Coastal impacts of climate change

Date01 March 2022
3-2022 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 52 ELR 10169
DIALOGUE
COASTAL IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE
Amy Reed (moderator) is a Senior Attorney at the
Environmental Law Institute.
Dr. Tayebeh TajalliBa khsh is an Ocea n Engineer and
Team Lead at the RPS Group.
Liz Kle baner is a Partner at Nossaman LLP.
Daniel O. Suman is a Professor of Environmental Science
and Policy at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and
Atmospheric Science, Universit y of Miam i, and Adjunct
Faculty at the University of Miami School of Law.
Jon Paul “J.P.” Brooker is the Director of Florida
Conservation at the Ocean Conser vancy.
Amy Reed:  is event was partially inspired by the discus -
sions that followed the tragic collapse of the Champlain
Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida,
in June 2021,¹ which brought a renewed sense of urgency to
questions about how climate change and its environmental
impacts can cause st ructural da mage to coastal buildings.
While independent structura l problems and issues
were suspected to have been a major factor in that build-
ing’s collapse, experts and researchers across d isciplines
also raised questions about whether environmental fa ctors
played a contributing role. Our panelists will be discuss-
ing the science behind sea-level rise and the impacts of cl i-
mate change on coastal infrastructu re, touching on some
key national trends we are seeing. We’ll also be taking a
deeper look at California and Florida specica lly, analyz-
ing some of the regional and local cha llenges emerging
from climate change, regu latory developments, and pos-
sible policy solutions.
Our rst panelist is Tayebeh TajalliBakhsh. She has a
Ph.D. in ocean engineering and is a principal scientist with
1. Vanessa Romo, e Search for Victims Comes to an End at the Florida Condo
Collapse Site, NPR (July 23, 2021), https://www.npr.org/2021/07/23/
1018164946/search-ends-victims-orida-condo-collapse-site.
RPS North America, where she leads a team of numerical
modelers focusing on extreme coastal hazards—including
sea-level rise, tsunamis, and storm surges—that aect nat-
ural resources, coastal infrastructure, and industries. Her
team is also responsible for complex numerical modeling
of coastal processes, metocean analysis, and design criteria
for oshore wind. Coastal resilience and climate change
solutions are her main interests.
Taye be h Ta ja ll iBa kh sh : Since we are discussing the
coastal impacts of climate change, I’m rst going to talk
about what climate change is and how it aect s our coastal
resilience and coastal infrastructure. We all are aware of
weather. We know weather changes hour to hour, day to
night, and also season to season. But at the same time,
there are long-term patterns that we are familiar with and
expect to see in specic geographies of the world, as well as
in the whole globe as a unit.
When these long-term patterns shift a nd change, we are
talking ab out climate change. In general, cli mate change is
not something new. It happened previously. But when these
shifts occur with higher frequency, it’s concerning. We’ve
already experienced the consequences of climate change.
For example, although many parts of the world experience
hurricanes and storms in certain seasons, we now see them
occurring with higher intensity and higher frequency.
So, why does climate change happen and how does it
happen? It is a natural process. We have greenhouse gases
(GHGs) in the environment already. Some of them are
naturally occu rring, while others are from human impacts.
ey usually have a long lifetime, like carbon dioxide.
ese layers of GHGs protect us, and at the same time they
re-emit heat when they absorb solar energy.
When the re-emission of heat and radiation gets stuck
in the environment and atmosphere of the earth, we have
an increase in temperature—a climate change eect. As I
mentioned, some of these GHGs are naturally occurring,
SUMMARY
The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, raised questions
about how climate change and environmental impacts may cause damage to coastal buildings. Independent
structural issues are suspected to be a major factor in the collapse, but scientists and legal researchers posit
that environmental factors also played a role. On December 20, 2021, the Environmental Law Institute hosted
a panel of experts that explored the climate risks to coastal communities and buildings in Florida, California,
and elsewhere. Below, we present a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and
space considerations.
Copyright © 2022 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.

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