Do You Know Who Is Considering Building Walls? – The Pentagon

February 3, 2019 – The Pentagon wants to build walls but not to line the border with Mexico. Instead, it wants walls to stop sea level rise from inundating naval and military bases in the United States and overseas.

The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland plans to raise its sea wall by almost a meter (3 feet) to ensure that its facilities and much of downtown Annapolis don’t become inundated by sea level rise in the next three decades. Work is likely to begin in 2020. Annapolis has seen a significant increase in yearly floods according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The current seawall stands about 1.5 meters in height but to deal with the worst case scenario between now and 2050, the plan is to raise it by over a meter (3.6 feet).

The Washington Navy Yard in the District of Columbia is contemplating building a 2.4 kilometer (1.5 mile) wall to ring the complex to keep it from flooding as sea levels rise along the Atlantic coast. In a Naval Facilities Engineering Command document produced in February of last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cited the potential of flood risk of 40 to 80 centimeters (1.3 to 2.6 feet) between 2035 and 2065. The Navy Yard plan includes a 2.9 meter (9.5 feet) permanent wall topped by removable panels rising to 4.2 meters (14 feet). The alternatives are few states the U.S. Navy which has considered and abandoned the flood-proofing of buildings by elevating the structures and waterproofing doors and windows. It acknowledges that such a strategy won’t stop the innevitable inundation.

Norfolk Naval Station, the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic Ocean fleet and the home of America’s oldest and largest shipyard is already flooding at least ten times a year. Since World War One the sea level here has risen more than 37 centimeters (14.5 inches). The Navy in its forecasts predicts Norfolk Station will flood 280 times annually by the year 2100. Home to nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, the shipyard’s five dry docks are at particular risk. In a 2017 report, the U.S. Navy states that the dry docks,critical in repairing naval vessels, were not designed to deal with rising sea levels. Currently, the Navy is using sandbags to protect the facilities from floods. In 2017 it asked Congress for $21 billion over 20 years to create a permanent barrier for Norfolk, as well as for other naval shipyards including the Washington Navy Yard, and two others, one in Maine, and one in Hawaii.

The threat from sea level rise is not confined to just the Atlantic Ocean coast. America’s Gulf and Pacific coast naval and military installations are equally under threat as are overseas American bases in Kores, Singapore, and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. A radar installation, recently built for more than $1 billion on the Marshall Islands, is expected to be inundated within two decades.

The U.S. Marine Corps’ Parris Island recruiting and training facility in South Carolina is also under threat.

In total, the number of U.S. coastal military bases facing catastrophic sea level rise amounts to 128 with estimated costs of $100 billion to build barriers to guard against future inundations.

For the United States Navy, there are two choices. Build these walls where they are most needed, or prepare to abandon more than $1 trillion in military infrastructure over the next few decades. Of course, there is the President’s choice, which is to build a wall along the border with Mexico because he wants it even if it is not needed.