How will Virginia defend vulnerable communities, including those in Hampton Roads, from rising seas and recurrent flooding? That question, asked time and time again in recent years, will have more urgency in the wake of the budget agreement brokered between lawmakers and Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week.
Democratic negotiators agreed to remove language from the budget they approved in March that would return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate, market-based emissions reduction compact that has generated more than $800 million for flooding projects and energy-efficiency programs. That will mean a sharp reduction in funding for the protective measures needed to defend communities in Hampton Roads.
A lawsuit winding its way through the courts may still accomplish that task, but it shouldn’t have come to this. Cutting off this revenue source is as short-sighted as it is harmful, and a permanent withdrawal from RGGI further imperils lives, homes, businesses and critical infrastructure at greater risk with each passing year.
We know the water is coming. That’s been clear for a while. Residents here see more frequent and more intrusive flooding each year, and scientists agree that Hampton Roads ranks among the places most at risk from sea-level rise in the country.
Yet the commonwealth has dragged its feet about funding projects to defend those vulnerable communities. No individual city or county can afford to go it alone, not when it takes billions to build floodwalls, install tidal gates, construct natural barriers and power up pumping stations.
The federal government helps, of course, and local governments know they must also ante up. But these are regional problems affecting millions of people that demand leadership — and money — from Richmond.
Hampton Roads can count at least $40 billion in resilience needs across our region, a price tag that continues to rise.
Norfolk is proceeding toward a $2.6 billion network of flood-control systems but recently expressed concern about a shortfall in state funding; the governor proposed $73.8 million for the project in his budget but lawmakers’ spending plan slashed that to $25 million.
In 2021, Virginia Beach voters approved a $567.5 million stormwater bond referendum following extensive flooding in 2016. But the cost of that 10-year plan has ballooned to $1 billion thanks to rising material costs and a shortage of labor.
Those are merely two local examples of a statewide crisis — one that the governor and lawmakers appear content to ignore in their negotiated budget plan. The loss of RGGI funding — thanks to Youngkin — is not offset by other funding in the budget, meaning Virginia is likely to spend significantly less on flooding projects should this budget become law.
What makes RGGI appealing is that it has successfully pressured energy companies to reduce emissions, leading to a substantially greater reduction in member states than in states outside the compact, while also generating staggering sums through the auction of emissions credits that are divided equally among members.
But Youngkin instructed his appointees on the State Air Pollution Control Board to withdraw from the compact, though the legality of that action remains in doubt. A lawsuit is challenging that action, contending that the governor and that state board lack the authority to effectively nullify an act of legislature.
We can hope it proves successful. We need it to be if lawmakers and the governor are content to shrug off the deepening concerns about recurrent flooding and the threat it poses to Virginians, not only here but in other flood-prone areas — in the Northern Neck, the Middle Peninsula, the Eastern Shore, Richmond, Arlington and Northern Virginia, and in Buchanan County and other parts of Southwest Virginia.
This is a statewide crisis in search of a statewide solution, but those in office have yet to treat it with the urgency it deserves — something again reflected in this budget agreement. Our communities are running out of time. The water is coming and Virginia simply isn’t ready for it.
