State negligent in not funding preparedness for western Alaska flood disaster

The recent flood disaster along Alaska’s west coast was fueled by climate change and entirely predictable. Such climate disasters will only increase in the coming decades.

To get in front of such predictable disasters, that will cost billions of dollars this century, we proposed in 2007 and every year since, to all legislators and governors, that the State of Alaska establish an Alaska Climate Change Response Fund, derived from a nominal fee on oil, gas, and coal production, (e.g. 0.5 percent of revenue), with which to help vulnerable communities better prepare for such climate disasters (wildfire, flooding, subsidence, erosion, infrastructure damage, etc.). There are well-established engineering solutions to mitigate such disasters.

Our proposed climate response fund would work a lot like the state’s oil spill prevention and response fund, that is derived from a 5 cent/barrel fee on Alaska oil.

If enacted as proposed in 2007, our Climate Change Response Fund would have already collected hundreds of millions of dollars to assist coastal communities in preventing and responding to storm/flood disasters such as Typhoon Merbok.

Yet astonishingly, the state has done absolutely nothing to fund such reasonable climate adaptation measures. This constitutes catastrophic negligence on the part of the Alaska Legislature, and Governors Palin, Parnell, Walker and Dunleavy.

While the state has taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenues, it remains unwilling to invest in covering the costs of climate change — partially caused by our oil — to Alaska citizens.

Like a spoiled kid, the state tells the feds to ‘stay out of our business,’ but then begs for federal money anytime we have a problem - a profound embarrassment.

We can and must do better.

It is time for the legislature to enact the Alaska Climate Change Response Fund act as proposed, so we can help communities better prepare for the next climate disaster.

Rick Steiner

Univ. of Alaska, ret. Oasis Earth

PO Box 231825 Anchorage, AK 99507