Mayor Billy Keyserling to Attend National Summit on Increasing Threat of Coastal Flooding/ Sea Level Rise

22 Oct Mayor Billy Keyserling to Attend National Summit on Increasing Threat of Coastal Flooding/ Sea Level Rise

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Billy Keyserling, Mayor, (843) 592-0400, billyk@islc.net

RELEASE: Mayor Billy Keyserling to Attend National Summit on Increasing Threat of Coastal Flooding/ Sea Level Rise
In Beaufort, SC, coastal flooding/sea level rise poses growing threat to businesses, citizens and tourism.

 

Beaufort, SC (10/22/15) – Mayor Billy Keyserling will join a bipartisan group of more than 30 mayors and local officials to raise awareness that coastal flooding/sea level rise demands more attention from leaders at all levels of government. He is part of a delegation of elected local leaders from coastal states attending the Rising Tides Summit in New Hampshire on October 23-25, to express concern over the rapidly increasing impacts of coastal flooding/sea level rise and ensure that national leaders are more responsive to the issue.

 
With more than 123 million Americans living in coastal shoreline counties, sea level rise has become a national concern. Coastal flooding is causing increasingly costly impacts on businesses, infrastructure, private property along America’s shorelines, and affecting tourism. Here in Beaufort we see the impacts every day with more to come.

 
“This is a problem we can and need to address. We need to get people’s attention so that they will understand the threat of inundation of water and the opportunities to plan to fend it off. In the long run, we will need federal funding to help with this. But the work of a group of citizens over the past six or more works draws a road map to areas of concern that can one day be addressed.

 
The good news is, this doesn’t have to be done in 6 months, but the bad news is people won’t generally respond unless it is a situation where we need to act in 6 months or should have acted 6 months ago. We will eventually need to find funding to start piloting infrastructure projects that build resilience.

 
The horrible vast flooding across our state is perhaps a wake up call to pay more attention to what is happening around us. I first became aware of this when I noticed an eight to twelve inch rise in the high tide levels on my dock in Beaufort.

 

 

Fortunately, thanks to the all volunteer task force that is working, we are ahead of other towns and cities in South Carolina, many of whom have a much greater threat in the future” Keyserling said.

 
Mayor Keyserling was invited to participate in this bipartisan event by co-hosts Mayor Bob Lister (D - Portsmouth, NH) and State Senator Nancy Stiles (R - Hampton, NH).

 
During the summit, Keyserling will collaborate with local leaders from nearly all coastal states and federal agencies that play a crucial role in helping communities address the urgent challenge of sea level rise, including:

 
• Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Administrator, NOAA
• Roy Wright, Deputy Associate Administrator for Insurance and Mitigation, FEMA
• Jonathan White, Rear Admiral, Navy
• Incoming Principal Deputy of the Army Corps of Engineers

 
The Rising Times Summit is invite-only but open to the media. For more information visit www.risingtides2015.com.
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