WASHINGTON \u2015 The Pentagon has continued to take steps to defend its military bases against extreme weather despite direction from President Donald Trump to stop preparing for climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, President Donald Trump rescinded all climate-related federal agency actions directed by President Barack Obama. The Obama-era initiatives that were killed included one that directed the Pentagon to plan for a future where storms, like this week\u2019s Hurricane Irma, are a frequent factor in the Pentagon\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To meet Obama\u2019s order, the Defense Department published a \u201cclimate change roadmap\u201d in 2014 and launched a defensewide review of its installations to identify vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA changing climate will have real impacts on our military and the way it executes its missions,\u201d the Defense Department concluded in the 2014 report. \u201cThe military could be called upon more often to support civil authorities \u2026 in the face of more frequent and more intense natural disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHampton Roads region in Virginia, which houses the largest concentration of U.S. military sites in the world, we see recurrent flooding today, and we are beginning work to address a projected sea-level rise of 1.5 feet over the next 20 to 50 years,\u201d the roadmap concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2016, DoD issued directive 4715.21, \u201cClimate Change Adaptation and Resilience,\u201d which among other things implemented the 2014 roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet the 2014 roadmap was invalidated by Trump\u2019s March 28 executive order, the Pentagon said. It is also now reviewing directive 4715.21, \u201cto determine if it should be suspended, revised, or rescinded,\u201d Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Patrick Evans said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Trump\u2019s executive order has not stopped the military from preparing for climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DoD has found space to maneuver by separating the argument of climate change from the threats that more extreme sea states, wind and flooding can generate. Essentially, the DoD is moving forward by leaving the semantics of climate change to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt makes a lot of sense to prepare for a wide variety of natural disasters,\u201d said retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. \u201cEven if there were no climate change, you would want to be ready for hurricanes, you would want to be ready for floods. I think the department is framing it in that context \u2015\u2013 just preparing for adverse events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon spokesman said that is what the Pentagon\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs Secretary Mattis has said, the department evaluates all potential threats that impact mission readiness, personnel health and installation resilience, then uses that information to assess impacts and identify responses,\u201d Evans said. \u201cThe effect of a changing climate is one of a variety of threats and risks, but it\u2019s not a mission of the Department of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hampton Roads is home to more than 60 of the Navy\u2019s ships, including six aircraft carriers: the Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, George H.W. Bush and Gerald R. Ford. Hampton Roads has hundreds of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft and more than 83,000 active duty military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic, the command responsible for ensuring Hampton Roads is ready for those storms, hasn\u2019t stopped fortifying the installation for future extreme weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSerious weather events, like nor\u2019easters and other storms like our recent [2016 Hurricane Matthew] are a challenge in this area, said NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic spokesman Todd Lyman. \u201cNOAA ranks us just below New Orleans for vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t talk the science, but I can tell you what we\u2019ve done,\u201d Lyman said. \u201cFor many years NAVFAC has been replacing any single-deck pier with double-deck piers. We\u2019ve also built structures here at a higher elevation than code requires in an effort to improve stormwater management. The goal is for us to continue our mission, maintain resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weather\u2019s toll on the military <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another part of the now invalidated roadmap was the DoD\u2019s assumption that a growing part of its operations would become response to weather disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Sept. 11, more than 17,000 military personnel and several Navy vessels were positioned to assist with relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and continental United States after Hurricane Irma tore through the region and left about a third of Florida residents without power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as of Sept. 6, approximately 20,000 personnel \u2015 including about 3,000 U.S. military and 16,000 members of the Texas National Guard \u2015 were involved in relief efforts following Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall Aug. 25 and dumped nearly 50 inches of rain on southeast Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military also moved critical aircraft and ships out of the way of Irma\u2019s projected path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, for example, the Air Force sent 50 F-16 fighter jets away to better protect them, base spokeswoman Lt. Alannah Staver said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shaw\u2019s hangars have withstood previous storms, including Category 5 Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Staver said. Hugo buffeted Shaw\u2019s hangars with 109 mph winds and the hangars held on, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Air Force wanted to disperse its fighters to avoid the risk that storm damage could make the airfield inoperable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Close call <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Harvey made landfall last month, it hit just north of two critical Navy flight training bases on the Texas coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, which is located on the bay, spent the day before landfall trying to take some preliminary measures to protect their offices from what was anticipated to be a direct hit and 12-foot water surge. They put computers high on desks and cleared out any debris from base drains to help water clear faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Harvey turned upward at the last minute, and NAS Corpus Christi only had minimal damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the base is now putting together lessons learned to see what parts of the installation should be strengthened for the next hurricane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n