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Anne Arundel, Annapolis work with University of Maryland to develop financing plan for climate change

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman speaks at a meeting between counties on climate resiliency planning in the House of Delegates building in Annapolis.
Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman speaks at a meeting between counties on climate resiliency planning in the House of Delegates building in Annapolis.
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Steuart Pittman, Sr., was hired by President John F. Kennedy to traverse the country and help communities prepare for the possibility of nuclear fallout by building subterranean shelters and escape plans.

Steuart Pittman, Jr., executive of Anne Arundel County, said the threat his citizens are now facing is different in that it is guaranteed to arrive. The planet’s average surface temperature has risen 1.62 degrees since the late 19th century, according to the the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

He was one of a number of elected leaders who spoke Wednesday at a meeting on resilience planning and financing guided by Dan Nees and Joanne Throwe of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland. The center has worked with Anne Arundel, Charles County, Queen Anne’s County and Annapolis in recent months to take stock of their assets and plan ways to be more resilient to climate change. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide gauges indicate that sea levels in the Chesapeake region are rising 3.4 mm per year.

“It’s kind of like the threat of nuclear war, where do we start, we’re all going to die anyway, right?” Pittman said. “That’s why it was a godsend to have the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland come swooping in.”

Fast action is needed, Nees said during the meeting Wednesday, saying that climate change is anticipated to increase the price tag for the country’s infrastructure backlog by 40%.

“Imagine a 40% increase in any cost that you have in your government. That would be dramatic beyond dramatic,” he said. “And so these are real issues that we have to start dealing with quickly, and the only way we’re going to solve them is to move quickly.”

State Treasurer Nancy Kopp started off the meeting with a discussion about how climate change has become a factor in debt management, investment and insurance. She said two years ago the bond credit rating agency Moody’s started asking about the concern, and the state’s plan. She also said it is becoming a part of the conversation more and more at the Board of Public Works, where she serves approving state expenditures.

“We don’t want to build a road that is going to be under water two thirds of the time,” she said.

County work groups identified vulnerabilities, then created a list of actions to address them, according to a press release put out jointly by the governments. Right now the center is writing reports for each county and will also help each find money to pay for their plans, according to the release.

One possible fundraising route being discussed by the center and the counties connected with it is a resilience financing authority, through which a given authority could sell bonds to finance public projects. Sen. Sarah Elfreth plans on introducing a bill that would enable such an authority as early as Friday. She said municipalities and counties with at least 30,000 people, independently or jointly, will be able to create an authority to pay for expensive capital projects, she said.

One such project is the planned overhaul of City Dock, which was presented by the City Dock Action Committee to the Annapolis City Council Tuesday evening. A terraced lawn will replace a parking lot along Dock Street and the report also suggests infrastructure including flood walls, glass flood walls, flip-up barriers and self-closing barriers. Estimated cost, $50 million.

“That’s a project that, frankly, is almost too large for any single municipality or single county to take on,” Elfreth said. “And we know it’s not just a problem here at city, but it’s a problem across the state.”