Kaine asks feds for help in facing sea level rise

The long slog to attract federal money for projects to prepare Hampton Roads for sea level rise has been punctuated by small advances.

In June came the announcement of a two-year pilot project, with support from the White House, to study local adaptation to sea level rise. Then U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine organized a well-attended forum at Old Dominion University on the topic.

Now, Kaine is reaching out to federal agencies to encourage them to support the effort.

In a letter last week to 11 agencies, including the Department of Defense, Kaine asked agency leaders to figure out how they could participate in the local project to "strengthen the infrastructure and preparedness of a low-lying coastal region and prepare it for the sea level rise and flooding challenges it faces today and moving forward."

The letter came up at a meeting Wednesday at ODU of the state's Joint Subcommittee to Study Recurrent Flooding, co-chaired by Del. Chris Stolle of Virginia Beach and Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton.

Ray Toll, director of coastal resilience research at ODU, said some agencies, prompted by the letter, have called him to talk about getting involved.

"I really think this is going to ignite the whole thing," he said.

The pilot project, led by ODU, is designed to involve all levels of government, the private sector and the public in coming up solutions for sea level rise. It's also supposed to create a template that could be used by other coastal regions.

Stolle called it a "very exciting time and a very exciting proposal."

Toll said he could envision one day the creation of a national center on sea level rise based in Hampton Roads.

"Why not?" he said. "We've got the attention. We've got the energy."

For now, the pilot project will move forward with a new committee called The Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness and Resilience Intergovernmental Planning Team, a entity Toll said was the first of its kind in the nation.

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