Sea rise threatens Florida coast cities

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – America’s oldest city is slowly drowning.

St. Augustine’s centuries-old Spanish fortress sits feet from the encroaching Atlantic, whose waters already flood the city’s narrow streets about 10 times a year – a problem worsening as sea levels rise. The city relies on tourism, but visitors might someday have to wear waders at high tide.

St. Augustine is one of many chronically flooded communities along Florida’s coast, and officials in these diverse places share a concern: They’re afraid their buildings and economies will be further inundated by rising seas in just a couple of decades. The effects are a daily reality in much of Florida. Drinking water wells are fouled by seawater. Higher tides and storm surges make for more frequent road flooding from Jacksonville to Key West, and they’re overburdening aging flood-control systems.

But the state has yet to offer a clear plan or coordination to address what local officials across Florida’s coast see as a slow-moving emergency. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is skeptical of man-made climate change and has put aside the task of preparing for sea level rise, an Associated Press review of thousands of emails and documents pertaining to the state’s preparations for rising seas found.

Despite warnings from water experts and climate scientists, skepticism over sea level projections and climate change science has hampered planning efforts at all levels of government, the records showed. Florida’s environmental agencies under Scott have been downsized, making them less effective at coordinating sea level rise planning in the state, documents showed.

Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection is in charge of protecting the state environment and water but has taken no official position on sea level rise, according to documents.

Water quality is one of the biggest concerns. It’s especially bad in South Florida – Hallandale Beach has abandoned six of eight drinking water wells because of saltwater intrusion.

While South Florida water officials have led the charge in addressing concerns in their area, their attempt to organize a statewide group was unsuccessful, documents show. Scott’s administration has organized just a few conference calls to coordinate local efforts, records show.

Meanwhile, government officials have been adamant that employees and scientists not “assign cause” in public statements about global warming, government emails show.

For example, a 2014 email approving a DEP scientist’s request to participate in a National Geographic story came with a warning: “Approved. Make no claims as to cause … stay with the research you are doing, of course,” the DEP manager, Pamela Phillips, warned.

“I know the drill,” responded Mike Shirley, the state scientist.

DEP spokeswoman Lauren Engel said Phillips was a lower-level staffer whose views did not necessarily reflect the entire administration. Scott refuted allegations that his administration urges scientists not to assign cause when discussing climate change.