EAST LANSING, MI — Adapting to a changing climate won’t be cheap, but the cost of doing nothing may be far greater.
Whether due to strains on transportation infrastructure from flooding or public health systems caused by rising temperatures, Michigan is facing significant future expense due to a changing climate, an expert panel told U.S. Sen. Gary Peters on Monday in East Lansing.
“As storms, heat waves, wildfires and floods increase, we expect more injuries, deaths and acute illness from contact with hazards like carbon monoxide, smoke and contaminated water,” said Lorraine Cameron, an environmental epidemiologist who leads the adaptation program at the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Subtle long-term changes can have also negative health effects.
“Even moderate increases in summer temperatures are associated with increasing hospitalization and death rates,” Cameron said, noting that increasing heat and humidity also aids the spread of infectious diseases like the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus.
“This is a problem that is impacting Michigan now.”
Cameron testified alongside four other experts at the U.S. Senate hearing at Michigan State University on April 22. As with other field “summits” convened by Peters, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee assumed a role akin to panel moderator for the official Congressional committee hearing.
Seated alongside Cameron was Maria Lemos, associate dean at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, Jim MacInnes, CEO of Crystal Mountain Resort, and Paul Ajegba, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Also on the panel was retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral David Titley, former chief operating officer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and founding director of the Pennsylvania State University Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk.
Titley dismissed the resurgent debate around climate change science as “an excuse to delay action.” While more research is needed to answer questions like, say, the relationship between climate change and tornados, the basic underlying science is well-established.
“As far as the basics go, this is about as well-known as why I would not step off the top of this building and debate the theory of gravity,” he said.
The panel follows a recent Senate committee hearing on the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) High Risk List report, which identified a need for the federal government to address the risks associated with climate change in a fiscally responsible way. Peters also released a new report highlighting costs to taxpayers from a lack of action on climate adaptation.
Panel members pointed to recent flooding and associated damage as a prime example of climate change-fueled weather already hurting communities. Each said investing in efforts like green infrastructure and renewable energy is necessary to reduce negative impacts.
Peters opened by listing recent flooding damage in Michigan.
The 2014 flooding around Detroit cost more than $1 billion, he said. In Warren, an estimated 18,000 structures — about one in three homes — were damaged. In 2017, Isabella County flooding caused about $90 million dollars in damage, he said. More than $20 million worth of crops were lost. In the Upper Peninsula last year, flooding in the Houghton area caused nearly $100 million in damage to public infrastructure.
“Our nation’s aging infrastructure simply isn’t designed to withstand the growing intensity of storms that are striking communities in Michigan and across the country,” Peters said.
“According to scientists, the Midwest is particularly vulnerable to the challenges posed by climate change,” he said. “Michigan and our neighboring states are projected to incur some of the most significant damage to our roads and bridges – mostly due to increased flooding – with costs projected to exceed $6 billion before the end of the century.”
Lemos, who co-authored the Midwest chapter of the latest National Climate Assessment, said the Midwest can expect the largest infrastructure impact in the country.
Extreme heat and precipitation are already happening, she said.
According to the report, winter and spring precipitation is projected to increase by up to 30 percent by the end of this century. Heavy precipitation events in the Midwest have increased in frequency and intensity since 1901 and are projected to increase.
“Minimal cost of prevention now can save tens of billions down the road,” she said.
Ajegba, appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to lead MDOT, said the state has requested emergency relief funds nine times, totaling about $47 million in “recent years.”
Around Detroit, aging pump stations have been overwhelmed trying to keep stormwater from flooding heavily-used freeways built below-grade level, he said.
Pavement heat buckling has become more common, he said. The problem can pose a serious driving hazard. “That is something were very, very concerned about,” Ajegba said.
On the economic side, MacInnes said Crystal Mountain is spending more on snow-making than it once did, and the resort has to plan around shorter winters and less revenue.
MacInnes, a former electrical engineer, voiced support for federal legislation to impose a carbon tariff on imports to incentivize other nations to move toward renewable energy.
The Securities and Exchange Commission should require companies increase their “carbon risk” reporting and investors should pay more attention to that as well, he said.
“We need more transparency on carbon from business,” he said.