Protecting New Jersey Shore from future storms could cost you billions

Protecting New Jersey Shore from future storms could cost you billions
December 10,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ , “Gloabal Warming Mania ” has hit the Jersey Shore and we are told the price of protecting New Jersey from “rising sea levels” and the devastation of future storms is breathtaking, making it seem at times that the problem is insurmountable.

We have all heard the gloom and doom scenarios ” The frequency of surges currently reaching a given height will thus increase… Equivalently, the water level associated with any given frequency will grow, and communities should expect to see waters reach progressively new heights. These trends will very likely force changes in risk assessments related to extreme events, such as the delineation of 100 yr floodplains, that influence coastal policy and development…” ( https://news.thomasnet.com/green_clean/2012/05/31/the-climate-change-controversy-are-sea-levels-really-rising/ )

But most of us courtesy of the barrage of constant faux science propaganda have never heard the other side of the story :”The IPCC predicts a [one-to-two-foot] sea-level rise by 2100, with a best estimate [of 1 feet 5 inches]. Yet for the past eight years sea level has been rising at a rate equivalent to just 1.3 inches per century, and sea level last year was lower than in any of the previous seven years.” ( https://news.thomasnet.com/green_clean/2012/05/31/the-climate-change-controversy-are-sea-levels-really-rising/ )

No offense to scientific inbreeds but there are three simply issues with the “Global warming ” argument , 1) How do you measure global precipitation ? Any climatologist worth his weight will admit that precipitation is the key to global weather trends and real scientific measurement only offers a very limited time horizon if it can be accurately measured at all. 2) There is virtually no way to measure ” raising sea levels” and 3) one storm or one bad year does not make a trend ie the 1938 “Long Island Express ” hurricane which hit the New York metro area with 130 plus mph winds and killed over 700 people that not to mention all the other crazy weather of 1930’s decade. And this is not even mentioning the controversial idea that human activity can be proven to have any effect on climate what so ever.If one is to study the geologic record is appears highly doubtful..

In a era where science and reason have no place in public policy debate the “Global Warming” crazies are all ready proposing : ” Rebuilding the Jersey Shore to handle storm surges, meanwhile, could require billions of dollars to replenish beaches swept away during superstorm Sandy, erect steel bulkheads at $3 million or more a pop, rebuild damaged seawalls, elevate thousands of homes on pilings, and buy out some neighborhoods.” https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_safety/Protecting_North_Jersey_from_future_storms_could_cost_billions.html )

The record even postulates that ,” Some options that have been floated include $7.4 billion to buy all 13,300 structures in the Passaic River basin at risk of being flooded by a catastrophic storm, or $2.7 billion for a tunnel to protect Wayne and other towns by guiding storm runoff out to Newark Bay.” https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_safety/Protecting_North_Jersey_from_future_storms_could_cost_billions.html

Even NJT has gotten into the act , “Making the New Jersey transit system more resilient to storms could cost $800 million, and putting electric lines underground could average $724,000 per mile.” https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_safety/Protecting_North_Jersey_from_future_storms_could_cost_billions.html

But then by accident the Record said something remarkably intelligent ,” some experts argue that less glamorous, lower-priced and smaller-scale initiatives replicated over a wide area can often produce dramatic results. Many of these strategies — from rebuilding beaches and dunes that have been scoured away by waves, to improved building codes that help structures withstand storms — have already proved effective in New Jersey.” ( https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_safety/Protecting_North_Jersey_from_future_storms_could_cost_billions.html ) Yes we must be better prepared for the next natural disaster ,10 days with no power is prof enough for anyone ,. We should be learning for this event and saving the grand schemes for a time when we are for more certain our efforts will be effective. .

Any reasonable risk analysis would lead one to conclude that not matter how prepared ,it is impossible to know or be prepared for every possible outcome .