-fleet" target="_blank">Sierra Club reported</a>. This plan falls short of President Biden's <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/" target="_blank">vow</a> to covert all "Federal, State, local, and Tribal government fleets" to "clean and zero-emission vehicles."</p><p>"From undermining our democracy to delaying climate action, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues to fail the United States Postal Service and the American public," Gina Coplon-Newfield, director of Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2021/02/usps-must-electrify-mail-truck-fleet" target="_blank">statement</a>. "The lack of commitment from the USPS to electrify its fleet directly contradicts the Biden administration's goals and executive order to clean up pollution from the US government's vehicles."</p>
<p>The United States Postal Service has increasingly struggled to outcompete large corporations like FedEx that use the same networks and markets, the Economic Policy Institute wrote in a <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-war-against-the-postal-service/" target="_blank">report</a>. This is partly because the USPS is limited in entering new markets and pays its workers with middle-class wages and provides benefits, unlike private competitors like FedEx that cut costs by relying on independent, contract workers, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/business/usps-performance-whats-next-biden/" target="_blank">reported</a>. Yet the drastically different de-carbonization goals between USPS and FedEx highlight the necessary role private companies can play in pioneering efforts towards a clean energy future.</p><p>"While we've made great strides in reducing our environmental impact, we have to do more," Jackson <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-delivery-fleet-all-electric-carbon-neutral-2040-sustainability-2021-3" target="_blank">said</a>, according to Business Insider. "The long-term health of our industry is directly linked to the health of the planet, but this effort is about more than the bottom line – it's the right thing to do."</p>
<p>Included in FedEx's plan is a $100 million gift to Yale University to establish a Center for Natural Carbon Capture to research and develop natural solutions to reduce and sequester atmospheric carbon safely, <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2021/03/03/yale-new-fedex-supported-center-focus-climate-change-solutions" target="_blank">YaleNews reported</a>.</p><p>"My hope is that others will recognize the scale and importance of this problem and the significance of this center's mission by joining in our efforts to address a global challenge," Smith said, according to YaleNews.</p><p>Environmental groups urge other delivery services to quickly follow suit, committing to more sustainable and efficient operations in the face of a rapidly damaging climate. "This is a critical moment to shift the status quo of the US delivery truck. We urge all delivery companies — including USPS — to not let it pass them by," Coplon-Newfield added in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2021/03/fedex-announces-100-commitment-all-electric-fleet" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p>
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Empty freeways, such as this one in LA, were a common sight during COVID-19 lockdowns in spring 2020. vlvart / Getty Images
Lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic had the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around seven percent, or 2.6 billion metric tons, in 2020.
<p>This is the largest emissions reduction that has ever been recorded. But to reach the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a> goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, the world needs to reduce emissions by one to two billion metric tons every year for the next decade and beyond, according to a new analysis published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01001-0" target="_blank">Nature Climate Change</a>.</p><p>"We need a cut in emissions of about the size of the fall [from the lockdowns] every two years, but by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/17/what-could-a-good-green-recovery-plan-actually-look-like" target="_blank">completely different methods</a>," Corinne Le Quéré, lead study author from the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia in England, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/03/global-lockdown-every-two-years-needed-to-meet-paris-co2-goals-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Before the pandemic, emissions were already declining in some countries due to policy changes, the report found. In 64 countries, emissions declined by 160 million metric tons a year between 2016 to 2019 compared to 2011 to 2015. However, that reduction is only a tenth of what is needed worldwide to meet the Paris agreement goals. In 150 countries, emissions continued to increase by 370 million metric tons a year during the four years before the lockdown.</p><p>The concern now is whether countries can build on the reductions caused by the pandemic, or if emissions will increase again as economies reopen. So far, the evidence points toward the latter. The International Energy Agency said this week that emissions had already rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/03/03/report-world-needs-equivalent-of-pandemic-lockdown-every-two-years-to-meet-paris-carbon-emission-goals/?sh=2af111536dee" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forbes reported</a>. Last month, the UN said that countries' existing commitments under the Paris agreement would only reduce emissions by less than one percent by 2030, even though experts say a 45 percent drop is required.</p>
<p>"Emissions were lower in 2020 as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuel</a> infrastructure was used less, not because infrastructure was closed down," Glen Peters, study co-author from the Cicero center for climate research in Norway, told The Guardian. "When fossil fuel infrastructure is put into use again, there is a risk of a big rebound in emissions in 2021, as was seen in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2009."</p><p>The report authors noted that policy makers could refer to the lockdowns for guidance on reducing emissions. Most of the reductions were driven by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/transportation" target="_self">transportation</a> decreases, the authors found. They suggested shifting toward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles" target="_self">electric vehicles</a> and bike-and-pedestrian-friendly cities, as well as continuing and improving remote business options and encouraging a safe return to public transportation. </p><p>The authors also called for greater investments in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/renewable-energy" target="_self">renewable energy</a> as part of the recovery process. They added that while recovery plans in the European Union, Denmark, France, UK, Germany and Switzerland included minimal fossil fuel investments, investments in most other countries, including the U.S. and China, were still fossil-fuel heavy.</p><p>"Experience from several previous crises show that the underlying drivers of emissions reappear, if not immediately, then within a few years," the authors wrote. "Therefore to change the trajectory in global CO2 emissions in the long term, the underlying drivers also need to change."</p>
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'Damning' Docs Reveal Meatpacking Industry Fought Minimal COVID-19 Safeguards Under Trump
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The meatpacking industry pushed back against COVID-19 safety restrictions in spring 2020. Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group / Reading Eagle / Getty Images
By Brett Wilkins
Documents obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and published Wednesday reveal how leading players in the meatpacking industry—one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic—fought the minimal efforts imposed by the Trump administration to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in meat processing plants last spring.
