ShareThisCalifornia is building a second line of defense against global warming, one that will prepare the state for a harsher environment while the other continues to cut climate-changing emissions.The two-front approach acknowledges that rising sea levels, bigger floods, greater loss of species and other harsh effects of warming are inevitable, if not already occurring.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not loudly trumpeting these defense moves: -- The state Transportation Department is proposing to move a 3-mile stretch of ocean-hugging Highway 1 in Big Sur up to 475 feet inland, to keep ahead of the accelerating tidal rise and bluff erosion.-- State wildlife officials are deliberating plans for "triage," to decide which species should be saved from global warming and which can't be saved.-- The state's San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is consulting with Dutch engineers and holding an international contest to create designs for flood- resilient buildings.On Nov. 14, Schwarzenegger issued an executive order to identify the state's biggest vulnerabilities to rising sea levels and draft an "adaptation strategy." State, federal and local managers of transportation, public health, wildlife, water and power supplies are being tapped for this task, along with business and public interest groups."It's saying we need to take action today," Anthony Brunello, the state deputy secretary for climate change, said of the governor's directive. "We need to figure out what we should be doing."To that end, the National Academy of Sciences will be asked to convene an independent panel of experts. The executive order calls on scientists to forecast a range of likely scenarios along the coast through the end of the century. That panel would recommend ways to minimize damage to coastal roads, beaches, sewage and water treatment plants, wetlands and marine life.Meanwhile, all state agencies are to immediately identify risks and account for them in planning their public works projects.Some of the needed changes will be expensive.The surf just north of Hearst Castle has been rapidly gnawing away at bluffs where Highway 1 hugs the shoreline, despite the rock facing installed by Caltrans."Rather than building up riprap and losing beach, we have been working with Caltrans on long-term solutions," said Tami Grove, an official with the state Coastal Commission, which regulates beach armoring and access.Caltrans came forward in 2001 with a proposal to realign almost 3 miles of the highway, between the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse and the Arroyo de la Cruz Bridge in northern San Luis Obispo County.Global warming weighed into the planning two years later, Grove said."Caltrans knew they had to realign. The question was how much. They had to factor in sea level rise," Grove said. "Our geologists and engineers worked with them to try to anticipate as we could the erosion that would be occurring."The governor wants, by mid-February, a Caltrans vulnerability rating of coastal roads and bridges, taking into account higher rates of erosion, land subsidence and storm surges.Although sea level rise has been occurring since the end of the last ice age, its pace has accelerated in the past century as a result of global warming, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international network of climate scientists.The tidal gauge at the mouth of San Francisco Bay -- the longest continuously operating gauge in the Western Hemisphere -- has recorded a 7-inch rise in sea level in the 20th century.A governor-appointed panel of scientific advisers on the Delta recently urged Schwarzenegger to prepare for another 16 inches of sea level rise by 2050 and 55 inches by 2100. Projections are based on the expansion of warming ocean water and melting of continental ice sheets and glaciers.A 55-inch rise would likely overwhelm Delta levees. A major flood could send saltwater through the drinking water intakes in the south Delta, contaminating supplies for 25 million people in the Bay Area and Southern California.Reach Chris Bowman at cbowman(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
California takes steps to combat global warming
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
Who's got your number?
In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
