Resilience and Cybersecurity

• Author: Michael Curley
• Pages: 81-99

81

Chapter 10—Resilience

and Cybersecurity

This chapter deals with two issues. e rst is “resilience,” which

deals with pay ing for some of the consequences of climate cha nge

or global warming.

e second issue is “cybersecurity,” which involves protecting the power

grid that supplies the country with electricity. Ou r power system in this

country is vu lnerable, very vulnerable. But, what does cybersecurity have

to do with our qua lity of life? e consequences of major destruction of the

country’s electric power grid would have catastrophic consequences on the

lives of all Americans.

Resilience is the stepchild of g lobal warming. It is essentially how to

survive global warming. New words—like mitigation and adaptation, and

resilience itself—have come to be used to describe strategies for avoiding

consequences of global warming. ese strategies cost money to implement.

ey need new nancial mechanisms to be cost eective. ey could a lso

benet from a new legal regime that could ma rshal the resources necessary

to deal with global warming.

Global warming will have dierent impacts depending on location. Some

areas of the pla net will become uninhabitable because they will be too hot

to grow crops for food. Other areas will become habitable for the rst t ime.

You will be able to buy beachfront property on the Arctic Ocean and open

a surng school.

e rst part of this chapter discusses how coastal resiliency projects, in

specic, can be nanced by states. Coastal resilience addresses rising sea lev-

els, as well a s severe waves generated by extreme weather events. e second

part of the chapter deals with the concept of an “interstate compact” as a

legal mechanism to help the states both “to adapt to” and “to mitigate” some

of the eects of global warming.

To deal with the nance issue, coastal resiliency projects need to be

divided into their logical categories so that the various nancing options for

each type of project can be ex amined.

Coastal resiliency projects can be divided into two groups. e rst group

involves beach replenishment, dune building, and also back-bay a nd small

82 Paying for Tomorrow: Maintaining Our Quality of Life

inlet dredging. ese projects protect coastal communities from serious

storm damage. We can call t his group “disaster mitigation” projects.

“Post-disaster resiliency” projects are a second and very specic category.

is category involves the reconstruction of ONLY the core economic driv-

ers (CEDs) of a community. For example, many coastal communities rely on

tourism for their economic existence. erefore, the CEDs in that commu-

nity are those specic amenities that attract tourists. Beaches are CEDs. So

are boardwalks. So are the “beachy” shops on the boardwalks. So are amuse-

ment parks and other entertainment facilities.

Providing for the rebuilding of CEDs is not a general replacement for

ood insurance. Rather it is a replacement program for only t he CEDs

in coastal communities that are destroyed by hurricanes or other extreme

weather events. Using Oc ean City, Maryland, as an exa mple, post-disaster

resiliency projects would include: reconstruction of the beach, reconstruc-

tion of the boa rdwalk, reconstruction of the stores on the boardwa lk, and

reconstruction of recreational facilities such as the amusement parks. In

short, the CEDs are the facilities that lure visitors to the coastal community.

ey are the facilities that need to be rebuilt immediately after a storm—

with no delays and no hassles—in order to get the community’s economy

going agai n.

Among the nancial issues discussed will be a system benet charge model,

special districts, sea sonal charges, and geographically targeted charges. e

concept involved in both the seasona l charges and the geographically t ar-

geted charges is to draw revenues for coastal resiliency from those who use

and enjoy the coasts and who, otherwise, don’t contribute to their well-being.

Public-private partnerships (P3s) can also play a role in nancing resiliency

projects. P3s, however, have a much larger role in na ncing. ey will be

discussed in Chapter 11.

Below are some alternative means of nancing these projects.

The System Benef‌it Charge Model

is model addresses three essential strategies for protecting ocea nside com-

munities: beach replenishment, dune rebuilding, and channel dredging.

Strong be ach structures protect communities from storm surges and high

waves. e sa me is true of dunes, which protect inland property. Dredging

has a critical role in ood mitigation.

is model presents one possible mechanism for nancing pre-hurricane

fortication programs to replenish beaches, rebuild dunes, and dredge criti-