<p>As Public Citizen put it, "these docs are utterly damning."</p><p>Responding to Public Citizen's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the USDA handed over <a href="https://mkus3lurbh3lbztg254fzode-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020-OSEC-04055-F_3rd-interim_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank">documents</a> showing that:</p><ul><li>In April 2020, officials in the North American Meat Institute protested USDA's decision not to send Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors who were exposed to Covid-19 into other plants. On April 15, 2020, one NAMI official stated that "we can't start sidelining individuals at FSIS or in the industry because they may have been exposed. We all may have been exposed at this point"; </li><li>Later in April 2020, officials at the National Chicken Council complained to USDA that FSIS was asking too many questions about Covid-19 testing at poultry processing facilities, stating the "questions seem to be unnecessary."</li><li>In May 2020, officials at animal processing giant Tyson Foods complained to USDA that the company had to "spend significant resources... each day when reporting positive team members."</li><li>In March 2020, the Food and Beverage Issue Alliance developed guidance for industry members stating that, unless state or local governments required it, "physical (social) distancing should be a tool but not a requirement."</li><li>Industry officials reported FSIS employees who warned their friends and families about plants with cases of Covid-19, specifically forwarding a personal Facebook post and asking USDA to take disciplinary action against the inspectors.</li></ul><p>Adam Pulver, an attorney at the Public Citizen Litigation Group, said in a statement that "it is heartbreaking to see the callousness of the meatpacking industry, pushing back against basic safety measures that could have saved hundreds of lives and helped contain the Covid-19 pandemic."</p>
<div id="38879" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fa8fb1444e4ed26d200a49e324e3f9da"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1367195319922872325" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: New docs we uncovered show the meatpacking industry vehemently fought COVID safety measures, arguing that… https://t.co/HTeX4A9anG</div> — Public Citizen (@Public Citizen)<a href="https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/statuses/1367195319922872325">1614799740.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"While we knew that meatpacking companies did not take adequate measures to protect their workers and the communities they lived in from the threat of Covid-19, these documents show that the industry actively pushed back against the few steps the Trump administration took to try to ensure the safety of meatpacking workers and federal inspectors," Pulver added.</p><p>As Public Citizen notes, at least 45,000 coronavirus cases and 240 Covid-19 deaths have been linked to U.S. meatpacking facilities.</p><p>In September 2020, Public Citizen and American Oversight <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/15/usda-and-meatpacking-industry-collaborated-undermine-covid-19-response-documents" target="_blank">published documents </a>also obtained via FOIA requests that showed how the USDA and the meatpacking industry worked together to downplay and disregard risks to worker health during the pandemic. The documents revealed that a leading meat industry lobby group drafted a proposed executive order that was strikingly similar to a directive issued a week later by then-President Donald Trump to keep meatpacking plants open against the orders of local health officials. </p><p>Last September's revelations were followed by a November scandal involving supervisors at a Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa who <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/19/depraved-tyson-food-managers-accused-betting-how-many-their-workers-would-get-covid" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">placed cash bets</a> on how many workers at the facility would contract the coronavirus. More than 1,000 employees—over a third of the plant's workforce—were infected. </p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/03/utterly-damning-docs-reveal-meatpacking-industry-fought-feeble-covid-19-safeguards" target="_blank">Common Dreams.</a></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A late snowfall could set back the growth of this budding lilac. oddharmonic / Flickr, CC BY-SA
By Richard B. Primack
Weather patterns across the U.S. have felt like a roller coaster ride for the past several months. December and January were significantly warmer than average in many locations, followed by February's intense cold wave and a dramatic warmup.
