California panel urges 'immediate action' to protect from rising sea levels

Global warming is projected to cause ocean levels to rise 55 inches or more by the end of the century. Report recommends phased abandonment of coastal areas and moving state infrastructure inland.

By Margot Roosevelt
LA Times
5:51 PM PDT, March 11, 2009

As California officials see it, global warming is happening so there's no time to waste in figuring out what to do.

California's interagency Climate Action Team on Wednesday issued the first of 40 reports outlining what the state's residents must do to adapt to the floods, erosion and other effects expected from rising sea levels.

Hundreds of thousands of people and billions of dollars of Golden State infrastructure and property would be at risk if ocean levels rose 55 inches by the end of the century, as computer models suggest, according to the report.

The group floated several radical proposals: limit coastal development in areas at risk from sea rise; consider phased abandonment of certain areas; halt federally-subsidized insurance for property likely to be inundated; and require coastal structures to be built to survive climate change.

(More here.)