Associated Press 8:34 p.m. EDT September 10, 2014
RICHMOND – Gov. Terry McAuliffe launched his climate change commission on Wednesday, urging the panel to develop concrete ideas to blunt the impact of rising seas along Virginia’s threatened coast.
The Democrat made it clear he’s no climate change skeptic.
“I believe it when scientists say climate change is real, it’s happening and it’s caused by human actions,” he said, calling the science “settled on this.”
McAuliffe addressed the Climate Change and Resiliency Commission, which met for the first time. The panel’s 30-plus members include utility officials, environmentalists and climate scientists, among others. Two McAuliffe Cabinet secretaries co-chair the commission.
In creating the commission earlier this summer, McAuliffe resurrected a project that had been dormant for years. He asked his commission to update recommendations made by a panel created during the administration of Gov. Tim Kaine.
“Let’s come together with some concrete things we can do together,” he said.
Ivy Main, chairwoman of the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter, said the Kaine climate panel offered recommendations that the state can “implement right now that will both save taxpayers’ dollars and reduce the state’s carbon pollution emissions.”
McAuliffe cast the commission’s mission on economic development terms as much as environmental.
He cited, for example, flooding in Norfolk after drenching rains early this week.
“You cannot bring in a new business if your roads are closed every time it rains,” he said.
Virginia’s coast is among the most vulnerable in the world to rising seas, not only because of climate change but because of sinking land mass caused by the creation of the Chesapeake Bay millions of years ago.
McAuliffe said battling climate change will involve more than building new seawalls to preserve coastal properties. He said clean energy solutions, including nuclear power, energy efficiency, and better land use decisions should be a part of the solution.
McAuliffe asked the commission to submit its recommendations by next summer, if not sooner.
http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2014/09/10/va-climate-change-focus-meeting/15420671/
The Democrat made it clear he’s no climate change skeptic.
“I believe it when scientists say climate change is real, it’s happening and it’s caused by human actions,” he said, calling the science “settled on this.”
McAuliffe addressed the Climate Change and Resiliency Commission, which met for the first time. The panel’s 30-plus members include utility officials, environmentalists and climate scientists, among others. Two McAuliffe Cabinet secretaries co-chair the commission.
In creating the commission earlier this summer, McAuliffe resurrected a project that had been dormant for years. He asked his commission to update recommendations made by a panel created during the administration of Gov. Tim Kaine.
“Let’s come together with some concrete things we can do together,” he said.
Ivy Main, chairwoman of the Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter, said the Kaine climate panel offered recommendations that the state can “implement right now that will both save taxpayers’ dollars and reduce the state’s carbon pollution emissions.”
McAuliffe cast the commission’s mission on economic development terms as much as environmental.
He cited, for example, flooding in Norfolk after drenching rains early this week.
“You cannot bring in a new business if your roads are closed every time it rains,” he said.
Virginia’s coast is among the most vulnerable in the world to rising seas, not only because of climate change but because of sinking land mass caused by the creation of the Chesapeake Bay millions of years ago.
McAuliffe said battling climate change will involve more than building new seawalls to preserve coastal properties. He said clean energy solutions, including nuclear power, energy efficiency, and better land use decisions should be a part of the solution.
McAuliffe asked the commission to submit its recommendations by next summer, if not sooner.
http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2014/09/10/va-climate-change-focus-meeting/15420671/