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<p>If you've ever seen lilac bushes crushed by snowdrifts, then budding on a warm day just a few weeks later, you may wonder how plants tolerate such extremes. I study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XfgB_BUAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">how climate change affects the timing of seasonal events</a> in the life cycles of plants, birds and insects in Massachusetts, so I know that species have evolved here to handle New England's famously changeable weather. But a warming climate is disrupting weather patterns and testing the abilities of many species to adapt.</p>
<h3>Tolerating Cold</h3><p>On brutal winter days when temperatures are far below freezing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-winter-miserable-for-wildlife-108734" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">animals hibernate underground or huddle in protected spots</a>. But trees and shrubs have to sit there and take it. The tissues in their trunks, branches and roots are alive. How do they survive the freezing cold?</p><p>In autumn, woody plants in many parts of North America start <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2015.01.004" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">preparing for winter</a>. When their leaves change color and fall, their twigs, branches and trunks start to lose water. As a result, their cells contain higher concentrations of sugars, salts and organic compounds.</p><p>This lowers the freezing point of the cells and tissues, and allows them to survive temperatures far below the normal freezing point of water. The trick has its limits, though, so extreme cold events can still kill certain plants.</p><p>Tree and shrub roots remain largely unchanged and inactive during winter, relying on insulation from snow and soil for protection. For the most part, the temperature of the soil around roots stays at or above freezing. Soil, fallen leaves and persistent snow layers insulate the ground above the roots and prevent it from losing heat.</p>
<h3>The Surprising Danger of Spring Frosts</h3><p>After plants stoically withstand cold winters, early spring brings new dangers. Plants need to leaf out as early as they can in spring to take full advantage of the growing season. But this involves pumping water into their developing leaves, which reduces the concentration of sugars, salts and organic compounds in their tissues and removes their winter protection from cold.</p><p>Each species has a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12892" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">characteristic leaf-out time</a>. Early-leafing species such as blueberries and willows are the gamblers of the plant kingdom. Later species, like oak and pine, are the cautious and conservative types. For any species, leafing out too early is a risk because late frosts can damage or kill young leaves.</p><p>Flowers are also vulnerable to unpredictable spring frosts because they contain lots of water. If the flowers of fruit trees, such as apples, are killed by frost, the trees won't produce fruit later in the summer. Late frosts also can cause disappointingly short flowering seasons for early-flowering ornamental plants such as forsythias and magnolias.</p>
<h3>Plant Wake-Up Calls</h3><p>To guard against frost and still take advantage of the full growing season, trees and shrubs have developed three ways to know when it is time to start growing in spring.</p><p>First, plants have winter chilling requirements: They hold on to winter dormancy until they have been exposed to a certain number of cold winter days. This trait helps them avoid leafing or flowering during abnormally warm periods in midwinter.</p><p>Second, plants also have spring warming requirements that promote growth after they experience a certain number of warm days each spring. This feature helps them start to grow as soon as it is warm enough.</p><p>Third, some plants also have a <a href="http://www.biologyreference.com/Ph-Po/Photoperiodism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">photoperiod</a> response, which means they react to the length of time they are exposed to light in a 24-hour period. This prepares them to leaf out as days get longer and warmer in the spring. Beech trees have both a warming requirement and a photoperiod response, but the temperature requirement is much stronger, so they get going after just a few warm days in late spring.</p><p>Interestingly, North American trees such as red maple and black birch are more cautious and conservative than European and East Asian trees. The weather in eastern North America is more variable, and the threat of late spring frosts is higher here than in those regions. As a result, North American trees have evolved to leaf out a few weeks later than comparable trees from Europe and East Asia.</p>
<h3>Climate Change Scrambles the Signals</h3><p>Plants are highly attuned to temperature signals, so warming driven by climate change is making it harder for many species to withstand winter cold and spring frosts. As spring temperatures get warmer than in the past, trees such as apples and pears may respond by leafing out and flowering <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/spring-budburst-in-a-changing-climate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">several weeks earlier than normal</a>. This can increase their vulnerability to late frosts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTcxNzkwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDM1MjMwM30.XUMLQZjcTE30X-bZZAI1B5OvhurZh2hYli-R-4QgoRo/img.jpg?width=980" id="444e0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="73aa6aacc888263bd0b73b943d53f60b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="962" />
The leaves on this cherry tree have suffered damage from a late frost. Richard Primack, CC BY-ND
<p>Such late frosts are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13088" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">becoming more common</a> because <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-the-polar-vortex-153958" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change is destabilizing the jet stream</a>, leading it to dip much farther south, bringing bursts of unusually cold weather.</p><p>In 2007, an exceptionally warm period in March <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03803.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">triggered trees to leaf out</a> across the eastern and central United States. A hard frost in April then killed the young leaves and flowers of oaks, hickories and other tree species. The trees were able to produce a second crop of leaves, but could not fully replace the leaves they'd lost, which quite likely stunted their growth for that year.</p><p>Insect pests also pose an increasing threat to plants. Harsh winter weather holds in check many insects found in northern climates, such as <a href="https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/invasive_species/hwa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hemlock woolly adelgids</a> and <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/maps/plant-health/eab-storymap" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">emerald ash borers</a>. As winters become milder, these insects are more likely to survive, move further northward, cause major outbreaks and damage trees.</p><p>Warmer winters also lead to more days when the ground is bare. Cold snaps that occur when there is no insulating layer of snow can <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-shrinking-winter-snowpack-which-harms-northeast-forests-year-round-103410" target="_blank">freeze the soil and kill roots</a>. Tree and shrub branches then die back because the damaged roots cannot supply enough water and nutrients. In extreme cases, the plants may die.</p>
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<p>In coming decades, many cold-loving tree species such as spruces and firs will become less abundant when they are not able to handle <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs173.pdf" target="_blank">new challenges associated with a warmer climate</a>. In the Northeast U.S., native species such as sugar maple and beech will be gradually replaced by native species from farther south, such as oaks and hickories. And nonnative species, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps092" target="_blank">Norway maples</a>, are taking advantage of these disruptions to disperse into forests from roadsides and neighborhoods.</p><p>Similar shifts are happening in many places as climate change alters the signals plants rely on to mark the changing seasons.</p>
<p>
<em>Richard B. Primack is a professor of biology at Boston University.<br/>
</em></p><p><em>
Disclosure statement: Richard B. Primack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
</em></p><p><em>
Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/january-warm-spells-march-freezes-how-plants-manage-the-shift-from-winter-to-spring-155343" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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A majority of America's dams require billions of dollars in upgrades for them to handle heavier precipitation. skibreck / Getty Images
By Jeff Masters
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America's infrastructure a C- grade in its quadrennial assessment issued March 3. ASCE gave the nation's flood control infrastructure – dams and levees – a D grade. This is a highly concerning assessment, given that climate change is increasingly stressing dams and levees as increased evaporation from the oceans drives heavier precipitation events.
<h4>U.S. Dams Need $93.6 Billion in Upgrades</h4><p>The group's 2021 report card gave the nation's 91,000-plus dams a D grade, jus as they had received in each of its assessments since the first one was issued in 1998. Drawing upon the latest data from the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, ASCE estimated the cost of rehabilitating all U.S. dams at $93.6 billion, of which $27.6 billion is needed for federal dams. Over half (56.4%) of U.S. dams are privately owned. The cost to rehabilitate deficient high-hazard-potential dams, whose failure would result in loss of life, is estimated at nearly $20 billion. Over 2,300 dams in the U.S. are in this category. The average age of America's dams is 57 years.</p><p>The report identified one program that can help address existing funding needs – the High Hazard Potential Dam Rehabilitation Program authorized in the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. The goal of this program is to help fund the repair, removal, or rehabilitation of the nation's non-federal, high-hazard-potential dams. In federal fiscal year 2020, Congress appropriated $10 million for the program, less than 0.1% of the state dam safety group's needs estimate, and a quarter of the $40 million Congress had authorized for the program.</p>
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Figure 1. Debris fills the Feather River from the damaged spillway of California's Oroville Dam, the nation's tallest dam, after its near-collapse in February 2017. The Oroville incident forced the evacuation of nearly 190,000 people and cost $1.1 billion in repairs. California Department of Water Resources
<p>A 2019 <a href="https://apnews.com/article/f5f09a300d394900a1a88362238dbf77" target="_blank">story by the Associated Press</a> reported that the most recent U.S. fatalities from a dam failure were in March 2019, when the 92-year-old Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River in Nebraska failed, killing one person. The most recent previous dam failure fatalities involved seven people killed on Hawaii's Kauai Island in 2006 after the earthen wall of the Kaloko Reservoir collapsed.</p><p>At least five fatal dam failures occurred in the 1970s – Teton Dam, Idaho (14 deaths), Kelly Barnes, Georgia (39 deaths), Buffalo Creek coal slurry impoundment dam, West Virginia (125 deaths), Rapid City, South Dakota (238 deaths), and Johnstown, Pennsylvania (84 deaths). These failures ushered in the modern dam safety era. AP reported that many states have problematic private dams whose owners can't be identified. In 2018, for instance, Rhode Island listed 32 high- or significant-hazard dams with safety concerns and unknown owners.</p><p>A 2019 YaleEnvironment360 <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/in-an-era-of-extreme-weather-concerns-grow-over-dam-safety" target="_blank">story by Jacques Leslie</a> reported that "many people living on property that would be flooded if a dam fails are unaware of that possibility, in part because federal officials blocked public access to inundation maps after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In recent years, some states have again made the maps available. California requires that prospective buyers be informed if a property is in an inundation zone, a practice that should be far more widespread." The 2021 ASCE report card recommended initiating a public awareness campaign that would alert residents of the location and condition of dams in their area.</p>
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Figure 2. The L-550 levee on the Missouri River overtopping during the spring 2011 floods. USACE
<h4>U.S. Levees Need More Than $21 Billion in Upgrades</h4><p>In spring 2019, the midwest U.S. experienced severe flooding, causing over $20 billion in damage. More than 80 Corps of Engineers levee systems were overtopped or breached, sometimes multiple times, and more than 700 miles of levees were damaged. Levee repairs were estimated at $1 billion. However, the Army Corps estimated that the levees prevented almost $350 billion in flood damages from October 2018 to September 2019. At least 17 million people live or work behind a levee, and U.S. levees protect $2.3 trillion in property, so the condition of these levees is critical. In addition, approximately 1,400 sites listed in the federal Toxic Release Inventory – including many EPA Superfund sites – lie in areas at high risk of flooding, according to a 2018 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/06/climate/flood-toxic-chemicals.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New York Times analysis</a>.</p><p>In that context, the Civil Engineers' 2021 report card grade of D for the nation's 40,000 miles of levees is concerning. Drawing upon the latest data from the Corps of Engineers, the ASCE says in its report card that $21 billion is needed to improve and maintain just the moderate to high-risk levees in the Corps of Engineers portfolio. That is about 15% of the known levees in the U.S.</p><p>U.S. levees are, on average, 50 years old, many built using engineering standards less rigorous than current best practices. Encouragingly, fewer than 4% of U.S. levees are rated high or very high risk, down from 5% in 2017. However, 80% of high- or very high-risk levees have issues that likely would result in a breach prior to overtopping in an extreme flood, the report said.</p><p>The report card identified one program that can help address existing funding needs – the National Levee Safety Program. In federal fiscal year (FY) 2021 this program was funded at $5 million, just 0.02% of the $21 billion needed, and just 6% of its FY21 $79 million authorization.</p>
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Figure 3. The change in heavy downpours (defined as the top 1% of precipitation events) from 1958-2016, from the 2018 U.S. National Climate Assessment. Climate Central
<h4>Climate Change Is Driving More Precipitation and River Flood Damages</h4><p>Increased precipitation in the U.S. in recent decades, partially the result of climate change, has caused an additional $2.5 billion a year in U.S. flood damages, according to a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2017524118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">January 2021 study</a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researches, climate scientists at Stanford University, found that between 1988 and 2017, heavier precipitation accounted for more than one-third of the $200 billion in damage. Causing heavier downpours, "Climate change may be exacerbating the cost of flooding," the authors concluded.</p><p>In an interview with E&E News, Study co-author Noel Diffenbaugh said in an interview with E&E News that "there is real economic value in avoiding higher levels of global warming. That's not a political statement. That's a factual statement about costs. And it also shows that there's real economic value to adaptation and resilience because we're clearly not adapted to the climate change that's already happened."</p><h4>U.S. River Floods Are Increasing in Frequency</h4><p>The number of "extreme streamflow" events observed in U.S. river systems since 1910 has increased significantly, according to a <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/49/eaba5939" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">December 2020 study</a> from Dartmouth College.</p><p>Along rivers that observed significant changes in streamflow in recent decades, the incidence of extreme streamflow events has doubled in frequency since the 1950-1969 period. Evan Dethier, a postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth and lead author of the paper, said in <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-01-river-droughts-canada.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an interview with phys.org</a> that "the shifts toward more extreme events are especially important given the age of our dams, bridges, and roads. The changes to river flows that we found are important for those who manage or depend on this type of infrastructure."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/03/new-report-u-s-dams-levees-get-d-grades-need-115-billion-in-upgrades/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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